Borough market is a Mecca for foodies and every Londoner should visit this heaving beast at least once. But once can be enough for most London inhabitants as the place is always superbusy and crowded and there are plenty of other London food markets you can go to in order to feast. (Disclaimer: the exception being if you happen to be in the London Bridge area around shutting down time, when it is well worth your while to pop in and grab some produce at gloriously knocked down prices. Got me some beauties of a specimen of English muffins at half price once.)
So, here are a few of the food markets in London to explore for foodie heaven (some of which have been mentioned in previous posts) and which hold some of the best street food vendors.
North Cross Road Market
This is really all about food here, mostly focused on the “eat right now” street food variety that shows no signs of waning in popularity, although there’s also a cheese stall for taking home some goods. The Dogfather Diner is to be found here selling his full-on hot dogs (the wait is long but you’ve got to try one!) and also Ambriento, selling a slightly different take on tacos – buttermilk fried chicken taco – delicious! There were also some delectable looking pies when I was wandering around here, and as well as the street stalls there are lots of lovely shops along the street to pop into as well.
Maltby Street Market
Not too far away from Borough Market at all, is this little guy. It’s on every Saturday from about 9 until about 3 and is now on Sundays as well. It takes place around and under some railway arches, which have been turned into ‘little’ stalls themselves. Bea’s of Bloomsbury and St. John Bread and Wine have an arch each – this is where St. John bake their bread and it’s worth turning up early to nab some, or get one of their famed vanilla custard doughnuts (they made it into Time Out’s Top 100 dishes). There are a few Street Food traders such as Monty’s Deli and African Volcano. As well as Little Bird Gin to whet your whistle at any time of day. There’s a large greengrocer in one stall and also an antiques dealer as well. It gets busy but not at all crowded, making a pleasant way to while away the morning, and you’ll definitely leave with some tasty treats. Had the best sourdough bread I’ve had here!
Whitecross Street Market
This is where I first tried out Luardos, discovering just when my job was finishing how close I had worked to Whitecross Market all that time. I think this might have been Eat My Pie’s original homestead but you can get all sorts of stuff here – falafel, some sinful cheese, potato and chorizo dish, Green Goat which are maybe a little healthier, plus a few stalls to head to for dessert as well.
Broadway Market/Netil Market
Right in the heart of hipsterville by London Fields is Broadway Market on a Saturday morning. The road is crammed with street food stalls such as Eat my Pies and Banh Mi 11, and the stall who spawned them, Caphe Viet. There’s a pretty wide selection of vegetarian food on offer, and gluten free goodies, as well as cheese stalls to sample, and someone doling out olives, hummus, harissa and other Mediterranean yumminess. As if that wasn’t enough, around the corner is Netil Market where the ‘dirty’ food is – Lucky Chip have their famous van here and Junkyard Coins installs his cart here at the weekends too (try the frosted flake nuggets), as well as Fin and Flounder serving up some tasty seafood – we tried deep fried oysters and a crab roll from them and last time we were there we braved hail to devour tacos from Breddos Taco Shack. Amazing.
Exmouth Market
This is a market for the working lunchtime crew. It’s set up weekdays on Exmouth market for those who don’t want a sit down lunch. Most wares are about 5 pounds and there is quite a variety to choose from, though the traders here vary from day to day. You could get yourself a curry from the Ghanaian place, which is very popular. Or a salt beef bagel – their mustard has quite a kick. Often, at one end of the street is my downfall – amazing cakes, chiefly all sorts of tempting cheesecakes. And the slices are by no means small!
Kerb
And of course, no blog post on London food markets would be complete without giving a mention to Kerb. They are expanding like no one’s business – they have a regular spot on King’s Boulevard every lunch time in the week. They’ve got a weekly residence at the Gherkin on Thursdays and pop up at various special occasions as well. This is all about food to take away, from traders like Fleischmob, Molly Bakes the Ribman of course, and Original Fryup Material (doing fancy egg and sausage muffins).
So there you go – weekend or weekday there are plenty of places to fill your boots and sample food from around the globe. You could probably eat a different dish every day for a month with this lot, at least! And if anyone knows of any other food markets that are worth investigating, make sure to let us know in the comments.
Happy eating!
Written by Gingle of Gingle Lists Everything