The 10 best street food stalls in London

Find the best street eats in London as we count down on the best street food vendors at London markets, pop-ups and beyond.

1. Kimchinary

What do you get when you cross the punchiness of Korean cuisine with the Mexican folded wonder that is the burrito? One of Kimchinary’s incredible wraps is what, in which every element is laced with a flavour you didn’t see coming. Hanna Söderlund’s fascination with fermentation is part of what led her to create this unique and winning menu. Using staple East Asian ingredients like kimchi, gochujang, ssamjang and nashi pear, she’s turned familiar foods like pulled pork, kale and aubergine into something remarkable.

Don’t miss: the slow-braised bulgogi ox cheek burrito (£6). The rich, soft beef and its kimchi-fried rice, sesame slaw, spring onion relish and grated cheese form what is essentially an edible carnival tidily tucked within a tortilla.

Find them at: Kerb King’s Cross on Fridays, other Kerb markets on a rotating basis, Dalston Food Market, Street Feast Dalston Yard and Dinerama Shoreditch.

2. Bao

Shing Tat Chung, his sister Wai Ting and his girlfriend Erchen Chang have just opened a restaurant in Soho (53 Lexington Street), but in street-food world a visit to their stand in Hackney’s Netil Market has long been unmissable. Their brief menu of Taiwanese treats is all-star: handmade steamed milk buns piled with ingredients we never even knew our English bellies were craving, and nuggets of soya milk-fried chicken which are what KFC would be like if deities had deep-fat fryers.

Don’t miss: the pork belly gua bao (£3.50). The slow-cooked meat is stickily savoury, but coriander, crunchy pickles and caramelised peanut shavings turn it into an expertly balanced wonder-snack.

Find it at: Netil Market on Saturdays.

3. Sub Cult

Ben and Gaz have been putting soul into submarine rolls for a year now. Things generally kick off with a fist bump, then there’s the difficult menu decision while Ben wafts a freshly made sub under your nose; a dash of silly small talk keeps you entertained while you wait; and finally there’s a delicious party in your mouth. Their soft bread batons come with glorious filling combinations – seared scallops, pulled pork, calamari and parsley mayo join together to create a gentle version of surf and turf that’s a genius treat for the palate.

Don’t miss: the Subterranean (£5), a vegetarian dreamboat with woodland mushrooms, melted stilton and thyme and white truffle flourishes.

Find it at: Berwick Street Market (currently on Broadway Street) Thursday and Friday lunchtimes, Lower Marsh Market, Brockley Market and Dalston Food Market.

4. Bleecker St

Five years ago a lawyer named Zan Kaufman had the best burger she had ever eaten in New York City’s East Village. These days she is serving Londoners her own best effort from her black food truck (a permanent stand in Old Spitalfields Market), and even in our patty-packed city it’s knocking the ball out of the park. The only thing fancy about Bleecker is the meat: rare-breed, pasture-fed, dry-aged beef becomes juicy burgers with beautifully pink middles. Other than that we’re talking sesame seed buns, American cheese and Bleecker St’s own secret sauce.

Don’t miss: the Bleecker Black (£10), which was added to the original menu following its winning turn in 2014’s London Burger Bash. Its double beef, double cheese and fried onions are wedged around a thick slice of black pudding.

Find it at: Old Spitalfields Market daily, Street Feast Dalston Yard and on the South Bank May 23–Sep 30.

5. Mike and Ollie

If you’re fully on board with the use of pomegranate arils as a garnish, you need to make a trip to south-east London, stat. Mike Richardson studied design at Goldsmiths before realising that his calling was in creating magnificent flatbreads. Ollie is no longer a part of the operation but the name had already stuck, and let’s be honest, calling a food stand just ‘Mike’ would be pretty ballsy. Richardson will be opening a 30-seat bar in Camberwell this autumn, but for the original experience you’re best off making a pilgrimage to Lewisham one Saturday for freshly made wraps full of such treats as pan-fried Eastbourne mackerel fillet, beetroot-braised shallots, rhubarb hot sauce and homemade pickles.

Don’t miss: the lamb flatbread (£7). A lightly charred, fluffy organic bread is piled high with slow-cooked spiced lamb shoulder, fresh seasonal fruits (we got lucky with blood orange on our last trip), salads and Lebanese spices. This is the street-food world’s Ottolenghi.

Find it at: Brockley Market on Saturday mornings.

6. B.O.B.'s Lobster

This seafood venture began life providing food to a posh wine merchant (hence the name: it stands for Bedales of Borough), but it was such a hit that BOB’s Lobster crawled from its pot and into a natty red-and-white VW camper. As well as the eponymous crustacean, Rob Dann and team serve crab tater tots, ahi tuna tacos, fried oysters and an uber mac and cheese that’s made with four cheeses, lobster bisque béchamel, chunks of lobster tail and crispy fried shallots. BOB’s makes some of fine dining’s most exclusive confections affordable and it serves them wearing a bowtie and a smile.

Don't miss: the lobster roll (£11), obviously. Stupidly soft, buttery brioche holds a quarter pound of fresh lobster tail, claw, sweet knuckle and lobster coral that’s dressed only in a little van-made mayo, some celery salt, a dash of smoked paprika and a squeeze of lemon.

Find it at: Street Feast Dalston Yard.

7. The Rib Man

Proof that you’re better off starting a business because you’re really bloody good at it than because you think it’s on-trend, Mark Gevaux has been selling ribs on the streets of London since 2007. He qualified as a butcher at the age of 15 but following a serious car accident his leg was amputated, meaning that business insurance was out of the question. Meat, however, was not, and he started cooking ribs on disposable barbecues as samples at farmers’ markets. Demand was high and The Rib Man was born – his smoky, succulent baby backs have been shredded, piled high into white baps and drizzled with some insanely spicy sauces ever since.

Don’t miss: the chance to prove your heat tolerance. Gevaux’s Holy Fuck sauce is a delicious addition to the rib rolls (£7) and more manageable than it sounds. The Christ on a Bike version will blow your face off, though.

Find him at: Brick Lane every Sunday (but beware it usually sells out before 2pm) and at The Boleyn Tavern (E6) before every West Ham home game.

8. Savage Salads

Just because it’s healthy doesn’t mean it sucks, and these guys aren’t half proving it. Kristina and Davide met while working in a restaurant and decided to start their own business filling a wholesome gap in the street food market. Using hearty ingredients, they sell lunchboxes that are full of food to make your mouth water and your mum proud. The queue for their stand is always worth the effort – the results are incomparably better than the supermarket salad-bar equivalent and you get a welcoming smile rather than a self-service checkout at the end of it.

Don’t miss: anything. You can choose between chicken and halloumi, but why would you when you can go for both? Each box (£5) comes with fresh spinach leaves and four different salads. We advise trying them all: we’ve never had a dud yet.

Find it at: Berwick Street Market Monday to Friday lunchtime.

9. Spit & Roast

In a city that’s in love with the noble chicken shop, ditching your jobs in a successful Exmouth Market restaurant to sell poultry from a van doesn’t seem such a silly idea. And we’re lucky Justin Unsworth and Ross Gardner (ex-head chef and owner of Medcalf) went for it, because the chicken they’re selling is seriously good. The original line was in free-range rotisserie birds, but their fried chicken is now stealing the show (though occasional guest appearances from jerk pork belly-topped poutine see the queues lengthen considerably, too).

Don’t miss: the buttermilk fried chicken bap (£6). Massive pieces of crispy coated, buttermilk-marinated chicken in a soft white roll, with crunchy coleslaw and a slick of Korean-style hot sauce to keep your tastebuds on their toes.

Find it at: Kerb King’s Cross, Kerb Spitalfields, Kerb Gherkin and Brockley Market.

10. Smokestak

American barbecue is notoriously difficult to get right, and Lord knows London’s got more than enough claggy pulled pork to prove it. When David Carter bought a 4.5-ton smoker from Texas he was in pursuit of nothing less than smouldering-hot perfection, and it’s fair to say he’s mastered the art of flame-grilling. Carter believes that USDA-approved cuts make for better eating and sources his meat accordingly. US classics such as beef brisket are smoked just right and coated with gently sweet sauces that really bring out their flavour. Simple dishes which are simply delicious.

Don’t miss: the St Louis Pork Ribs (£7) which are thick with meat that’s just begging to fall off the bone and into your belly. The ‘house rub’ and barbecue sauce glaze ensure that you definitely get food all over your face. And that you’ll be running back for more.

Find it at: Model Market and Street Feast Dalston Yard.

Source of the text and the photo: TimeOut London

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