Borough Market – What To Eat at London’s Most Famous Market

By Mark Wiens 42 Comments
Borough Market
Borough Market in London, England

One of the most famous places to visit in London, especially if you love to eat, is Borough Market.

The market was established in 1885, and it’s one of the most renowned markets in London for artisan prepared food, and fresh organic produce.

Though it mainly attracts tourists visiting London these days, it’s definitely worth a visit, especially for food lovers.

Things are not cheap at Borough Market, but they are high quality, and there is a good assortment of delicious things to try.

After attending the Chowzter.com awards in London, we had a few extra days in London, and headed straight for the market.

We arrived at 10 am on a Friday, and it was still very quiet; only about half the vendors were open, and the others were setting up.

Bread Ahead
The jenga tower of cheese sticks at Bread Ahead

As soon as we entered the gates of the market, the first shop to greet us was Bread Ahead, a bakery and school that produces great quality baked goods.

It looked like most things were savory, but there were a few sweet items as well.

cheese and olive stick
Cheese and olive stick

Though I wanted to sample just about everything, like the different varieties of focaccia, I settled for one of their famous cheese and olive sticks, which were stacked up like a game of jenga.

Price – 2 GBP ($3.37)

I rarely eat any kind of bread products, one because I didn’t grow up eating too much bread, and two because I live in Asia where bread is often not up to the quality (or quantity) as it is in Europe.

Being in London, it was a joy to eat really good baked products.

The olive and cheese stick was awesome, extremely crusty, and filled with bits of crunchy baked cheese and salty olives. Good way to start eating at Borough Market.

Borough Market
Outer section of the Borough Market

While waiting for more of the main food vendors to open, we headed outside to the extra section of the market (it’s the part outside the gates, looks sort of like the overflow section), and found a vendor selling Portuguese egg tarts.

Borough Market
Pastel de Nata

It had been years, since the last time I was in Macau, when I had eaten an egg tart.

The Pastel de Nata was good, but it was cold, so I think it would have been much better had it been warm, which would have made it softer and more custardy.

Price – 1.5 GBP ($2.53)

Boston Sausage
Burgers at Boston Sausage

I’m personally not a big sweets fan, so after a mouthful of sweetness, I immediately needed something salty.

A few strides away, we stumbled into Boston Sausages, a stall selling sausages on a stick, among other things, like burgers. Similar to eating Thai sai krok (video), the sausage was served on a skewer stick and piping hot.

Borough Market in London
The sausage was good, especially with that English mustard, amazing stuff

The sausage was quite fatty, but really tasty.

I lathered it up with English mustard, which really made the sausage burst with flavor. I loved that hit of horseradish from the English mustard, I think I could eat it on anything.

Price – 1.50 ($2.53)

Things to do in London
Just begging to be plucked and devoured

Still waiting for the other main vendors to open up, we browsed through the fresh produce areas of the market.

The produce was beautiful, so beautiful that I wanted to just sit down and start munching away on the fruits and vegetables.

heirloom tomatoes
The heirloom tomatoes were amazing

Everything looked amazing, but I think the most impressive items were the piles of heirloom tomatoes, which looked incredible.

I would have loved to sit right there and eat them all.

Borough Market
A few varieties of fresh mushrooms at Borough Market

Also, being a mushroom lover, the selection of fresh mushrooms looked great too.

London
12 month cured ham, looks marvelous to me…

At Borough Market you’ll also find plenty of purveyors of fine English cheeses, which you can walk around and often get samples of, and many European styles of cured meats like chorizo, ham, or prosciutto.

Seafood in London
Seafood looked wonderful, but you’ll pay a pretty price

There were also a number of seafood vendors, with a beautiful selection of crabs and lobsters, oysters, scallops, and fish.

Being a seafood lover, I would have loved to purchase everything, but buying seafood comes at a serious price in London.

Borough Market
A slab of salmon sashimi

A couple vendors in the market were selling fresh oysters to eat, and one vendor sold fried scallops with vegetables and bacon – something that really tempted me.

Monmouth Coffee
Macchiato at Monmouth Coffee

On the edge of Borough Market, though there was scaffolding blocking the sign as they were doing some renovation when I visited, is the very famous Monmouth Coffee shop, a place that’s famous for coffee.

Ying had a cafe au lait, and I decided to go for a macchiato.

The line was about 20 people deep, but since we got takeaway, it only took about 10 minutes to get our coffees.

I loved the macchiato, it was great quality, and woke me up nicely. Highly recommended if you love coffee.

Price – 2.5 GBP ($4.21) cafe au lait, 1.5 GBP ($2.52) macchiato

Many things to eat and sample

There were a lot of delicious things I would have loved to eat at the market, but if you eat everything, you could honestly run through a small bank account.

So I just had to choose a few small items to consume.

Brindisa Spanish Food
Chorizo sandwich at Brindisa Spanish Food

The next thing I decided to go for was the chorizo sandwich from Brindisa.

Brindisa is an entire small grocery store that sells all sorts of Spanish foods, and on the far left hand side, they serve up grilled chorizo sandwiches.

The chorizo was sliced in half, fried lightly, then filled into a toasted bun along with a fragrantly roasted red chili, and a handful of fresh rocket.

The chorizo itself was excellent, nice and salty, and bursting with flavor.

I think the sandwich could have been improved with some slices of red onion though, but then again, I have a bit of an addiction to strong tasting ingredients.

Price – 3.75 GBP ($6.32), you can order double chorizo for 4.50 GBP ($7.58), which in hindsight, I would have done, because there was way too much bread to chorizo)

Borough Market
Walking around Borough Market in London, England

Walking around, I didn’t know what to eat next…

I admired the rib of beef sandwich from Roast, the salt beef sandwich from Nana Fanny’s, the freshly made pastas, the game meat burgers and sandwiches, and some incredible looking burgers, but finally I settled on the famous duck confit sandwich from Le Marché du Quartier.

Le Marché du Quartier
You can smell that duck at Le Marché du Quartier from across the market

The duck was sizzling away on a hot plate in its own grease, and smelled beautiful.

The vendor took a ciabatta roll, lightly buttered it, added a few sprigs of rocket, and then filled it up with a good amount of the tender duck confit.

Duck confit sandwich
Duck confit sandwich at Borough Market

It was amazing, for sure one of the highlights of eating through Borough for myself.

The duck was fall apart tender, salty, and oozing with flavor and grease.

The duck itself didn’t have a strong ducky flavor actually, and to me it almost had a similar smoked pulled pork texture and flavor to it. Really good stuff.

I think I would have loved it even more with a generous hit of English mustard spread all over it.

Price – 5 GBP ($8.43)

Borough Market London
One more photo of the duck confit sandwich at Borough Market

Again, there were many delicious things eat at the market, and I didn’t get to taste nearly all of them. So next time I go back, I’m heading straight for the salt beef sandwich, and the rib of beef sandwich from Roast (available only on Fridays and Saturdays).

There are quite a few markets in London, like Broadway Market and Brockley Market, but one of the most well known and historically significant is Borough Market.

When you’re in London, spending a few hours eating through Borough Market is a great idea.

Borough Market in London
Arriving at Borough Market in London

Here’s the eating video…

(If you can’t see it, check it out here: http://youtu.be/G9ZMEilRPBY)

Visit Borough Market

Open hours:

Prices: You could easily spend 20 GBP per person
Website: http://boroughmarket.org.uk/
How to get to Borough Market: There are many ways to get to the market, but one of the easiest ways is to take the Underground to London Bridge Station, and follow the exit signs for Borough Market. Head up the stairs, and you’ll see the entrance to the market right there.

Have you been to Borough Market before? What did you eat?

42 comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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  • The SEO Buck

    3 years ago

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  • High Rated Gabru

    3 years ago

    Awesome share. Thanks. Keep it up.

  • sankar singh

    3 years ago

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  • Brit on the Move

    5 years ago

    I’m originally from the UK but up north so I was expecting something like pie and peas lol. A friend of mine is heading over to London for the first time in a few weeks so I am going to share this with her. It’s a really unusual eating experience!

  • fernando costa

    7 years ago

    i’ve been twice in borough market and i ate a wonderful kidney pie aside with a pint. perfect!!

  • Joe

    7 years ago

    Unmissable at the Market is Neal’s Yard Dairy, right next to Monmouth Coffee. Look for the distinctive Blue awning. The best selection of real U.K. farmhouse cheeses you will ever taste. And taste you will. You may taste through their entire selection, including the monumental Montgomery Cheddar, undoubtedly the best cheddar in the world. Unmissable!

  • Jamie Upton

    8 years ago

    Love your suggestions for lunch. Saw you on youtube and was inspired to visit the market for one of the best picnics ever. Tried sausage on a stick, cheesecake, fresh juice, olive breadstick, big cookie, and heirloom tomatoes. Shared with a few pals.

    • Mark Wiens

      8 years ago

      Hey Jamie, awesome to hear that. That food sounds delicious!

  • joe

    8 years ago

    Next time you’re in London, stop in at the wonderfully cheap and amazing Brick Lane Beigel Bake, right in Brick Lane, about as far (culturally and geographically) from Borough Market as you can get. 24 hours/7 days. Lots of sweets, but the real star is the fabulous Salt Beef Beigel, fresh out of the oven, slathered in English mustard, all surrounding slabs of the nicest freshly sliced corned beef. Sooooo good. My head tilts just like yours when I eat one!!!!!!!

  • Marcello

    9 years ago

    Looks like some great eating to be done here. Love the look of the duck confit sandwich

    • Mark Wiens

      9 years ago

      Thank you Marcello, yes there is very good food to devour!

  • Anna @ AnnaEverywhere

    10 years ago

    I love Borough Market! But my top choice would be either raclette stall or ostrich burger (love the exotic meats stall) 🙂

    • Mark Wiens

      9 years ago

      Hey Anna, glad you love it too. That ostrich burger sounds wonderful.

  • Askan

    10 years ago

    When looking at your pictures I am thinking: I did not eat enough when I was there.
    But at least I bought some of the mushroom patée which was really satisfying.
    Otherwise Borough market is one of my favourite markets at it caters the wides cross section of people: hardcore meat lovers, eco / regional fetishists, vegetarians, gourmet food lovers, exotic food lovers and tourists (like me). And here is my take on Borough market: http://askan.biz/2014/04/21/borough-market-london-uk/

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Hi Askan, nice to hear from you, thank you for sharing your experience at Borough Market too. I didn’t eat enough either – so much more to try!

  • Ally

    10 years ago

    Hi, may i know roughly how long did you take to finish walking around the whole Borough market? I’ll be going there at the end of the month and i was wondering if 2 hours is enough for me to finish walking (and eating :p) through the whole place!

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Hi Ally, great to hear from you. I think I was there for about 2 – 3 hours – and I think that’s a good amount of time.

  • Linda

    10 years ago

    Hi Mark, I’m hoping to visit Borough Market later this year, Can I ask what camera and lens you used to take these amazing shots? Kind regards from Borneo.

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Hi Linda, great to hear from you. I used a Canon 70d with a Tamron 17-50 mm lens. Thank you.

  • Steph (@ 20 Years Hence)

    10 years ago

    Eating at Borough Market was one of the highlights of our week in London when we were just there a few weeks ago. Like you, we had to be very strategic in what we tried because the food isn’t cheap, but I’m so glad we tried the roasted pork belly sandwich with apples & crackling from Roast. It was £6 but absolutely incredible… I actually still think about it and drool! Tony & I (foolishly) only got one and shared it between the two of us, but we were both fighting for the last bite. The next time I am in London, I will head straight to Borough and get that sandwich!

    (Also, we did see the duck confit stand while we were there but it was later in the day and, to be honest, the duck looked really dry and unappetizing. Next time if we get there earlier, I’ll be sure to try it!)

  • lily

    10 years ago

    Great post! My mum is a huge fan of your videos on food from different countries and this blog and always wanted to meet you. Next time maybe when you come back to london, please give a heads up on here or maybe on twitter so that she can take a photo with you as she’s a big fan.

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Thank you very much Lily, I really appreciate it. Cool, next time I go to London will try to let you know. Say hello to you mother for me.

  • lily

    10 years ago

    Great post! My mum always wanted to meet you as she is a fan of your videos of food all over many countries. She didn’t know you came to uk. Next time when you are in london near borough market, please give a heads up on here or twitter so she can finally have a photo taken with you as she is a big fan.

  • Sofie

    10 years ago

    You sure ate away!:)
    I visited Borough Market for the first time last year. Really liked it and I think the location definitely adds to the ambiance.
    I had dumplings there, by the way. And lots of samples:p

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Hey Sofie, good to hear you visited too. I did even see the dumplings!

  • ciki

    10 years ago

    such vivid shots.. brings back memories of being a student in the UK! Very nicely captured Mark!

  • Chris @ One Weird Globe

    10 years ago

    Good night – how did you EAT all this in one trip?! Seriously, this reads like a full day’s worth of food here…

  • Joe

    10 years ago

    Pity you did not go to the back of the market on the side of where they do the raqcklette(sic). They have this guy selling one of the best Paellas with chorizo. His burgers are served without buns and are as huge as pizzas !!!

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Hey Joe, thanks for reading and for the comment. I did see that vendor, but didn’t get a chance to try out… next time for sure.

  • Songtham

    10 years ago

    I would definitely get the duck sandwich, and a piece of Portuguese egg custard with Macchiato, if I were in Borough Market. Thank you for sharing.

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      You’re welcome Songtham, thanks for reading this.

  • Drew | The Hungry Partier

    10 years ago

    Thanks for sharing this man!! I am going to London in about 6 months, and I can’t wait to eat everything!

    Let me know if you find yourself in Korea anytime soon 🙂 The food out here is Fantastic!

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Hey Drew, good to hear you’re going to London, definitely check out Borough Market one day. Thanks, would love to go to Korea!

  • Ganesh

    10 years ago

    Really great stuff Mark!
    I am going to London next month and this post is definitely gonna help me in Borough Market.
    Thanks!

    • Mark Wiens

      10 years ago

      Great to hear that Ganesh, hope you can visit Borough!