Camden Market: Spoilt for choice

Camden Town, London, United Kingdom

The Camden market was a place I wanted to explore just from what I had heard about its liveliness. The food section was, of course, the part I enjoyed the most and as usual I wished I had more stomach space. 

This sassy lady was manning Mama's Jerk Station. How I wanted some of that spicy jerk chicken. The problem was that every stall looked so delicious and it was incredibly hard to decide on lunch. Instead of being the usual stalls with general cuisines for sale, it seems that the majority were highly specialised and boasted a huge range of ethnicities. One was an Argentinian steak and burgers, one was a shrimp thing, one was a lemonade stall, one was Polish food. I love this because you know that they're not compromising to pander to an audience but that they're passionate about what they're making. 

Yannick bought two lots of freshly squeezed orange juice as it was prevalent here. Here two workers help each other fill a takeaway cup. 

After much hemming and hawing, we settled on a pulled pork sandwich (this only just beat French cheese over potatoes). Though not quite as spectacular as my memory of Le Bon Ton in Melbourne, it was a damn good sandwich. The stall we bought the sandwich from only sold pulled pork - in a bun and in a wrap. This is what I'm talking about! Highly specialised stalls. It's great. 

For a sweet treat, we picked a piece of cake from Dessert Island. I do love good cakes and good puns. 

This guy was taking the already skilful art of pizza dough stretching to another level. He was spinning, flipping and swizzling crazily, so much that all the photos we took were blurred. Just imagine incorporating dough stretching with breakdancing. 

We also saw a cafe selling breakfast cereals. You could pick your cereal, milk and toppings, and even add a pop tart like a side dish. 

Now, with all these aforementioned excellent options, would you chose Pizza Express (the chainiest franchise in London)? I think not! Yet Lonely Planet suggests that and Nando's. LP, I expect better. I am shocked, I tell you. 

The markets stretch out covering several different areas, including an underground section called the Stables. Leather goods were popular, as were clothes in many fashions, and jewellery. Some stores caught the eye by just how packed they were, and this one was particularly bright. 

I realise that I raved about the Queen Vic market in Melbourne, but Camden Market is now 'top of ze top'. I want to live here. What's more - everyone was super nice and the server at a cafe we went to for the wifi gave us free gelato just for being foreign! As we had checked out of the youth hostel that morning, we had to carry around our backpacks all through the markets but I couldn't complain. I wanted to see more, and barely noticed the weight on my back.