Last Updated on 20 February 2023 by Colette
We’ve just got back from spending a few days in London over half term. We stayed at an Airbnb in Brondesbury Park which meant that we were a short train ride away from Camden Market. We made plans to head down there on our first afternoon on the basis we could have a bit of a wander and get some food while we were out. As it turned out, we ended up heading back to Camden Market on our way back from the Science Museum later in the week as well so this list covers what we ate at Camden Market over the course of two visits.
Camden Market is a pretty famous market – historically it was one of London’s first crafts and antiques markets and this remains the principle for Camden Market today. You’ll find vintage clothing, handmade items and one-of-a-kind gifts (as well as Sports Direct . . . no, we didn’t get that either.) We spent hours browsing the stalls picking up a vintage blouse and a hoodie for Chloe, rings for both girls and bits of souvenirs to take home but really, the main focus of our visit to Camden Market (and in fact the bulk of our spending) was food.
I wanted to share with you all the things we ate on Camden Market over the course of two afternoons there – I don’t have photos for everything we ate as some things were just consumed too quickly!
Camden Market is something of an assault on the senses – we went on a Tuesday tea time into the early evening and then again on a Thursday afternoon – it was heaving both times. It’s busy, noisy and there’s lots of queues – there’s not much space to pass by at certain points though this does seem to eb and flow. Some places which had huge queues the first time we went were dead the second time or vice versa – in fact even during the course of each visit queues would build and dissipate. Essentially you don’t really want to be visiting Camden Market in a rush – just take your time and enjoy the atmosphere and a spot of people watching.
There are so many food options at Camden Market that the hardest thing is choosing what to have. As far as we could work out, food at Camden Market is split into three main areas – around the locks to the left side of Camden Market, through the “Stables” in corridors or alleys of food stalls and then out at the front of Camden Market near Cyberdog. There are places to sit down and order food and drinks dotted around the locks and the edge of the markets but everything we bought was from the various street food stalls (mostly around the locks area) and eaten standing.
When I was younger, I remember my mum saying you could tell a good butcher by the length of the queue – these days I tend to think it’s more a case of the various food vendors going viral on tiktok or instagram! There seemed to be constantly long queues for Uh K Dogs and Funky Chips in particular – we avoided both.
One of the things I really liked at Camden Market was how lots of the street food vendors have pre-cooked food out on display to help you choose – I appreciated that this gave me a good idea of what the dishes looked like and how big they were. Lots of the stalls were also offering bits and pieces for you to try though we tended to decline these.
Eating at Camden Market isn’t especially cheap – but then I think that’s to be expected these days. £10 seemed to be a pretty standard price for most things – which soon adds up when you’re paying it five times over but is still considerably less than a sit down meal would have been! All the stalls we shopped at or ate at took card payments – which I think is pretty standard now but it does make life easier.
Some of the food stalls at Camden Market are quicker than others (depending on the queue or just how long it takes to prepare your order) so we found that sometimes one of us would have finished eating before the others had even bought their food – you just have to go with the flow a bit unless you’re all going to eat from the same place.
If you’re eating at Camden Market, be prepared to stand up and eat – unless you’re eating at somewhere that has specific seating, there isn’t really a lot of places to sit down and, as I’ve already mentioned, it’s usually pretty busy so your chances of finding somewhere to perch are fairly slim.
Over the course of two visits to Camden Market, this is what we ate!
Pasta from The Cheese Wheel
Pasta is pretty much always Chloe’s failsafe food option when we’re eating out and especially at food markets. She actually just ate bolognese three days in a row at a festival once when she was younger. Whilst part of me wishes she would branch out (and resents paying through the nose for what is essentially a spag bol) it’s something she knows she likes and will enjoy so at least we know it won’t get wasted!
The pasta at Cheese Wheel is a generous portion of fresh, hand-rolled tagliatelle, not just some dried supermarket pasta which at least makes me feel better about paying top dollar for it! Predictably Chloe chose a beef ragu to top her pasta along with a good sprinkling of freshly grated Grana Padano from the giant wheel and let me tell you, she was not sad about her meal choice!
Check out The Cheese Wheel on Instagram
A Yorkshire Pudding Wrap from Yorkshire Burrito
I’d spotted the Yorkshire Burrito on instagram ahead of our visit and knew straight away that this would be right up Amy’s Yorkshire pudding loving street! She was absolutely starving and somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of choice at Camden Market so having walked all around the food options twice over, I finally convinced her that the Yorkshire Burrito was the way to go.
The Yorkshire Burrito is a classic Sunday roast wrapped up in an easy-to-hold burrito-style Yorkshire Pudding – they do beef, chicken or a vegetarian option. Amy opted for beef even though this meant a bit of a wait as they’d run out when we ordered! Her Yorkshire Burrito was hot, packed with Sunday roast goodness and super tasty – so much so that Dave went back and ordered one for himself.
Check out Yorkshire Burrito on Instagram
A Cheese Burger from Honest Burgers
In much the same way as Chlo will typically make a beeline for pasta, Ben loves himself a cheese burger – the bigger the better. It actually took us a little while to settle on where he should get his burger from – there’s a number of vegan options at Camden Market which he neatly swerved but then we spotted Honest Burgers which is just to the left of the main markets before you move through into the locks area.
Honest Burgers is actually one of the places at Camden Market that has a small amount of seating – both indoor and out – so Ben was able to sit down and eat his burger whilst I was traipsing Amy on her second tour of the markets trying to get her to make a decision! As such I don’t have a picture of Ben’s burger as he’d long since eaten it by the time I got back however he reports that the rosemary fries were amazing (which Dave agreed with) and Ben recommends you buy those separately but don’t bother with the burger as it was so garlicky that he couldn’t taste anything else.
Check out Honest Burgers on instagram
A London-Style Ruben from Brisket & Bagel
Show me a Reuben and I’ll show you my happy face. I eventually chose a London-Style Reuben from Brisket & Bagel – the bagel was soft and tasty – the salt beef perhaps a bit more neatly chunked then I might have liked if I were being fussy but it was covered in mustard and just all round delicious.
You won’t find these guys on instagram but you can get more details here
Chicken Shawarma from Lebanese by Mezzet
As we were making our way back to Camden Market for our second visit, and another very late lunch, I encouraged the kids to think about what they might want to eat ahead of time in the hope we could get everyone fed a little quicker. Ben and Amy both put in requests for chicken shawarma (Ben still remembering how good his shawarma at Borough Market had been the day before and Amy still fancying one after she missed out when Ben ordered the last one!).
We found chicken shawarma (amongst some other delicious looking Middle Eastern treats) at Lebanese by Mezzet and ordered them one each! Amy swiftly removed her pickle, which I gladly took off her hands and promptly devoured her shawarma – Ben said that the one from Borough Market was better purely on the basis of the garlic sauce but it was definitely a good one and he was happy with his tea!
Check out Lebanese by Mezzet on instagram
Pizza from Camden Pizza Co
Dave returned to Camden Markets with pizza on his mind – but for some reason it took us a while to find him one. Ridiculously we realised after a full tour of the market, we had actually been stood right near a pizza place in the first place! However, he managed to order his pizza (and a cheeky side of arancini while he was waiting) from Camden Pizza Co which is right in the heart of Camden Market. The pizzas are, as you’d expect, freshly made to order and we appreciated the bar style seating that meant we could rest our legs while we waited. If you want to be able to sit down and eat your pizza, Camden Pizza Co is a win, however we got Dave’s boxed up and headed back out to the locks where the kids were waiting for us with Nana.
Check out Camden Pizza Co on instagram
A burger from Burger and Beyond
Branching out from pasta (hurrah) Chlo decided she quite fancied a burger for her tea this time round – I didn’t actually see it as she was ordering when I was getting Ben and Amy’s shawarma and by the time her order was ready, Dave and I were off seeking pizza! Their only criticism of the burger was that there was too much ketchup on it which made it difficult to eat as everything kept sliding around.
Check out Burger & Beyond on instagram
Paneer Masala Cheesy Naan Wrap from Khaoo Karachi
Despite having told the kids to plan ahead and think about what they might want to eat at Camden Market, I totally failed to take my own advice and found myself once again overwhelmed by the choice – not wanting to waste money on something I might be disappointed by! Food regret is real!
In the end, the promise of masala fries drew me to Khaoo Karachi where I ended up not actually ordering masala fries but a paneer masala naan wrap. There was a bit of a queue to order but that moved quickly, however it took forever to get the food. That said the the paneer masala cheesy naan was a 10/10 and I definitely recommend! It was a bit messy to eat -all stringy cheese and curry pressed into a naan. A fork and a fist full of napkins would have been useful but miraculously I didn’t spill any on myself and kept my hands pretty clean – I shall save you the horror of the photos Dave took of me trying to eat it – needless to say he was thoroughly entertained by my efforts.
You can find more details about Khaoo Karachi here.
Bubble Waffle and Mini Pancakes, Sweet Now
Having basically combined lunch and tea – we let the kids choose a sweet treat from Camden Market too. As soon as I spotted the bubble waffles on display at Sweet Now, I knew that all three of them would be keen to dive straight in. (I kinda wish we’d taken them to Hans and Gretel but with hindsight it’s probably better that we saved that for another time!)
Ben and Amy ordered bubble waffles (which look enormous but are probably fairly standard sized waffles with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream – Ben finished his, and then helped Amy when she couldn’t manage the last of hers!) Chloe had the mini pancakes as she knew she wouldn’t be able to eat all of the waffle – sensible girl!
Check out Sweet Now on instagram
So that’s what we ate over two meals at Camden Market – as you can see, there is plenty of variety and we barely scratched the surface! I’m quite sure that now the kids have been to Camden Market, it’s somewhere they will want to return (well apart from Ben who claims that “browsing” is his least favourite type of shopping – just as well there was plenty of good food to reward his efforts!). In fact when I asked them if there was anything they wanted to add to this post, Chloe said “If you’ve not been to Camden Market, you’re not living”.
I’ll be writing about our experiences at Borough Market and our itinerary for our trip over the next few days so keep any eye out for those posts too!
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