The iconic Borough Market in London dates back to over 1,000 years ago, and is home to more than one hundred vendors featuring high quality food from around the world! When I visited London for the first time, this market was the highlight of my trip, especially as a foodie.

Eating out at Borough Market may seem like you might spend a fortune, but the prices were actually quite reasonable! Even while traveling on a budget and going to the market solo, I was able to try a multitude of items for under £20.

In this blog, I’m going to detail everything you should try if you visit Borough Market, and which popular items I think are worth skipping.

At a Glance:

The Ginger Pig: Sausage Rolls
Turnips: Freshly Squeezed Juice and Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Taste of Joy: Éclairs
The Famous Wild Mushroom Risotto
Gastronomica: Traditional Sicilian Cannolis

Tip: When you go to Borough Market, I recommend getting there on the early end because it will be much less crowded. I went on Sunday morning for the opening at 10am so I could catch my flight later in the day, and I didn’t have to wait in any line! It started to fill in around 11am for the lunch crowd, so anytime after that I would expect longer lines.

The Ginger Pig: Sausage Rolls

Before going to London, my friend who visits the city often recommended I try a sausage roll and a Scotch egg because they’re classics here in England. So when I saw these at Borough Market, I knew I had to try at least one of them.

The Ginger Pig had both Scotch eggs and sausage rolls, but I ultimately decided to go with the sausage roll for my breakfast. I was close to trying both, but decided to save room to try other stands instead!

The sausage rolls here were my favorite part of the whole market! These really took me by surprise because the sausage wasn’t dry at all and was packed with lots of flavor. On the outside, the sausage is wrapped in a flakey pastry dough that gives the roll a nice crunch as you bite into it. I wish I tried a sausage roll earlier in my trip because I would’ve loved to have one for another meal!

Price: £6 for one sausage roll ($7.60)

Turnips: Freshly Squeezed Juice and Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Turnips is a stand that sells whole foods like fruits and vegetables, but also reels the crowd in with their famous juices and chocolate covered strawberries. Before visiting Borough Market, I had seen the most reviews online for the chocolate covered strawberries than any other item at the market, so obviously this made me want to try them for myself!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I tried a sample of the strawberries walking by and honestly I wasn’t floored by it the way I expected to be. It didn’t seem like anything super special! I decided to pass on buying them, especially since they were expensive at £10 for one 16 ounce cup.

Price: £10 for the chocolate covered strawberries ($12.67)

Freshly Squeezed Juices

The juices seemed really enticing to me because they had so many flavors lined up, and you could go right up to the stand, pay with Apple Pay, pick your juice, and move on to the next station!

I decided to try the mango-orange juice and it was so refreshing, especially after eating the sausage roll. To me, it was even a little too sweet, but I really enjoyed the juice and would get another if I go again!

Price: £3.50 for the juice, varies for each flavor ($4.41)

Taste of Joy: Éclairs

For my sweet treat, originally I was just going to try a cannoli, but then I walked by Taste of Joy and was immediately drawn to how beautiful their éclairs were! They had six different flavors in the display case, so it was definitely a tough decision. Ultimately, I decided to try their special flavor of the week for Valentine’s Day!

Their Valentine’s Day éclair was filled with a freshly made raspberry cream, and topped with a milk chocolate mousse, golden flakes, and more raspberries.

This éclair was absolutely perfect in every sense! I could taste how fresh the raspberry cream was on the inside, the flavor was strong but not overpowering. And the milk chocolate mousse on top perfectly balanced the fruitiness of the raspberries. And to top it off, the éclair was perfectly baked, and felt very light.

The first éclair I’d ever tried a few months ago had been dry and disappointing, so this brought my faith back in éclairs!

Price: £4.60 for one éclair ($5.80)

The Famous Wild Mushroom Risotto

The Wild Mushroom Risotto caught my eye because it is topped with a heaping amount of parmesan, and also I’ve been on a mushroom kick lately! I really wanted to try it, but since I went to Borough Market solo, I couldn’t reasonably try everything because A) that’s way too expensive, and B) I would be rolling out of the market.

However, when I walked by the stand, they happened to be giving out free samples so I gladly tried it!

The risotto had a very comforting aspect to it, but I wasn’t wowed with the flavor. It was tasty, but I expected it to be more of a party in my mouth like the other stands had been.

But also, I don’t believe the sample had parmesan, and there’s also an option to add truffle oil, so I think if I actually had it with all of the toppings, it would’ve been as good as people say.

Aside from that, I was glad I only got a sample and not the whole portion since it was slightly disappointing.

Price: £9.50 for the wild mushroom risotto with parmesan ($10.30)

Gastronomica: Traditional Sicilian Cannoli

The last thing I wanted to try was a cannoli from the Sicilian dessert stand, Gastronomica! I grew up having cannolis very often since my family is Italian, so I was eager to see how these compared.

I decided to keep it simple with their traditional cannoli with a vanilla filling. I thought the flavor was really good and the cannoli shell tasted very fresh!

Compared to the cannolis I grew up with in the States, the filling in the traditional Sicilian isn’t as sweet, which makes sense because I feel like in the States we make everything a bit sweeter.

Overall, I really enjoyed the cannoli, but I thought it was a bit expensive for just £2 for a small one!

Price: £2 for a traditional cannoli ($2.17) , £3 for the others ($3.25)

---

I hope my breakdown of everything I tried at Borough Market makes you excited for your future visit! I would love to hear all of your thoughts of what you loved about the market, and what you thought was over rated.

Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future blogs!

Xx – Carmela