The Best Places to Eat in Borough Market

Ten years last year, Brett Redman and Sam Lim’s original Elliot’s (there’s a second in Hackney) is looking better than ever after a quick smart refurb. It’s a cool place to open a bottle or two of natural wine with friends, and get stuck into sharing plates like Isle of Mull cheese puffs, the near iconic flatbread with trout roe, a whole John Dory with bisque butter or a mammoth Middle White chop with sage and lemon. And just when you think you’ve done your Borough Market shop, there are those wine shelves at Elliot’s. Pick up a limited run bottle to go.

This diaspora Sri Lankan restaurant has been one of the year’s standout new restaurants, and with good reason – a menu studded with excellent dishes like ray wing curry, bouncy gundu dosas with superb green chutney, and Jaffna crab curry is impossible to resist. A meal taken in its busy dining room is an event in itself, and ample reason to make a beeline for Borough Market with your nearest and dearest, but it’s equally excellent for a drink at the bar (there are a few cocktails, all good) and a few snacks while watching plumes of flame erupt in the open kitchen mere metres away. An enviable location on Tooley Street, in the thick of the market, also makes Rambutan ideal for people watching.

Oi oi, oysters and a glass of fizz for a tenner, you say? At Richard Haward Oysters in Borough Market, even the oiks can afford oysters. The Haward family has been cultivating oysters in the creeks around West Mersea since the 18th Century and shucking them at Borough since the early 2000s. There’s no standing on ceremony here: simply choose your shellfish (rocks, cherrystone clams or Colchester natives when in season) and slurp down al fresco with shallot mignonette or a dash of Tabasco®.

Walk-ins only.

In the tight-knit warren of restaurants in the Borough Yards development, this laid-back sherry bar stands out for its immaculate aesthetics and cosiness. It shares ownership with the likes of Soho’s Quo Vadis and Barrafina – there’s even a corridor to the latter, should you so desire a Spanish double header – so you know you’re in excellent hands. Alongside a superb cast of sherries, vermouths and Spanish wines on the menu, there’s a short-but-sweet list of cocktails and a rotation of Spanish cheeses and jamon to snack on. The design, too, is notable – rendered clay walls, cosy banquettes and a carved elm bar make it friendly on the eyes and a place to linger between stints of browsing produce. You might not make it back to the market – and who could blame you?

Probably the most luxurious place you can hide away in SE1, this sleek Spanish grill (from the guys behind Barrafina and Quo Vadis) is a dream. Inside, there’s a beautiful dining room and bar with three wood burning ovens turning out perfect peak seasonal vegetables, fish, and meat, while an al fresco garden — sheltered by a brick arch — offers the chance for guests to barbecue their own dishes on bespoke mini BBQ grills. Part of the impressive Borough Yards development, Parrillan Borough Yards is a destination in itself, but also perfect for a drink and snack when the Borough Market crowds get a bit much.

Strung with lights, trains rumbling overhead, there’s no more atmospheric place in London to scarf tacos than at El Pastor under the arches at Borough Market. Nip in for a cold Pacífico and a couple of Mexico City-style Al Pastor pork tacos with pineapple, or make an evening of it over margs and spicy micheladas made with El Pastor’s own new pale ale. Sharing dishes include classic pork carnitas and colourblock sea bream with salsa roja and mojo verde. Tortillas are made in-house from heritage Mexican corn.

Chef Philip Juma, fresh back from a trip to Baghdad, has installed a tanoor oven at Kubba, which means warm, fresh, bubbly, blistery flatbread with those charcoal cooked meats. The mixed grill’s a straight-up great order, but don’t overlook the eponymous kubba or Iraqi dumplings, stuffed with lamb and scented with Juma’s own baharat spice mix. For vegans, the mushroom chap, plumper and more pillowy, is no less flavourful. There’s just one dessert and it’s knafa: crispy, gooey, and made to order.

One of the best burgers in London. The quality of meat at this outstanding burger restaurant is assured, with each patty fashioned using dry-aged beef from native breed cattle from Swaledale Farm in Yorkshire; a soft, seeded bun, smoky mayo, and melty American cheese round it off. Creations like a burger layered with crisp pancetta and burnt butter are tremendous (though don’t sleep on the standard cheeseburger), while sides like truffle tots and fries with bone marrow gravy are about as decadent as it gets. Boozy cocktails hit the spot – excellent for pre-gaming or post-work dinners alike.

The Argentine empanada ranks among the world’s best handheld snacks. Find them freshly baked for £3 a pop at Porteña where the range of tasty fillings includes chorizo, beef, and cheese and onion. The practised Borough Market shopper will have one on the go while shopping; others take a break to enjoy them with a cold Quilmes beer or glass of Malbec.

Walk-ins only.

The (virtual) queues at Padella are insane, but then so’s the pasta. This pace-setting pasta joint from Trullo’s Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda (they met at the River Café) always impresses. You’ll want it all: the pici cacio e pepe that lives up to the hype; the verdant nettle tagliarini with egg yolk; the good-for-you wholegrain cavatelli with broccoli and anchovy. The drinks are classic Italian too. One Negroni leads to another, or a carafe of kindly priced Italian white or red. To snag a spot, join the virtual queue via QR Code or the WalkUp App.

Walk-ins only.

The area surrounding Borough Market has seen a breathtaking uptick in the number of bars and restaurants on hand for pre- and post-market dining. Arguably, the jewel in the crown has been the arrival of Barrafina, that most beloved of London’s Spanish restaurants, and this, its latest and shiniest incarnation, also happens to be its largest. In addition to the glamorous bar – perfect for perching with a glass of cava and watching the chefs work – there’s also an intimate private dining room, and a rotating cast of specials is noteworthy in spotlighting anything from a Menorcan-style seafood caldareta to share, to seasonal fish and shellfish delicacies like percebes and sea cucumbers.

The regular menu remains as compelling as ever, with faultless tortilla, pan con tomate and grilled prawns offering three reasons to return. Drop in for a drink and a couple of plates, or go big and structure your evening around a meal here.

Maria’s Market Café, established in 1961, is a Borough Market institution, now run by the folk behind Terry’s Café, another local institution. Sitting at the wipe clean checked tables, polishing off a bacon butty and a cup of tea for a fiver, it’s hard to agree with those who moan Borough Market’s too fancy. Breakfast in a bap or the full English at Maria’s is a banging start to a day at the market. Builders’ tea comes strong and milky as standard.

Walk-ins only.

Kappacasein Dairy, est. 2000, have created the toasted sandwich and #cheesepull of dreams. See for yourself at the Bermondsey cheesemaker’s Borough outpost, where queues form early for that A1 toastie and their Alpine style raclette, served over new potatoes with gherkins and pickled onions for relief. Thursday to Saturday only. Say cheese.

Walk-ins only. 

Mother and son Lalita Patel and Urvesh Parvais first started selling their vegetarian and vegan Gujarati food out of Broadway Market in Hackney in 2005. They’re now there on Saturdays and at Borough from Monday to Saturday. Pop by their stand for a vegetable samosa or choose a thali for a selection of curries such as cauliflower and pea or potato and fenugreek, made to old family recipes.

Walk-ins only.