Editor’s Pick: Broadway Market

The Tomfoolery Editors experience British boho chic at Broadway Market!

Lena says:

Fresh flowers galore at Broadway Market.

Just a footstep in Broadway Market and I’m surrounded by lush peonies and pink tulips, gooey bries and smelly camembert, smoky chorizo, marshmallow-chocolate cupcakes, and heart-shaped berry tarts dusted with powdered sugar.

I am in a foodie’s heaven. The small street in Hackney is dotted with cafes, pubs, restaurant’s and boutiques and the center is crowded with beautifully arranged stalls brimming with the sites, smells, and tastes that I adore about farmer’s markets.

There’s a real community vibe here. It doesn’t have the touristy crowds of Portobella and the stall owners are smiling and helpful—eager to give you a taste of their recently baked chocolate chip cookies or peppered goat cheese. The market not only sells delicious fare, but handicrafts and clothing are also popular amongst the locals.

Lilly and I are beckoned towards a Vietnamese coffee and Bánh mì eatery named Ban Mi11, off the side of the road. When I lived in San Francisco, I used to frequent my favorite Bánh mì restaurant in the Tenderloin district, so my expectations were high. We order two Café Sua das (Vietnamese iced coffee) barbeque pork banh mis, which were served on crusty French baguettes filled with freshly grilled barbeque pork, pickled carrots and radish, cilantro, fish sauce and chilli. I devoured every tender bite and the iced coffee was sweetened with condensed milk to perfection.

I have found yet another spot to return too and yet another place that takes me back to sunny days spent in flip flops and sundresses eating my way from Saigon to Hanoi.

Lilly says:

A musical trio performs to the boho chic crowd.

It’s hard to pin down the style of Broadway Market in Hackney, a neighborhood of East London. Grubby chic? British boho? At first glance, it appears to be the antithesis of Mayfair, yet these hippies have seriously good taste. Cool cafes like Hurwundeki greet you as you head towards Regent’s Canal. Though the market is held only on Saturdays, the everyday gourmet shops lining the street sell quality goods like thick stalks of white asparagus that would make a discerning Parisienne weep.
 
The first of many cute families comes into view adorned with a mix of black leather, corduroy and vintage floral. They remind me of Brooklyn style; in fact, they could’ve been Heath, Michelle and baby Matilda strolling Boerum Hill during much happier times.
 
But like Brooklyn, the word on the street is spreading. Broadway Market opened five years ago and from what people are saying, popularity has recently skyrocketed, despite concerns from some of the more protective stall owners.
 
“It used to be more friendly, more community-oriented and now it’s more touristy,” said one cheese maker who has been a part of the market since day one. He sells his nice-sized blobs of buffalo mozzarella for £3 each.
 
Certainly bigger crowds must be better for business? Looking grim, he responded: “Not for me because I’m selling products. More people are coming for fast food.”

Café Sua das and barbeque pork banh mis.

Lena and I skulk away feeling guilty, as we are clearly some of these people. But I am hungry and ready for some “fast food”. Indian, Moroccan, Persian and Turkish fresh food was being prepared, interspersed with stands selling everything from vintage clothes, fresh flowers, organic juices, coconut cream cakes and mini-bottles of elegantly boxed white truffle oil (gift-giving is a cinch).
 
A stall at the market costs £25 a week plus £9 pounds to the council. You also have to be accepted by the board. Bee Friedman who sells goods from South Africa, her native country, explained: “You have to offer something unusual. You can’t do something highly manufactured.”

What she means is that you can’t sell any old cookie. Cinnamon Tree Bakery sells shortbread owls and cinnamon elephants made with organic ingredients and “no nasty extras.”
 
We finally come to a decision and plop down on one of the numerous porch chairs set up in the center. A trio of musicians entertains us, and we enjoy Vietnamese sandwiches, iced Vietnamese coffee and of course, shortbread owls. Impossibly well-behaved babies bob their heads to the music. Like their parents, they too are dressed in boho duds. (Another unique find at the market are adorable handmade baby clothes.)
 
Broadway Market is open every Saturday from 09:00 – 17:00. The neighborhood will soon offer a Farmer’s Market every Sunday.  I hope the cheese maker is happy.

Broadway Market

Broadway Market, London E8, 07872 463 409

www.broadwaymarket.co.uk