Borough Market is hectic and loud and, more than any other market so far, fully alive. Vendors eagerly give tastes of their food and the Market rarely has two stalls offering the same dishes in the same line of sight. Around one corner, a vendor offers burgers made of exotic meats and around another, a small Greek place is offering a multitude of kinds of honey. As food markets go, it's the nicest looking one, there's a professionalism to it closer to a convention than the traditional feel of a flea market that the London markets so often carry. It's not often that the sentence "there's something for everyone" can be uttered with little falsity, but Borough Market holds true to it. The variety of food and warmness of the vendors there can lead you to easily spend more money than planned, especially as you pass by vendors who are more gracious with their free samples. You'll soon have a small collection of the toothpicks they happily stick their food onto to give to you.
The Borough Market is also a great place to support homegrown foods, as many of the charcuteries and dairy products being sold there come from small farms from around England. Most vendors are happy to talk to you as you look around, and it's a very safe place if you're a tourist, with most people there going about the same business as you. Its clear Borough is backed by the city in ways others aren't, and it really feels like a spot London is proud of.
- Marius Black
Borough Market is every food lovers dreamland. Located almost directly across the road from the London Bridge tube station, Borough is a destination that must be experienced when traveling in the area. Set underneath its distinctive high green arches, the sprawling stalls feature foods from all around the world. It is the perfect place to grab a delicious pressed sandwich or to sample an exotic ostrich meat burger. Either way, the vendors within the market charge a considerable amount for their services. However, the quality and freshness of the food make up for the steepness of price.
The greatest days to visit the market are Friday and Saturday when it is the busiest. All of the food vendors are open during this time of the week and the atmosphere is at its liveliest. Borough attracts locals, foreigners, and tourists, so arriving earlier in the day is the best way to avoid long lines for service. However, the market floods with pedestrians fast. The walkways between the food stands are small so a little bit of shoving may need to occur in order to make it through the crowds.
Many of the food stands within Borough Market have gained a significant amount of publicity for their excellent goods. Bread Ahead is renowned for their freshly baked bread and treats. It is a great place to stock up on artisan baguettes, sourdough loaves, and garlic breadsticks. Customers can also purchase goodies such as brownies, doughnuts, and puff pastries. In the back of the shop, shoppers interested in cheeses and olives can find those as a compliment to their choice of bread.
La Tua Pasta, located on the bustling right side of the market, prides itself on its simple, homemade pasta. Customers can handpick their choice of pasta, along with it filling and sauce, to be cooked to order. Unlike other vendors who have a standard price rate for their food, La Tua Pasta charges per piece of pasta. They offer a variety of everyday options to choose from, as well as seasonal flavors. The more adventurous pasta eater may find the wild boar tortellini or the pumpkin chestnut ravioli to be well worth the sample.
For a cheaper food option, many customers who are not interested in the exotic food choices of the market head to Northfield Farm. The butchers who work here serve their choicest cuts of cattle and provide helpful advice on how to properly cook the meat for the best taste. On the opposite side of the shop, hungry customers can buy freshly prepared hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chips for £9.
Borough Market is full of excellent food produced mainly by small suppliers and artisans. While there are not a lot of places to sit to enjoy the food purchased, the market is still a great place to simultaneously eat and browse other shops. Customers can find fine wine, cheese, bread, craft beer, fruit juice, seafood, and world cuisine all in one convenient location. Even the pickiest eaters can be satisfied at Borough Market.
- Emilie Booth
While Borough Market may have sprouted from the small aspirations of a single butcher, it now sprawls in all directions. Beneath the train tracks, it has become a mall of food markets. The city version of a farmers market, food from around the world is spread and organized before the wide-eyed traveler. The stalls that crowd the area cover everything: German, Korean, Italian, Turkish; burgers, pasta, wraps, scones. There is fresh produce as well. The options are endless for all visitors—be it locals or foreigners—but all these options come at a price.
The workers are young, in want of money and they lack both genuine story and purpose. While you may receive a smile from the young worker selling truffles for £210/100g, you’ll never get a story of her origins or inspirations within the truffle business. Time is money and not to be wasted on conversation. And so the place fits in with London: Fast paced, worldly, and horrendously unforgiving of slow walkers. It’s a wonderful place to bring a mate for a day—to get a taste of what both London and this market have to offer. But as such, it is only a place to spend a moment. The fresh food must be whisked home quickly, the exotic food should be gobbled immediately. It has lost the small details and passions of local markets; instead, it holds dearly to the whirlwind of an amorphous city life. Borough Market, like London, is delicious and wonderful to experience occasionally, but it’s quite daunting when you realize you pass hundreds of people a day and you’ll never know a soul.
-Sam Normington
If you are one of the many people on this planet who are hungry for food and also hungry for love, then Borough Market is the place for you. With an endless supply of organic artisan food and attractive stall keepers selling said food, there is something for everyone. Perhaps you’re a fan of pasta; be sure to head to Il Tua Italia, where both fresh and takeaway pasta is available for purchase. The beautiful Italian shopkeepers, however, are not also for purchase. If perhaps you are searching for something of the more carnivorous variety, then simply head over to the butchery section, where beefy shopkeepers (who are packing just as much meat as the name implies) will be happy to sell you as many blood sausages and beef pies as you are able to handle. However, there is only one place in Borough Market which truly offers all that one could wish for. In the center of the market is a juice bar, selling a variety of blended beverages such as strawberry lemonade and mango carrot juice. However, these juices are not the main reason for visiting. The main reason is Jay and his fig and apple cider.
On a cold January day, steaming hot apple cider is just the thing to warm you up, as it the equally steaming hot vendor. Take the opportunity of purchasing your cider to try to brush his hand as he gives you your change. Stare deeply into his green eyes as he hands you your fourth free sample, and walk away with only the taste of fig and apples to remind you of the love which could, and yet could never have been.
- Kaley Whipple
One of the few solely food centered markets in London, Borough Market is a foodie’s wet dream. When first walking into the market, you are overwhelmed by the wide array of products and produce they have available, each stall offering food more wonderful than the last. From apples and oranges to artisanal cheeses and exotic meats. They even have truffles (actual truffles, not the chocolatey treats — though they have those too). And though some of the stalls may have a similar focus, such as fruits or cheese, upon close inspection you find that the specific products they are selling are surprisingly unique. Whether its the type of cheeses they're selling, the number of years its been aged, or the ingredients they’re adding to them, each stand takes such a different approach they are able to avoid much overlap, if any. And that’s just in the first section of Borough.
Once located in the lot behind the covered portion of Borough, they have an entire section of street-food vendors for almost every cuisine — you’re all but guaranteed to find at least one stand you’ll enjoy, if not love forever. While many stalls offer vegetarian options, there are a few gluten-free and vegan options, so even those with dietary restrictions — be it by choice or medical necessity — need not to worry. Tucked away across a small road that surrounds the market, this is the perfect lunch spot for locals and tourists alike. And while the prices in the more “grocery” section of Borough vary quite drastically (apples and yogurt being only a pound or two, while a truffle can cost upwards of one hundred pounds or more) the “take-away” food is rather inexpensive: you can easily have a three course, high-quality lunch for under twenty pounds.
My recommendations: Bacon, Egg & Cheese “Buddy” (sandwich) from The Roast; Hot (Alcoholic) Cider; and Macrons from Comptoir Gourmand.
- Emerald Stewart
The Borough Market is also a great place to support homegrown foods, as many of the charcuteries and dairy products being sold there come from small farms from around England. Most vendors are happy to talk to you as you look around, and it's a very safe place if you're a tourist, with most people there going about the same business as you. Its clear Borough is backed by the city in ways others aren't, and it really feels like a spot London is proud of.
- Marius Black
Borough Market is every food lovers dreamland. Located almost directly across the road from the London Bridge tube station, Borough is a destination that must be experienced when traveling in the area. Set underneath its distinctive high green arches, the sprawling stalls feature foods from all around the world. It is the perfect place to grab a delicious pressed sandwich or to sample an exotic ostrich meat burger. Either way, the vendors within the market charge a considerable amount for their services. However, the quality and freshness of the food make up for the steepness of price.
The greatest days to visit the market are Friday and Saturday when it is the busiest. All of the food vendors are open during this time of the week and the atmosphere is at its liveliest. Borough attracts locals, foreigners, and tourists, so arriving earlier in the day is the best way to avoid long lines for service. However, the market floods with pedestrians fast. The walkways between the food stands are small so a little bit of shoving may need to occur in order to make it through the crowds.
Many of the food stands within Borough Market have gained a significant amount of publicity for their excellent goods. Bread Ahead is renowned for their freshly baked bread and treats. It is a great place to stock up on artisan baguettes, sourdough loaves, and garlic breadsticks. Customers can also purchase goodies such as brownies, doughnuts, and puff pastries. In the back of the shop, shoppers interested in cheeses and olives can find those as a compliment to their choice of bread.
La Tua Pasta, located on the bustling right side of the market, prides itself on its simple, homemade pasta. Customers can handpick their choice of pasta, along with it filling and sauce, to be cooked to order. Unlike other vendors who have a standard price rate for their food, La Tua Pasta charges per piece of pasta. They offer a variety of everyday options to choose from, as well as seasonal flavors. The more adventurous pasta eater may find the wild boar tortellini or the pumpkin chestnut ravioli to be well worth the sample.
For a cheaper food option, many customers who are not interested in the exotic food choices of the market head to Northfield Farm. The butchers who work here serve their choicest cuts of cattle and provide helpful advice on how to properly cook the meat for the best taste. On the opposite side of the shop, hungry customers can buy freshly prepared hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chips for £9.
Borough Market is full of excellent food produced mainly by small suppliers and artisans. While there are not a lot of places to sit to enjoy the food purchased, the market is still a great place to simultaneously eat and browse other shops. Customers can find fine wine, cheese, bread, craft beer, fruit juice, seafood, and world cuisine all in one convenient location. Even the pickiest eaters can be satisfied at Borough Market.
- Emilie Booth
While Borough Market may have sprouted from the small aspirations of a single butcher, it now sprawls in all directions. Beneath the train tracks, it has become a mall of food markets. The city version of a farmers market, food from around the world is spread and organized before the wide-eyed traveler. The stalls that crowd the area cover everything: German, Korean, Italian, Turkish; burgers, pasta, wraps, scones. There is fresh produce as well. The options are endless for all visitors—be it locals or foreigners—but all these options come at a price.
The workers are young, in want of money and they lack both genuine story and purpose. While you may receive a smile from the young worker selling truffles for £210/100g, you’ll never get a story of her origins or inspirations within the truffle business. Time is money and not to be wasted on conversation. And so the place fits in with London: Fast paced, worldly, and horrendously unforgiving of slow walkers. It’s a wonderful place to bring a mate for a day—to get a taste of what both London and this market have to offer. But as such, it is only a place to spend a moment. The fresh food must be whisked home quickly, the exotic food should be gobbled immediately. It has lost the small details and passions of local markets; instead, it holds dearly to the whirlwind of an amorphous city life. Borough Market, like London, is delicious and wonderful to experience occasionally, but it’s quite daunting when you realize you pass hundreds of people a day and you’ll never know a soul.
-Sam Normington
If you are one of the many people on this planet who are hungry for food and also hungry for love, then Borough Market is the place for you. With an endless supply of organic artisan food and attractive stall keepers selling said food, there is something for everyone. Perhaps you’re a fan of pasta; be sure to head to Il Tua Italia, where both fresh and takeaway pasta is available for purchase. The beautiful Italian shopkeepers, however, are not also for purchase. If perhaps you are searching for something of the more carnivorous variety, then simply head over to the butchery section, where beefy shopkeepers (who are packing just as much meat as the name implies) will be happy to sell you as many blood sausages and beef pies as you are able to handle. However, there is only one place in Borough Market which truly offers all that one could wish for. In the center of the market is a juice bar, selling a variety of blended beverages such as strawberry lemonade and mango carrot juice. However, these juices are not the main reason for visiting. The main reason is Jay and his fig and apple cider.
On a cold January day, steaming hot apple cider is just the thing to warm you up, as it the equally steaming hot vendor. Take the opportunity of purchasing your cider to try to brush his hand as he gives you your change. Stare deeply into his green eyes as he hands you your fourth free sample, and walk away with only the taste of fig and apples to remind you of the love which could, and yet could never have been.
- Kaley Whipple
One of the few solely food centered markets in London, Borough Market is a foodie’s wet dream. When first walking into the market, you are overwhelmed by the wide array of products and produce they have available, each stall offering food more wonderful than the last. From apples and oranges to artisanal cheeses and exotic meats. They even have truffles (actual truffles, not the chocolatey treats — though they have those too). And though some of the stalls may have a similar focus, such as fruits or cheese, upon close inspection you find that the specific products they are selling are surprisingly unique. Whether its the type of cheeses they're selling, the number of years its been aged, or the ingredients they’re adding to them, each stand takes such a different approach they are able to avoid much overlap, if any. And that’s just in the first section of Borough.
Once located in the lot behind the covered portion of Borough, they have an entire section of street-food vendors for almost every cuisine — you’re all but guaranteed to find at least one stand you’ll enjoy, if not love forever. While many stalls offer vegetarian options, there are a few gluten-free and vegan options, so even those with dietary restrictions — be it by choice or medical necessity — need not to worry. Tucked away across a small road that surrounds the market, this is the perfect lunch spot for locals and tourists alike. And while the prices in the more “grocery” section of Borough vary quite drastically (apples and yogurt being only a pound or two, while a truffle can cost upwards of one hundred pounds or more) the “take-away” food is rather inexpensive: you can easily have a three course, high-quality lunch for under twenty pounds.
My recommendations: Bacon, Egg & Cheese “Buddy” (sandwich) from The Roast; Hot (Alcoholic) Cider; and Macrons from Comptoir Gourmand.
- Emerald Stewart