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I travel on my own a lot, but one problem with that is that I'm not a big fan of going into restaurants and sitting there by myself.
So when I'm finding something to eat I usually revert to street foods, markets, that sort of thing. Where you can just grab some food from a stand and keep wandering around eating it, or just sitting taking in the sights while you eat.
What are some of the best markets/street food vendors/to-go food places in London?
Thanks.
Edit: Bonus points for areas where there are lots of stands/vendors in the same spot, to give me multiple choices in one area.
There aren't so many stalls, but there are a lot of places you can take food away from. Most big train stations have a variety of such food places. Try a pasty, they are easy to carry around and pretty filling. Jellied eels are really good, traditional London food, but many people can't get over the ick factor.
Sorry but train stations is a terrible suggestion unless you want bland, generic, corporate stodge.
I agree with the other suggestions - Borough Market is tourist-clogged, but no more than it is local-clogged or office worker-clogged, and there is plenty of good stuff on offer. On a Saturday, there's also the excellent spin-off a little way east at Maltby Street, to where some former tennants of Borough have decamped in search of a more serious clientele. In fact, some have moved again, as Maltby Street began to resemble what it had sought to escape in Borough, to Dockly Road Industrial Estate, home of the superb Kernal Brewery (which only serves to the public from 9am to 2pm Saturdays...)
There's great Moroccan food to be had on Golborne Road in North Kensington - try the soup stand for loubia drizzled with olive oil or merguez made at the adjacent halal butcher, or a little further west toward the junction with Portobello Road there's the superb fish barbeque.
Fish and chips is far better eaten out of paper on a park bench than from most pubs - you could go to the usual central London options of the Fryer's Delight on Theobalds Road or the Rock and Sole Plaice (geddit?) on Endell Street, but why not take th number twelve bus down to Cambrwell Green (home of the famous Camberwell Carrot...), and visit the excellent Flying Fish, where a lunch-size portion costs just £3.
Curry! It's perhaps not the best thing to eat on the hoof, but visit one of the canteen-style places popular with solo lunchers and you won't feel out of place. Chatkharah, on the Walworth Road near Elephant and Castle station, does a wonderful moong dahl, and a freshly made naan bread is just 70p. A little further down the road, Ozzie's Jerk Centre does a vicious bit of chicken.
Brixton's indoor market (Brixton Village/Granville Arcade, and Market Row), is full of interesting new arrivals, many of which can be recommended. Franco Manca does some of London's best pizza, which can be taken away. Don't forget to go in search of Gayana Roti on Station Road - the celebrated caravan from which this used to be purveyed has sadly been moved by the council, but word has it that she has set up shop nearby.
For traditional cockney seafood there's of course Tubby Isaac's at Aldgate East, or schlep out to Buckhurst Hill in Epping Forest (25mins on the Central Line) and head to Simply Seafood, where fresh prawns and scallops, cooked before your eyes, are on offer alongside whelks, cockles, muscles, oysters, dressed crab, and all that stuff. Sit outside under patio heaters with a pint of ale from the adjacent Warren Wood pub.
Back in the summer of 2011 I discovered Eat St in Kings Cross and enjoyed some tasty street food, but I understand they are no more and have been replaced by KERB...I assume it's the same trucks and vendors, with new ones being added all the time.
There aren't so many stalls, but there are a lot of places you can take food away from. Most big train stations have a variety of such food places. Try a pasty, they are easy to carry around and pretty filling. Jellied eels are really good, traditional London food, but many people can't get over the ick factor.
Errr times have moved on in London, it's all about pretentious grub they call street food.
Where are you thinking of exactly? I'm sure there are places, but most of the prominent street food (eg, the Chinese/Indian/Thai places that are actually all run by the same people in Stables Market) is just junk aimed purely at tourists.
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