Portobello Road Market

London is famous for its markets but London markets are often more like flea markets than farmer’s markets.  Some of the more famous are Camden, Spitalfields, Petticoat Lane, Portobello Road, and Brick Lane but there are dozens.  I first visited Portobello Road about ten years ago and I remember a seemingly endless stream of white tented booths stretching for several blocks down the middle of the road.  The booths mostly sold the merchandise you usually see in flea markets, with perhaps more clothing than most.  The storefronts on either side resembled “permanent” versions of the booths with a handful of antiques and collectibles dealer galleries.

I’m visiting London and yesterday my true love and I revisited the market.  Structurally, not much has changed, except that the shops have moved upscale and food has moved into the booths in a big way.  There were a few fruit and vegetable stands, but we also came across a cheese stand, vinegar seller, bakers, and more street food vendors than you could shake a skewer at.

The variety of street food was pretty amazing.  We saw German, falafel, Chinese, Peruvian, Mexican, Ghanaian, and Korean stands.  We saw vendors who specialized in fried potatoes that looked like stretched out Slinkies,  vendors who specialized in quinoa arepas, and vendors who sold coconut water still in the coconut (known as a jelly coco when I was in Jamaica).

The presence of all this food adds a real air of festivity to the market (which was probably helped along by the weather – I don’t think I’ve ever been in London on a day with brilliant sun).  We had a great time just wandering around, gawking at (and eating) the food, and passing by the 1962 commemorative cricket bats, collections of ceramic bulldog salt shakers, and handcrafted wooden boxes.

We also found a delightful little cookbook store that I’ll write about in another post that suggests that this part of town (Notting Hill) is becoming a bit of a food destination.