THE KITCHENS | OLD SPITALFIELDS MARKET

Last week, we paid a visit to Old Spitalfields Market, one of London’s most iconic and treasured sites that relaunched in October 2017, to check out The Kitchens which form the heart of the market.

The Kitchens that launched at the end of last year, was designed by Norman Foster’s renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners as fully functional kitchens, in a stylish design update to the iconic East London covered market. Trading seven days a week trading, these ten units house a selection of London’s much-loved and critically acclaimed restaurants and food brands, curated by Chef Nuno Mendes. Current traders for summer 2018 include Flank, Thousand Knives, Dumpling Shack, Berber & Q, High Mood Food, Yum Bum, Lahpet, JiaBa, Pleasant Lady and Monty’s Deli. 

Each unit showcased a variety of delicious looking dishes, so we were definitely spoilt for choice. We started off at Broadway Market cult traders Dumpling Shack, and ordered the pork and leek pan-fried soup dumplings (aka Sheng Jian Bao which you’ve probably seen all over Instagram) and spicy dan dan beef noodles that is a famous dish in the Sichuan province.

The pork belly and fried chicken steam buns from Yum Bun were just as good as I remembered, and I was glad to finally get my hands on a Jian Bing from Pleasant Lady Trading with an extra filling of iberico pork that I would highly recommend. We also had a Berber & Q hummus served with warm pita that was tasty. I’m keen to try their lamb shawarma next time when I have more space in my tummy.

Running out of time (and stomach space) but still eager to try out Lahpet, we shared a portion of their coconut noodles with chicken that I will definitely be ordering again the next time I visit. If you’re a fan of matcha, don’t forget to check out Good Mood Matcha – we tried the iced Matcha Latte and Matcha Coconut Water which were both very refreshing. I was still craving Yifang‘s Mud Flip bubbletea from their Soho branch, but in this hot weather I really enjoyed their Fruit Tea that is a perfect summer quencher.

No food adventure would obviously be complete without dessert. We got a box of treats from one of my all-time favourite dessert purveyors, Babelle (all of them were good, it was hard to pick a favourite!), as well as Taiwanese snacks from Wheelcake Island that are freshly prepared in front of you and come with various delicious fillings.

And of course I couldn’t leave without striking a pose … it was quite a struggle after all that food! There were plenty more dishes that I would have liked to try but alas that shall have to be put on hold until next time … it’s times like this that I do wish that I had a bottomless tummy.

The Kitchen’s opening hours are Monday to Friday 11am – 8pm, Saturday 11am – 6pm, and Sunday 11am – 5pm. Find out more information via the Old Spitalfields Market website, and don’t forget to subscribe to my blog to stay up-to-date with my food/travel adventures!

• I was a guest at The Kitchens, but all views and photos remain my own.