Armed with the newly acquired knowledge that Spitalfields has an excellent market scene, off I went with a friend to check it out on a lovely summer's Sunday. I was rewarded for picking a Sunday to visit as weekends are the busiest when it comes to the Arts market The market, gleaming and pleasant, was filled with stalls selling clever handifcrafts, handmade jewelery, pretty painintings, heavenly candles and just about every quaint thing under the sun. Don't know if it was just the pure joy of being out & about after a prolonged lockdown or the happiness of walking through places other than supermarket aisles and looking at things other than groceries, but it was sheer elation walking through rows and rows of stalls boasting of creativity. About two hours later, after we've smiled at vendors, chatted with artisans and made some impulsive purchases, we were ready for lunch. We didn't have to go far. The entire market is divided into two sections. One for the Arts and the other for... Food. As you turn into the passage leading to the food market, you witness rows and rows of stalls selling food from all over the world. Although Asian cuisine dominated, the variety was simply massive.
To take advantage of the massive choice that was on offer, I bought a pulled pork bagel from Dirty Bagels, a bubble tea from Nostealgia (the name y'all!) and 3 varieties of desserts from different stalls.
And here's the verdict:
The bagel was a bit too dirty and a bit too sweet for me. Sweet tasting meat is a complete no and is a crime on the senses - 'if its not dessert, it shouldn't be sweet'. Hopefully, it's a case of DB not getting the recipe quite right on that particular day rather than it being the 'house special'. If it is the norm, then sadly, I do have to strongly disagree with the food reviewers who thought it was one of the top 10 items to try in Spitalfields. It is most defintely not the best pulled pork out there. On a side note, for some reason, the guys didn't understand why I was asking for toothpicks. Really?
Now the The Bubble tea defintely hit the spot. It's the latest craze that seems to have caught on in London and there's a whole lot of them popping up all over the city. Not the first time I was buying one but there wasn't another strong contender in the drinks department that I could try.
For dessert, my first stop was the Humble Crumble. Claining to be London's first artisan Crumble Bar, it's a permanent fixture located towards the back of the market. If you have a sweet tooth, find your cure here. The warm crumble is topped with unusual toppings such as dried rose petals and cardamom with the usual custard. Verdict? Way.too.sweet. And the texture. No thank you. After going through 10% of it, I had to give up. With the intent to wash off the taste with a masala chai, I headed back towards the heart of the food market. And that is when I discover the Wheelcake stall. A must-try, these mini cakes are round and fluffy, made freshly in front of you with a filling of your choice. Watching it being made was very satisfying. And eating them was just as great a feeling.
With happiness restored, I was ready to wind down. It was just after 4.30pm and the artists were packing up their stalls. A pub/bar very strategically located just at the exit, was beckoning. Over well deserved glasses of aperol spritz, annoyingly pricey at £11 we decided to bring our tour of the Spitalfields market to an end.
Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.
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