"The best way to enjoy Maria’s Market Cafe is the best way to enjoy Borough Market: get there early, preferably on a weekday, when there’s fewer tourists around, and get a feel for the history of the place, where there’s been a market in some shape or form since the 12th century. At Maria’s, visitors can enjoy all manner of things inside a pillowy bap, including lamb, liver, and wild game sausage. Still, the fried breakfasts – particularly the ones with chips – are among London’s most refined examples of the genre, which here hinges on quality ingredients, positioned elegantly on a plate. Before Maria’s there was Borough Cafe, which opened round the corner on Park Street in 1961. The original caff was where the eponymous Maria Moruzzi grew up and later worked, alongside her parents who opened the place, before they had to give it up. When they opened their stall in the market, this time with Maria in charge, she naturally put her name on it. Although its founder has since hung up her apron, Maria’s is still a brilliant place to enjoy a slightly fancier fry-up, rooted in decades of love, care and family tradition." - Isaac Rangaswami
