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street food in London

Whenever I make the journey into London, I try to search out some new food places. On this trip, I came across two very different ways to eat out in the open air. My visit was long before anyone had heard of Covid19 or social distancing, but outside dining is now even more desirable.

I particularly wanted to visit one of the KERB street food markets as I'd heard good things about them. I chose the one operating at an easily recognisable London building: The Gherkin (or 30 St. Mary Axe, to give the building its correct address). KERB describe themselves as "a membership organisation dedicated to the incubation and acceleration of London's most promising street food businesses".

KERB street food at The Gherkin

KERB have some distinguished alumni among the businesses they've hosted over the years. They include Rola Wala, Baba G's and Bleeker Burger, but the trader I particularly wanted to try was The Rib Man.

London street food legend: The Rib Man

Mark Gevaux, aka The Rib Man, specialises in rib meat rolls and hot (as well as super hot, and super-super hot) sauces. I made a point of trying one of his rolls when KERB was visiting The Gherkin. It was liberally coated with his signature Holy F*** sauce and it was absolutely delicious.

The Rib Man's rib meat roll with his signature Holy F*** Hot Sauce

I moved on from The Gherkin to an old haunt of mine: Leadenhall Market. Long, long ago I used to work in the City of London and often visited Leadenhall Market in my lunch hour. In those days it was still a proper food market, but now it is host to fancy shops and numerous restaurants and cafés. The Lamb Tavern is still there though, so I treated myself to a pint of Young's bitter.

inside The Lamb Tavern looking out onto Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall Market is an elegant Victorian arcade. There has been a market on the site since the fourteenth century, but the present structure was built in 1881. As you can see from the picture, it had no shortage of diners on the day I visited. It is ideal place for outside dining even when the British weather is less than kind.

cafés in Leadenhall Market

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