Originally Posted by
drminn
Great report.
It is actually not that unusual for department stores to have food markets. In the old days (I know, I am dating myself) most US department stores had food courts that had absolutely nothing in common with todays mall food courts. Dayton's and Donaldson's in Minneapolis, Carson Pirie Scott in Chicago, Macy's in NY all had elaborate food operations.
Today you can still find fancy food courts at Printemps and Galeries Lafayette in Paris, KaDeWe in Berlin, a lot of the Ginza district department stores in Tokyo, and probably many more that I have yet to explore.
I was thinking the same thing when I read the initial post. The food halls have been one of the great adventures in a new city, to find comfort favorites and interesting local options in many cities we have traveled to across Europe and Asia. Fortnum and Mason has a smaller but wonderful food hall downstairs. We've been to London many times and enjoyed every time, and I love to read and hear the excitement of travelers discovering it for the first time. There is so much history culture and the food has improved so much since our first visit decades ago, mainly due to the increasing diversity of the city and the attendant cuisine,