It has been a few years since I last visited Greenwich Market. The place has always been something quite special to me. It goes all the way back to my very first Christmas in England. My friend was so kind to have invited me to stay with her family to experience this festive holiday during my first year abroad.

The Greenwich Market is the first place we went after we settled into her house. I remembered that festive vibe and simply how grateful I felt for everything at that moment. So it’s been a couple of years and I decided to grab my friend (they moved away from that area now) and head back for a little nostalgic tour. As you know me, food is definitely priority as always – and that’s what I’m writing about here.

There’s one thing that’s absolutely unforgettable even after all these years is the Brazilian Churros. What makes these churros stand out is that they have the sauce piped INSIDE the churros . They have the option of dulce de leche, i.e. caramel, or chocolate sauce. Even better, you can order half and half to taste both of them!

I don’t think I know anywhere else around the city that serves churros this way. This was the first thing that I went for once arriving the market. That gorgeous golden crisp on the outside was sheer perfection. It was such a genius idea to pipe the sauce inside the warm churros – imagine the sauce oozing out as you bite into the warm freshly made churros, it was simply one of the best sensations ever.

Right next to the churros stall, we saw this stall selling massive Arancini. What caught our attention was seeing the gooey and cheesy centre as they serve it being cut into halves. My friend looked at me and immediately pointed that this would be our next stall to try.

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Arancini is one of those hard-to-not-love type of food. It’s such an Italian classic and no one should complain about deep fried stuffed rice balls. Anyway, the stall is called Mama Mia I believe. They have a range of stuffing available but since they aren’t halal, we had to stick with the vegetarian options which is either spinach & mozzarella or mushrooms & mozzarella.

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We decided to go for the spinach & mozzarella one. Visually it definitely looked stunning. The shell was nice and crispy with this beautiful golden colour. I remember the ones I’ve had in Italy has this luscious gooey texture from both the rice and cheese. The ones here, yes they do have a cheesy middle but it felt rather separated to the rice. What I mean here is that it in overall didn’t deliver the gooey velvety texture for the whole thing. It did feel a bit dry towards the end – meaning it probably needs a bit of sauce on the side or simply make the rice and stuffing more saucy and gooey in my opinion!

After that we just walked around the market a bit. There are of course more food stalls all around the place. For instance some Portuguese baked goodies, empanadas, mini pancakes, cakes, macaroons, pies, quiches, sushi, etc. A couple caught our attention, such as Lilika’s Treats, which makes all these interesting flavours for their macaroons, such as red velvet, tiramisu, chai, gingerbread, oreo, so on and so forth, and even mulled wine flavour for all those who love celebrating this festive time with that.

There’s also this Jamaican stall that sells traditional cakes and snacks. They offer tasting samples on some Coconut Drops and Peanut Butter Drops, which I curiously picked up since I never tried them before. They tasted absolutely delightful with this natural sweetness and crunch – an impeccable snack to munch on and definitely worth a try if you’ve never tried before!

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The main market area, being set within a World Heritage site, of course feature a lot of unique arts & crafts and antiques. The crafts in particular caught my attention the most, for instance candlelit china (from Teabird), incense, leather products, hand crafted wooden decors, embroidery, glass accessories, paper art, so on and so forth. I also noticed a few stalls offering tarot card reading and such, adding a slight exotic “gypsy” kind of vibe to the place. And as a result there are also a lot of stalls selling these accessories that surrounds the topic of drawing energy, healing or auspicious items, which aren’t my cup of tea but interesting to look at.

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We thought that was pretty much it until I turned a corner and discovered this used-to-be empty area right outside the covered market is now packed with hot food stalls! And this is certainly something that gets me proper excited – our visit to Greenwich Market just turned better.

I didn’t see halal options out there or I didn’t look close enough. There are hot pastas, grilled sausages, curries, Caribbean food, Portuguese food, etc. Out of the many stalls we decided to try this stall call M’Lord of the Fries.

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You see these luscious fries? They’re amazing and you should read more about them from my previous blog post 🙂

As it was freezing cold, we didn’t stay there long. It was a very nice, short but sweet little trip to Greenwich. That nostalgic feeling really warms my heart. I feel that though it might not be a very top-listed market to visit in London, it has its own unique vibe that carries a charm with it.

Outside the market you can go see the Cutty Sark, the Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory, the Old Royal Navy College, the Greenwich Foot Tunnel etc. – it’s a lovely area to walk around so do check it out!

Last but not least, check out this little video I’ve complied about this little trip to Greenwich Market (like & subscribe please!):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN1AxuJV3nc]

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