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 Where can you buy and eat organic fruit and vegetables, crêpes and pies and a huge selection of cheeses, handmade crisps in a variety of flavours, and a colourful mix of deli-style dishes?
The answer is Old Spitalfields Market, a wonderful alternative to the weekend slog at the local supermarket and cooking up a family meal; a place where you can choose an array of fresh market produce and epicurean delights from around the world – all under one huge, vaulted Victorian roof.
The recent completion of refurbishment work at Old Spitalfields Market has heralded the return of several popular eateries plus a swell of new additions that provide a gastronomic paradise for discerning food lovers. Visitors to Old Spitalfields Market can also browse at one of the market’s many food and drink shops.
 Square Pie, one of Old Spitalfields Market’s most popular eateries, is reopening on 1 October. Square Pie is the home of ‘London’s finest pies’, according to Time Out magazine. Freshly baked, choose from more than 15 varieties of all-natural pies served with fresh mash, peas and gravy. You can even buy them unbaked to cook at home. The pies are all hand-made using prime British meat and do not include artificial ingredients or hydrogenated fats – they are pies as they should be. For one week starting 6 October, Square Pie is offering all customers half-price pies.
Chop’d is dedicated to bringing delicious real food to real working lives. Chop’d offers a variety of salads, soups and breakfasts, freshly prepared every morning. Choose from a mouthwatering menu which includes favourites such as apple and raspberry muesli, runner bean and feta salad or Thai salmon and coconut soup, as well as tasty seasonal specials.
Family-run tapas bar Meson Los Barriles is a haven for food-lovers seeking authentic and traditional Spanish treats. Offering a friendly service and menu devoted to delicious tapas, this is the perfect place to bring family and friends. There is a wide variety of tapas, including albondigas, prawns pil pil and bacalao, and an open fish counter offering locally-source fresh fish and seafood.
 Le Bouchon Breton is set to open early October, offering visitors the opportunity to dine in a stunning French brasserie and champagne bar. Menu consultant and culinary legend Michel Roux Jr of Le Gavroche and Le Bouchon’s chef Eric Landeau have come up with a stunning menu for Le Bouchon Breton, which will include a brand new selection dedicated to a wide selection of shellfish, flown in daily, as well as a rotisserie section.
Adding a touch of Latin thrill to Old Spitalfields Market, Las Iguanas opened in July 2008. Its vibrant and colourful setting is one of several glass-roofed first-floor terraces at Old Spitalfields Market, offering a great celeb-spotting opportunity. The menu includes a variety of authentic regional dishes from Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Argentina, including specialities such as Seviche, lobster, seared yellowfin tuna, crayfish cooked in a mango, ginger and citrus marinade, and tasty tapas.
The Yorkshire Crisp Company, a thriving market stall, offers luxury hand-cooked crisps in a stay-fresh resealable drum. With flavours such as Parsley and Black Pepper and Chardonnay Wine Vinegar, it’s no wonder that the Yorkshire Crisp Company stall attracts a steady stream of visitors purchasing their sublime crisps.
 CrepeAffaire (left) is the latest addition to the market’s restaurants, providing a huge selection of freshly baked French-style healthy savoury and sweet crêpes. Using organic flour and fresh ingredients, CrepeAffaire’s tasty crêpes are packed with punch and fresh organic ingredients to give ‘pleasure you can measure’. Serving crêpes from breakfast and lunch through to dinner, they contain only a fraction of the fat and carbohydrates of standard pancakes due to the organic flour’s healthy properties.
Looking for unusual tea? Old Spitalfields Market’s TeaSmith, a finalist in the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards 2008 (for Best Tea Room), is a treasure trove of pleasure where you can find some of the world’s best teas prepared in front of customers for the ultimate tea experience. To accompany teas, TeaSmith serve award-winning chocolates and cake from master chocolatier William Curley. TeaSmith also stocks an exclusive range of contemporary Asian ceramics and one-off gift items.
Another favourite is Sweet Basil, a family-run Italian restaurant and pizzeria, which has become popular with city workers and local residents alike. Renowned for excellent service in relaxed surroundings, Sweet Basil offers mouth-watering traditional Italian cooking with the freshest ingredients.
Watch the world go by and pick up all the local East End gossip in the Daily Grind, a family run Italian-style café. The Daily Grind is the type of place that people have been using to briefly escape the daily grind for many, many years. Homely and welcoming, the cafe is ideal for a quick cuppa, a sausage and egg toastie, or a filled jacket potato for lunch.
Old Spitalfields Market is more than a simple food market; it’s a cultural experience and an exciting and varied family day out. Cuisine and couture combine at the market, giving you the chance to combine food shopping or lunch with a spot of retail therapy in and among some of Europe’s most up-and-coming designers, some of whom design in their own right for well-known high-street brands.
Old Spitalfields Market shops open seven days a week, and market traders operate on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. For more information on Old Spitalfields Market, please use the links below.
Contact
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7375 2963
Website: www.oldspitalfieldsmarket.com
Website: www.visitspitalfields.com
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