The Southbank food market is a staple of good London street food. You experience an array of delicious, fresh, amazingly fragrant dishes all in one place for an amazingly cheap price!Conveniently, it was right next to my office!

The food market is located outside Southbank Festival Hall (near a restaurant called Ping Pong Southbank branch). The food market is only available on Fridays and weekends but I think that’s a good thing otherwise I would have no money left and I would probably spend all my time there too.

I’ve been working in Southbank for six weeks but I only found out about the food market two weeks ago! I only have two weeks left to explore this wonderful place.

I haven’t wasted anytime trying as much food as possible though (you know me)! Prices range from £2-10 for a meal. You can have a meal with dessert, dessert by itself, you can buy fresh apple juice from a stall or have some pimms, cocktails or beer/cider from another stall. There is a lot of variety at decent prices, I think you’d have more than enough options with just £10. I wouldn’t advise buying drinks like coke, water etc from the stall though. I spent £1.50 on a can of Rio, that is the definition of excessive like come on.

Stall: Steak & Lamb Stall

Meal: ‘The Beast’ Lamb, Steak, Chips and salad with Chimichuri sauce

Price: £10

Look at that. (Stall name) is arguably the most popular stall in the market especially if you queue during peak times. It is worth the wait. The chef takes the freshest cut of steak and/or lamb I’ve ever seen in a food market and slices it up and seasons and cooks it right before your eyes. He throws a large portion of lamb and steak on top of a box of chips and salad and finishes it all with a generous serving of chimichuri sauce. It is epic! It looks amazing and tastes even better.

This stall in comparison to others is on the pricier side. Fear not, You can buy steak or lamb and chips with salad and chimichuri sauce for £8. If you want both (The Beast) then it will cost you £10.

It does fill you up too and you will almost definitely fall into a food coma!

MichaelaEats rating: 8/10

Stall: Pad + Sen

Price: £7.95

Vegetarian options available

There was so much hype around this meal in the office and truth be told I can see why. I like noodles and I can absolutely appreciate the fresh, flavourful and vibrant taste this dish gives. For a decent price you receive a large large large amount of food. A large amount!

Overall it was tasty but I find that after 5-10 minutes it gets a little dry. If you’re ok with that then great! The staff there are super friendly and sweet. I miss them!

MichaelaEats rating: 6.5/10

Stall: Curry Shack

Price: £6 for rice and chicken curry

Look at all that chicken! In typical food stall fashion, these guys at Curry Shack were making everything right before your eyes. The curry shack are an awesome stall that provide spicy, moderate and non spicy chicken curry options, all for the small price of £6.

The one thing I will say is despite everything being fresh, when cooking something like curry, time is needed for seasoning and unfortunately at a busy market place during lunchtime, there isn’t any time for that. The chicken was seasoned but the spices needed more time to marinate and cook. Delicious meal though!

MichaelaEats rating: 7/10

Dessert Dessert Dessert Dessert Dessert

I can’t remember the name of this stall but you will definitely find it!

As you can see this stall was packed with sugary goodness. Cheesecakes, cakes, cupcakes and all sorts with cool flavour combinations like oreo and baileys cheesecakes as well as other things. I proceeded to buy a baileys cheesecake which was interesting.

It was super dense, supeeeeer dense. Maybe they made it that way because the cakes had to stand in the sun but it wasn’t necessarily the easiest thing to eat. I got through two spoonfuls before I’d had enough. Hopefully their other cakes are better. Overall it wasn’t the nicest cheesecake I’d ever had and the Waitrose New York cheesecake still holds centre court in my life.

MichaelaEats rating: 2/10

Stall: Don’t know the name but it’s an Italian lady that sells these delicious CANNOLIS!

Cannolis Cannolis Cannolis mmmmmm my favourite! These are the best! A cannoli is fried pastry dough with a ricotta filling, they can be flavoured with pistachio, strawberry, almonds or whatever you like and ughhhh they’re just so good! My favourite is the pistachio and there is also a mixed fruit cannoli which was just fantastic! I think you can get 2 for £3! Just try them out, especially if you’ve never had/heard of a cannoli!

MichaelaEats rating: 9/10

The Southbank food market is a revelation and I would stress going there for all of your food needs, particularly if you’re in the area. It is just epic and reasonably priced! I love it and will be visiting again!