Camille’s Elliot Hashtroudi Highlights His Top Borough Market Spots

Rambutan is chef Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s love letter to northern Sri Lanka, tucked into Borough Market on the back of her cookbook of the same name. Expect big, confident Tamil flavours, creamy coconut dal, slow-braised black pork, and a changing menu built around ingredients shipped in from Sri Lanka alongside whatever’s best at the market that day. It’s loud, it’s usually rammed, and it’s some of the best Sri Lankan cooking in London, walk-ins welcome, but go hungry and go early.

Oma is David Carter’s (Smokestak, Manteca) ode to the Greek isles, perched above sister restaurant Agora in Borough Market. Head chef Jorge Paredes (ex-Sabor) leans into charcoal-grilled everything, spreads and breads built for sharing, and standouts like spanakopita and giouvetsi, backed by a 400-bin wine list heavy on sun-baked coastlines. The restaurant has a Michelin star which makes it even more popular. Bookings are essential.

Monmouth has become a Borough Market staple which means it’s often busy, but if you brave the queues you’ll be rewarded with one of the best brews in London. They do a mean espresso but it’s the classic single cone filter coffee, roasted down the road in Bermondsey, that’s the winner here. Buy beans whilst you’re there so you can feed your Monmouth addiction at home.

A trip to a Neal’s Yard shop is heaven for fromage-ophiles – and yes, that is the technical term. Neal’s Yard is mainly all about British cheese, but you’ll find the odd French or Italian variety on offer, too. The company kicked things off in Covent Garden – in Neal’s Yard, natch – but went on to set up two more shops, one in Bermondsey and one in Borough Market, so all your cheese needs will be catered for. And it’s all about the experience: go in to buy one cheese but allow yourself time to linger as the cheesemongers – all dressed in wellies, white coats and hairnets – can talk you through your decision, cutting you little slivers to nibble as you go. That’s lunch sorted, then.

Northfield Farm, based on the Rutland-Leicestershire border, specialises in traditional and rare-breed meat farmed using regenerative methods. The team has been selling its wares, including cuts from its own herds of White Park and Angus cattle, and Lleyn and Border-Leicester sheep at Borough Market since the late nineties. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice on prep and cooking as these guys really know their stuff.

The Ginger Pig started at Borough Market and was one of the first traders to join when the market relaunched in the 90s. It remains one of the best places to pick up meat in the city. All the meat is sourced from farmers who prioritise welfare and its butchered with care and skill – all the beef is dry-aged in-house for 28 days, sausages are made in-house and bacon is cured in-house. If you get peckish while you shop, you can pick up scotch eggs, pork pies and sausage rolls too.

Padella, founded by Trullo pair Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda, serves up fresh hand-rolled pasta dishes in Borough Market, Shoreditch and its newly-opened third site in Soho. Though all different (the OG Borough site is tiny, the Shoreditch one has a great terrace, the Soho one is all slick and mid-century, with a counter bar), each location serves up a concise menu of Padella classics, including pici cacio e pepe, pappardelle with 8-hour Dexter beef shin ragu, tagliarini with Dorset crab and chilli, and ravioli with ricotta and sage butter. Don’t miss the negronis either (especially if the £2 negroni with a plate of pasta offer is running!) Consistently good, you can see why Padella is still drawing queues even after ten years in the game.

At the 13 Acre Orchard stand in Borough Market, you’ll find the finest seasonal fruit, veg, juices and jams, sourced directly from its regeneratively farmed orchard. Everything on sale, from pumpkins to tomatoes to rhubarb, is at peak harvest, so you know you’re getting the best and freshest quality.

Brindisa is known for providing some of the best Spanish produce in the country and after starting out as a shop in Borough Market, the group has grown to include four tapas restaurants that serve up seasonal dishes made from the finest Spanish ingredients. Each branch is slightly different but you can be sure of claasic plates like jamon iberico, patatas bravas, croquetas, Galician octopus with potatoes, and Iberico pork with red pepper puree. A reliable spot to have in your back pocket.

After debuting in with a tiny spot in Soho in 2018, Kian Samyani has grown his Iranian restaurant Berenjak into a Michelin Bib Gourmand-winning group of three locations in London, with international sites in the US and Middle East. The menu is based around Kian’s family recipes and other favourite Persian dishes, with popular plates including koobideh kabab, jujeh kabab, sangak, ghormeh sabzi, black truffle olivieh, ghalieh mahi and kashk e bademjoon.

The Haward family have been harvesting oysters from the same stretch of water to the west of Mersea Island in Essex for the past century, so they know their stuff when it comes to bivalves. They’ve been selling their Mersea oysters at Borough Market since the early 2000s and their stall, Richard Haward’s Oysters, remains one of the best places to slurp a few down alongside a glass of wine.