We Did the Ultimate Borough Market Food Tour in London

Borough Market has been around for over a thousand years. One. Thousand. Years. And somehow, I'd never been. We fixed that on this London trip with a Viator food tour led by an actual London local, and let me tell you, it was one of the best decisions we made all trip. George was behind the camera, I was already hungry, and we were both completely unprepared for how good everything was going to be.

A Market That's Been Feeding Londoners for Over 1,000 Years

Before we get into the food (and trust me, there's a LOT of food), let me set the scene, because Borough Market is not just a farmers market with fancy cheese. This place is a full institution.

Borough Market sits just south of the Thames near London Bridge, and it's been operating in some form since at least 1014 AD. What started as a general produce market supplying the city has evolved over the centuries into one of the most celebrated food markets in the world. At its peak, it covered the streets around Southwark Cathedral and became such a fixture of daily London life that it survived the Great Fire of London, the Blitz, and every redevelopment plan the city threw at it.

Today the market spans about 4.5 acres (roughly the equivalent of three and a half football fields) and houses 117 food stalls. It draws over 21.5 million visitors a year, which is wild when you think about it. That's not tourists alone; a huge portion of the crowd on any given day are locals picking up their groceries, grabbing lunch, or doing what George and I were doing: just eating everything in sight. The mix of everyday shoppers and food-obsessed visitors gives it this incredibly alive energy that you can feel the second you walk in.

What makes Borough Market special isn't just the volume of food. It's the philosophy behind it. Our tour guide Tom told us that there's very little direct competition within the market. Vendors actively source from each other. The cheese at one stall might come from a vendor two rows over who's been there for 40 years. It's a community, not a competition. That kind of ethos shows up in the food: everything feels intentional, carefully made, and deeply proud of its origins.

One thing I will say before we dive in: I had been saying "Borough" wrong my entire life. It's "Burra," not "Burrow." I found this out approximately two minutes into the tour when our guide Tom corrected me with a smile. I'm going to be saying it correctly forever now. Burra Market. Burra. Got it.

The Viator Food Tour: The Best of British Eats

We booked a Viator tour specifically because we wanted a local to show us around, and Tom was the perfect guide. He knew the history behind every stall, had opinions about which vendors were the real deal, and was full of little tips that you'd never get from just wandering around on your own.

The Ginger Pig: Sausage Roll

I want to be upfront about something: I had never had a sausage roll before this day. Not once in my life. Anything with puff pastry and meat I tend to love, so theoretically I should have sought these out sooner, but here we are.

Tom told us the Ginger Pig is one of the must-stop stalls at Borough Market, and once I took my first bite I completely understood why. The pork is 98% British pork, the pastry is flaky and buttery and piping hot, and (here's the detail that made all the difference) they tuck a little bit of cheese inside the roll before baking. It adds this savory depth that I wasn't expecting. The pork itself was incredibly juicy, beautifully spiced in a way that's hard to put a finger on. It doesn't taste like an American breakfast sausage at all. The flavor is more complex, more rounded, a little more herby. George took one bite and declared it incredible. If you're going with two people you can easily share one (these things are hefty), but you might not want to.

Fish Kitchen: Award-Winning Fish and Chips

Our next stop was Fish Kitchen for what Tom promised was the best fish and chips in London. Fish Kitchen has won the national fish and chip award several times, which is not a small thing in a country that takes its fish and chips very seriously.

A couple of things that set this version apart: they use haddock instead of cod, because cod has been overfished in recent years. And the beer batter is made with Meantime Lager (a London lager), which gives the batter a slightly sweet, malty flavor that's completely different from what I'd had before. We were literally standing underneath a railroad when we ate this, so apologies for any audio issues in the video, but even the ambient noise of trains overhead couldn't distract from how good this fish was.

The batter was fluffy and flaky and deeply layered, not greasy at all, which I was not expecting. The fish inside was meaty and tender with a brilliant fresh seafood taste. Tom told us the fish had been caught the day before, and you could absolutely taste that freshness. He also tipped us off to put vinegar and salt on top, which takes it from great to divine. The tartar sauce was excellent too, though honestly the fish barely needed it.

Pena: Argentinian Empanadas

Now, you might be wondering what Argentinian empanadas are doing at a British food market. As it turns out, Borough Market is incredibly multicultural (it's always been a melting pot of the cultures that make up London), and Pena has been a beloved fixture here for years.

We tried two varieties. The Italian provolone and sweet onion empanada stopped me in my tracks. My immediate reaction: this tastes exactly like french onion soup in a flaky little pastry shell. George had the same thought at the same moment. The sweet onion flavor is deep and caramelized, the provolone is rich and savory, and together they hit that perfect sweet-salty combination that makes you want to immediately order another one.

The spinach and ricotta empanada was equally good, though in a completely different way. The spinach was so intensely spinachy. I genuinely felt like it was grown with spinach extract. It had this herby, almost crown daisy-like flavor that paired beautifully with the creamy ricotta. Tom mentioned that the cheese in these empanadas comes from another vendor in the market who has been there for 40 years. That sourcing relationship is everything. You can taste the quality.

Turkish Delight and Baron Bigod Cheese

This was a combo I never would have thought to try on my own, and it's now one of my favorite food memories from the entire London trip.

Tom suggested we try a piece of Turkish delight alongside a bite of Baron Bigod, a soft, brie-adjacent British cheese that is absolutely delightfully stinky in the best possible way. He told us to try them together, and I was skeptical. But the pairing is genuinely magical. The Turkish delight is soft and fragrant but not too sweet, not too perfumed, and the slight saltiness and creaminess of the cheese cuts right through it. It's like a very British answer to the classic cheese-and-fruit pairing.

The Turkish delight by itself brought back such a specific memory for me. Growing up, my mom would always buy a box of these around Christmas. She gave us a strict one-per-day limit. I, predictably, interpreted that as one layer per day. She laughed. I stood by it.

As for the Baron Bigod, George and I both agreed it's like a hybrid between brie and camembert. Incredibly smooth and creamy. I tried the rind (I'm usually a rind skeptic, I'll be honest), and it wasn't bad (slightly bitter, a little earthy), but I still think it detracts from the experience. If you love the rind, I will happily give you mine. I'm generous like that.

The Mug House: Sticky Toffee Pudding

We ended the official Viator tour at the Mug House, a pub near London Bridge that has a genuinely remarkable history. Before it was a pub, it was a horse stable. It retains all of that historic charm (cozy, warm, atmospheric), and it's right around the corner from Borough Market, making it a perfect last stop.

We were there for the sticky toffee pudding. But not just any sticky toffee pudding. Tom was very specific about how this one is supposed to be eaten: with clotted cream only. Not ice cream. Not custard. Clotted cream. Only. I repeated this back to confirm. Clotted cream only.

I've had sticky toffee pudding before and liked it fine. This one made me realize I had never actually had sticky toffee pudding before. The pudding is made with muscovado sugar (nothing else), which gives it this deep, molasses-forward caramel flavor that's buttery and complex without being chemically sweet. It's not dense or heavy. It's light and fluffy, delicately sweet, and the clotted cream on top adds just the right amount of richness. Tom paired it with a glass of sparkling wine, and the combination was genuinely perfect. As someone who loves toffee in any form, I was completely in love. George was, too.

The TikTok Stops: Worth the Hype?

After the official tour, we hit two spots that had gone viral on TikTok to find out if they were actually worth the hype or just well-marketed.

Turnips: Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I'll be honest: I went into this one with low expectations. At the end of the day, it's a chocolate covered strawberry. Chocolate covered strawberries are good no matter what, right? So how special can they really be?

Very, very special. As it turns out.

We smelled Turnips before we saw it. We turned a corner and were suddenly hit with this wave of fresh strawberry scent, and I'm not exaggerating: we started doing the thing where you're sniffing the air like a cartoon character trying to find the source. Then we spotted the stall, and there they were: enormous, bright red, glistening strawberries coated in smooth, silky chocolate.

These strawberries are worth the hype. My strawberry was so soft I didn't even chew it. I just pressed it to the roof of my mouth and it dissolved. The chocolate doesn't harden into that brittle shell that snaps off and falls on the floor (you know the one). Instead it stays fudgy and ganache-like, soft enough to match the texture of the strawberry perfectly. George made an excellent point: traditional chocolate-dipped strawberries are actually kind of annoying to eat because the shell breaks in half the moment you bite it and then you're scrambling. This fixes that problem entirely.

George's verdict: it tasted like strawberry yogurt, creamy and smooth, the strawberry and chocolate melding together rather than competing. My verdict: 12,000 out of 10. One of the best things I ate the entire trip. I was expecting to say "it's fine, it's a strawberry" and instead I was completely floored.

Hot tip: Turnips also sells mushroom risotto, and they will give you a free sample if you walk by. They topped it with Parmesan and it was divine. We seriously considered going back for a full bowl. They're also the ones selling cups of just plain strawberries if you want the fruit without the chocolate.

Humble Crumble: Berry Custard Crumble

The second TikTok stop was Humble Crumble, which is famous for their custard crumbles. George really wanted the cinnamon apple. I had my heart set on the berry. We got the berry.

I love crumble. I've made a pumpkin crumble bread that people have described as the best thing they've ever eaten. The crumble part is always the star. So I had high expectations walking into this one.

The custard is genuinely excellent: silky, smooth, really beautifully made. The berries taste fresh and vibrant. But the crumble itself is more like granola than crumble. It's crunchy and oat-clustered rather than buttery and crumbly and yielding. When I eat crumble I want it to kind of dissolve into the custard, to break apart in your mouth with that soft, buttery texture. This one holds its structure. It doesn't succumb to the moisture. It eats more like a parfait than a pudding.

George found the whole thing a bit too tart. He couldn't quite get behind the sourness of the berries paired with the texture of the crumble. He and I both agreed that the ideal version of this dessert would involve letting the custard sit on the crumble for a solid 25 minutes so it gets completely absorbed and softens everything. Maybe then.

Our verdict: not worth the hype. It's a 6 out of 10. The custard alone? I could eat that all day. The crumble on its own as an oaty granola-ish topping? It has its fans. But together, as a "crumble," it wasn't delivering what we were hoping for.

The Final Verdict

Borough Market is absolutely worth your time, and I'd go back every single London trip without hesitation. The Viator food tour was the perfect way to experience it because Tom had us skipping the lines, knew the stories behind every vendor, and put together a tasting route we never would have figured out on our own.

Our top picks from the day:

1. Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Turnips: go. Just go. Don't think about it.
2. Sticky Toffee Pudding at The Mug House: clotted cream, muscovado sugar, sparkling wine. Life-changing.
3. Sausage Roll from Ginger Pig: the perfect introduction to British market food.

Skip or temper expectations: Humble Crumble. Great custard, but the crumble is more granola than pudding.

Practical tips: Borough Market is open Tuesday through Saturday (Saturday being the biggest and most vibrant day, though also the most crowded). The Viator tour we did is linked below, and it's 100% worth the cost for the local insight alone. Show up hungry. Bring cash as a backup. And learn from my mistakes: it's pronounced Burra Market. You're welcome.

If you want to recreate some of the flavors at home, check out our Dishoom Chicken Ruby recipe, another London favorite we couldn't get enough of on this trip.