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Back on the map: Old Spitalfields Market
Charting the evolution of the famous East London marketplace
East London's popular Old Spitalfields Market may have once supplied Victorian London with its fresh fruit and vegetables, but until recently it has become more renowned for its eclectic mix of fashion and design-focused shops than for its food offering.
Signs of change have slowly trickled in with the arrival of such establishments as Nuno Mendes's all-day eatery Taberna do Mercado, and now the acclaimed Portuguese chef has helped oversee the destination's biggest culinary transformation yet. Bridging the gap between a traditional restaurant and street food stall, the market has undergone a significant revamp to create The Kitchens, a collection of ten forward-thinking UK restaurateurs that have found a permanent new home in Shoreditch.
"We want to put Old Spitalfields Market back on the map as one of the most exciting and lauded destinations in London. It's a chance for us to bring Old Spitalfields Market into the modern day, and to celebrate all of the creative people and talent within this pocket of London," said Mendes. "In an age where retail is becoming much more impersonal and en masse, we want to re-establish that unique connection between traders and consumers, creating a more rewarding and personalised experience."
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Each featured restaurant has its own unit with fully equipped kitchen, but an open frontage allowing visitors to interact with the chefs cooking the food face-to-face - you could even find yourself having a chat with the owner. The impressive roster of names represents the vibrancy of the capital's current food scene, not only in terms of diversity of cuisine, but type of establishment. Here street food veterans such as Yum Bun and Dumpling Shack sell their wares alongside those who already have bricks-and-mortar outposts, including Nordic-inspired Rok and grill specialists Berber & Q. The casual dining space, allowing you to pick up dishes from a variety of vendors to eat at the communal tables, also provides ample ground to trial new concepts. These include a dessert bar from Happy Endings, which has expanded its offering beyond its signature ice cream sandwiches to a range of sweet treats, while other debuts include Thousand Knives, from the team behind Dalston-based Japanese restaurant Brilliant Corners, and Asian-inspired Bar Barbarian.
Providing more incentive to make the journey east is the added bonus that each restaurant has created a special dish unique to the market; Breddos Tacos has put together a BBQ duck variation served with tamarind, piloncillo and burnt onions, while Yum Bun has launched a new take on its fried chicken bun, which comes with a salted celery slaw and spicy Szechuan mayo. Beyond the ten restaurants, a number of foodie names have also set up shop in the surrounding smaller market stalls redesigned by architects Foster and Partners, including oysterman Bobby Groves, cake shop Lily Vanilli and canele experts Babelle. With the completed market set to feature more than 100 traders, and an event programme to be revealed in spring, Old Spitalfields Market has proved itself the new place to watch.
