The Grand Opening of Eataly London

On my long walks around London Mark and I saw more shops close down than I care to think about.  But on the other side over the course of the last year we have seen a massive store being built nearly the Liverpool Street station in East London.  Every time we went to Spitalfields Market we would check it out out.   I have been a fan of Eataly for eons as they have two locations in New York and during our Italy trip in the Fall we stopped by locations in Florence and Rome.

My love of Eataly has been strong for years, you can see mentions in past posts including my 2015 post on My Favorite Spots for Lunch in Flatiron and  my 2018 post called An Epic New York City Tourist Day  PLus there was the dedicated post called Food & The City: Eatlay and I still whole heartedly agree with the intro I wrote.  “The New York City location of Eataly is three minutes from my office and the definition of DANGEROUS. Dangerous for my girlish figure, wallet, and busy schedule. But let’s head back to to London.

Eataly London was announced it in 2018, set to launch in 2020, and then pushed back to 2021 given the pandemic.  Finally on opening Mark and I walked down for a visit and waited in the rain for 20 minutes to be allowed in the super store. And the wait was worth it as we had a great time exploring the two massive levels of the store.   My favorite aspects were the fresh counters from an assortment of foods including fruit, cured meats, ethically sourced meat, fish, and fresh cheese.  And as it is hard to truly explain the magnitude take a look at the photos I was able to capture and a few key stats:

42,000 square feet of space
5,000 different items for sale
2,000 wine labels
400 Italian wine producers to choose from
123 different types of pasta from 27 producers
78 sauces and condiments from 20 producers
75 types of extra virgin olive oil
5 counters of fresh food
4 restaurants and bars
2 floors
1 location

I want to go back and eat at each of the the restaurants – wood-fired pizza, the Italian grill, the Illy coffee bar, and the Cucina del Mercato which serves fresh foods from their market counters. Plus the cooking school La Scuola is calling my name and I am already looking at making a booking at the outdoor terrace,, for an afternoon of Aperol Spritz’s!  If you want to Eataly Lodon you can check out their site for more information including opening hours.

Would you want to go to Eataly London?