Tag: Norwich Market Food

And the fourth week of this year’s attempt to visit every food stall on Norwich market. James and I visited this stall in 2023, his first appearance in this riveting series after he inherited this rather sacred duty from Nathan. He’s truly embracing the role now, displaying admirable dedication… primarily dedicated to finding creative ways to make the ‘random’ stall choice land squarely on the purveyor of whatever deep-fried delight he’s currently craving. His methods lack subtlety but score high on optimism.

The stall opening hours and there’s a juice bar opposite run by the same operator. I had forgotten about this and we did consider including this last time, but we opted for stalls which sold food, so limited ourselves to this main event.

The menu part one and the price increases since 2023 have been moderate, around 50p for each dish. The pricing was already towards the higher end of the scale for the market, so they perhaps don’t have much margin here to increase prices further. It’s an extensive list, but it’s all clearly displayed. The stall accepts cash and cards, with the service being efficient when we visited despite there being quite a queue.

The menu part two….. I am supposed to be ordering different items from 2023 but hadn’t checked (I’ve been ill so I’ve had to limit my screen time to under twelve hours a day which has caused me some issues) what I had last time, but thought it unlikely that I’d order the same thing given the menu is quite broad. I mean, what are the odds of my getting the same again? Apparently, the odds are 100% when you’re a creature of habit whose subconscious has the culinary imagination of a beige brick….. I might as well copy and paste this from my last visit…

“I decided to opt for the Korean Chicken Bowl which is battered fried chicken served with jasmine rice, chicken and vegetable dumplings, boiled broccoli, spring onion and homemade Korean sweet and sour sauce.”

Your number’s up….. Customers are given a ticket and they wait for their number to be called. We had a wait of six minutes, which wasn’t unreasonable given that it was busy when we visited.

And the food was served, looking very similar to what I ordered in 2023 although that’s not unsurprising since I ordered the same bloody thing. I will make an effort to improve on this…. Anyway, I digress. The food looked appetising and the dumplings added texture and firmness to the arrangement. The chicken could have perhaps been a little crispier, but it was tender and the sauce had a sweet flavour. The broccoli was perhaps a little too healthy, but it was soft but retained some bite. There was a depth of flavour to the whole arrangement and the rice was soft and cooked well.

James and his food, which I think was the chicken dumpling ramen. I actually think my photo is better than his, but I didn’t mention this when he sent it. I asked James what he thought and he replied:

“Ah, Julian, this is all about ramen. One must endeavour to articulate the sheer transcendental magnificence encapsulated within this quintessential paradigm of Japanese gastronomy. It is not merely sustenance, you understand, but rather an intricate, alchemical concatenation of profound flavours and textures meticulously orchestrated into a singular, Cimmerian vessel. The foundational quintessence, the broth, is an ambrosial elixir; a deeply umami-laden decoction derived from protracted, painstaking processes involving porcine or avian carcasses, desiccated piscine elements, and select vegetal constituents. Its unctuous viscosity and olfactory profundity serve as the very soul of the experience. Submerged within this veritable nectar reside the alimentary filaments – delicate, yet resilient strands, exhibiting an exquisite al dente characteristic, providing the crucial textural counterpoint. It’s not as good as a battered sausage though.”

I think he liked it, but he did mention at the time he was getting a bit bored of it as he was eating it. He gets distracted easily.

All told, this was a rather lovely lunch, but the price point is still a little high and so it verges into being a rather more decadent option. The server was though friendly, the service was efficient and the food had a pleasant taste, so all to the good.

And here we are in week three of my second time working around all of the food stalls at Norwich Market, with my friend James nobly assisting. Here’s my post from when we visited in 2023 when I enjoyed my sausage and chips.

It’s their stall and they can put up what they like, but personally I’m not entirely sure Norwich market is really the place for political statements about the Government introducing a digital currency to control the British population. I’m not sure they could competently do that even if they wanted to, but I digress. However, I respected that the stall preferred to be paid in cash and I did that, although they do also take cards for those who want to.

The stall was established in 1953 and is run by the third generation of the same family, so there’s some considerable heritage here. It’s not a fancy set-up, but it’s not designed to be, instead it’s a traditional British chip stand offering value and quality to refuel the workers of Norwich.

The prices are low and some of the cheapest on the market. It was £2.90 for two battered sausages and chips in 2023 and it’s now £3.40, so it’s a relatively small increase. I did try and order cod and medium chips to have something different, but they didn’t have any immediately available and I didn’t want to wait whilst James saw his chips going cold. Which meant I had a battered sausage and small chips, deliberately not wanting anything too filling otherwise I’d need a nap in the afternoon. The cold drinks are evidently reasonably priced and the cost of the cod is very much towards the lower end of the scale (there’s a pun there that I won’t labour).

The battered sausage and small chips. The amount of the batter was generous and the sausage would have felt well protected if it needed to go into battle, although I think it had been left in the hot hold for a while as it was going a little hard, but there was a depth of taste to it (the sausage, not the hot hold). It isn’t a butcher’s sausage, but it tasted fine and it was all at the appropriate hot temperature. The chips are thinner than those at Lucy’s (I like how there’s evidently a whole philosophy going on about potato cutting sizes) and they tasted as expected, with the portion size being generous for small chips.

James was busy capturing beauty with his framing of the photo, whilst I was engaged in trying to fend off a squadron of seagulls who clearly hadn’t eaten since breakfast five minutes ago and viewed his chips as their birthright. I think he was pleased and how I protected his food (and I had nearly finished mine). On the matter of the food, James was suitably impressed and he said something along the lines of:

“This seemingly pedestrian offering, comprising a sausage enrobed in crisp batter accompanied by fried potato parallelepipeds, ascended, quite astonishingly, to a veritable apotheosis of savoury delight.”

Fine praise indeed. The value offered here is excellent, it’s an affordable lunchtime snack although I will definitely have to have the fish when we do this for a third time in future years. So, all in all, it’s was all rather lovely.

The second visit on this 2025 set of visits to all the food stalls on Norwich Market was to Lucy’s Chips, which is also known as the mushy peas stall. Here’s the exterior of the stall and also a reminder to my two loyal blog readers of when James and I visited in 2023. There is a sister outlet at the market called Lucy’s Fish & Chips and here’s that blog post from when we visited in 2023.

The menu and I remember going for the Steak & Kidney pie last time. I tried to go for the Cornish pasty this time, but they didn’t have any available, although I’m always partial to some southern fried chicken fillets and I was tempted by those. I didn’t ever say that I was classy…. I have to confess that I forgot that the stall sells mushy peas, as I really should have ordered that given the provenance of that here, but maybe on our third visit here. There’s no seating area, but there is a little place to stand and we were able to have that space this time as the stall wasn’t very busy when we were there.

Remembering the quality, I really wanted another steak pie like last time, but I’m trying to always order something different on this second run of visits (that’s how professional I am), so after my first choice wasn’t available I went for the rather similar meal of chicken & mushroom pie. The price has gone up from £5.50 two years ago to £6 today, which is one of the smaller price increases that we’ve seen on the market. The quality was OK, it wasn’t overly decadent and it had a pleasant taste but it wasn’t overrun with pieces of chicken. Fortunately, it wasn’t much overrun with mushrooms either as I’m not overly keen on them. The gravy was very thick, which is fortunately as I like it, with the chips being suitably fluffy on the interior and firm on the exterior. Given that I treat my body as a temple, albeit as a slightly large temple, this was quite a stodgy meal to have at lunchtime and I did need a little recovery lie down after it.

James went for the cheesy chips and regretted not going for chips and curry sauce as he did before. I think he would rather the cheese had been melted more, although if I have to have cheesy chips, I prefer the cheese to be raw (or whatever term you want to use for non melted cheese).

And the photo that James took of his food and I’m not sure if that ‘Mushy P’ was deliberate or not. Everything at the stall was clean and tidy, with cutlery pro-actively provided and I was given the chance to add salt and vinegar to the chips before they put the gravy on the top.

I remember that this was a contender last time for being the best stall, but I’m not sure that there was anything exceptional enough here to surprise and delight me, but such is the high standard of Norwich Market. As usual, James has declared the winner of this year’s market visits even before we visited one, but I’m very professional and I remain open minded…..

Thanks to James agreeing to help with this project, here we go again with the 2025 edition of eating food from every stall at Norwich Market and first up was the vegan Indian stall, Indian Feast. And here’s what happened when we visited in 2023.

The menu board. My plan is to always have something different compared to last time, although it required some quick checking at the market stall to remember what we had last time. I quite fancied the samosa chat, but that’s what I went for last time (this is going to happen a lot this year I suspect), so this time it was the Aloo Tikki Chat. There’s no real change to the menu other than the addition of the vegan chicken curry, with the price increases being £1 on all the meals and 50p on all the snacks. One element that will be evident this year is how much food price inflation has gone on at the market and whether or not that is likely to put customers off going to stalls.

One of the food displays which doesn’t necessarily look overly appetising in terms of the presentation, but there we go. What is more important is that the service was timely and friendly, the payment process was efficient and the stall accepts cash and card.

The Aloo Tikki Chat and I went with all the options that came with it including the coriander, the mint chutney and the tamarind sauce. The mixed vegetable cake added texture to the dish and there was plenty of chickpeas in the whole arrangement which bulked matters out. There was some spice to it and the pieces of onion also added texture with the food having a depth of flavour to it.

There’s a seating area which overlooks the kitchen. Only a limited number of the stalls at the market have a seating area and it’s always helpful so that I don’t have to worry about a seagull swooping down and stealing my vegetable cake.

The Covid sign is still visible saying that the track and trace is in operation. That felt something of a throwback.

Eagle eyed readers might guess that this is the photo that James took given he’s got an eye for this sort of thing and I accept this does look better than mine. James went for the Aloo Gobi, which he enjoyed but thought was a bit wet. I think that was the summary of the matter.

It’s a light and tasty meal, the stall was clean and the service was friendly, with the prices seeming reasonable for the quality and quantity.

****** 2025 NOW FINISHED – Here are the results *****

Thanks to all the stall holders for so much marvellous food and drink throughout 2025. We got it down to six stalls (with great difficulty) and they’re listed in the above link.

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One of my more popular series of blog posts, often attracting extra visitors beyond my two loyal readers, was when I visited every food stall at Norwich market across 2023. Given that, my friend James and I have decided that we’ll do it all again. The excitement of it all! Last time the top three we decided were:

3rd : Cocina Mia

2nd : Lucy’s Fish and Chips

1st : Bodega (in photo above)

The rules are the same, the visit will be randomly drawn and we’ll work through all of the market stalls. I will attempt to have something different food wise to what I had before, to make a vague attempt at variety. It’s positively scientific this…. There have been some changes since 2023 with some stalls closing and some opening, but that all adds to the excitement. There are still, I think, 29 locations to visit, but we’ll also add a Toby’s visit at some stage as they’re the beer stall supplying craft beer options. They might get multiple visits and we’ll likely pop to Brick as well. It will be a challenge to get around 29 locations in 2025 (NB – it transpired to be 32), but where there’s a will then there’s a way.

2025 VISITS

A Taste of Punjab (Week 19)
And Eat It (Week 31)
B’s T’s (Week 28)
Bodega (Week 25)
Bread Source (Week 15)
Buka Street (Permanently closed)
Bun Box (Week 13)
China Wok (Week 7)
Cocina Mia (Permanently closed)
Chocolate Bar Baker (Week 29)
Churros for the People (Week 17)
City Taco (Week 18)
Coral Bay (Week 6)
Crunch (Week 20)
Deb’s (Week 10)
Falafel and Friends (Week 5)
Go Crepes (Week 11)
Henry’s Hog Roast (Week 8)
Indian Feast (Week 1)
Italian Street Food (Week 16)
Jacket Spuds & More (Week 9)
Little Red Roaster (Week 30)
Lucy’s Chips (Week 2)
Lucy’s Fish and Chips (Week 12)
Norwich Fresh (Week 4)
Papa Mombassa (Week 22)
Rabbits Salad Bar (Week 32)
Reggies (Week 24)
Ron’s Chips (Week 3)
Ruby’s (Week 26)
Taste of Shanghai (Week 21)
Tasty House South East Asian Street Food Emporium (Week 27)
Thai Bubble (Week 14)
The All Electric Banger Stop (Week 23)
Walsingham Farm Shop (Permanently closed)

 

2023 VISITS

A Taste of Punjab (Week 4)
And Eat It (Week 18)
Bodega (Week 15)
Bread Source (Week 27)
Bun Box (Week 16)
Chimneys (Week 3) [now closed]
China Wok (Week 1)
Churros for the People (Week 7)
Cocina Mia (Week 12)
Coral Bay (Week 20)
Deb’s (Week 17)
Delight (Week 9)
Falafel and Friends (Week 25)
Feast (Permanently closed)
Go Crepes (Week 29)
Henry’s Hog Roast (Week 5)
Indian Feast (Week 13)
Italian Street Food (Week 24)
Jacket Spuds & More (Week 14)
Lucy’s Chips (Week 22)
Lucy’s Fish and Chips (Week 26)
Meat and Co (Permanently closed)
Norwich Fresh (Week 10)
Reggie’s (Week 19)
Ron’s Fish and Chips (Week 2)
Ruby’s (Week 6)
Taste of Shanghai (Week 8)
Tasty House South East Asian Street Food Emporium (Week 21)
Thai Bubble (Week 23)
The All Electric Banger Stop (Week 11)
Walsingham Farm Shop (Week 28)

Over the last few months, I’ve visited all 29 of the food stalls at Norwich market, initially with my friend Nathan and then my long time market food eating friend James took over to assist. This was all a marvellous idea, the variety, quality and value of the stalls has really surprised me and made me feel just a little guilty for having gone to same chip stall for the best part of twenty years. There are dessert stalls, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, cafes, chips shops and plenty more besides. I fully recommend a visit to Norwich market for any visitor, or indeed resident, of Norwich to see just how much variety is here.

Honourable mentions first. There were many friendly figures at the market, but the one that stands out for me is back in week three when our social butterfly Nathan got chatting to the really lovely owner of Chimneys. Given that he had just picked me up from Luton Airport (Nathan, not the guy running the market stall) I was impressed at his socialising skills. Unfortunately, Chimneys is the only stall that has closed during this process, I do hope the lovely guy running it thinks about another similar project in the future. Back to Nathan and his socialising, when we went to the Taste of Shanghai he already knew the owner as he had had a chat with him in the street or something. Who chats to people in the street? Also honourable mention to Deb’s for making a bacon sandwich just I like it, namely not what I consider to be raw as some places serve it. And, to the venue that might have surged into first place if they had offered us hot pies with gravy, Walsingham Farm Shop. The theatre of the Go Crepes stall was also a delight to watch.

After much ruminating, this means that the results are in and I’ve decided to name my favourite three outlets as my two loyal readers have been waiting for this. I haven’t consulted Nathan or James on this as I’ve decided it’ll all be about me  🙂  For anyone who wants to see all the photos from every visit, they’re at https://www.flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720305738387. I’m also conscious that some new stalls have opened recently, we’ll visit them in 2024.

Now, after much wittering, my top three!

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3RD PLACE: COCINA MIA

I had to think about this for a while given that there were so many positive moments. I liked the friendliness, the variety of the menu and also the depth of flavour of the food. There were positive little touches here, including the free water for customers and the comfortable seating area. The empanada I ordered was generously filled with pieces of chorizo and chicken, all very tender.

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2ND PLACE : LUCY’S FISH AND CHIPS

In second place is a stall which means quite a lot to me since I’ve visited so much, Lucy’s Fish and Chips. Their customer service is on point, they manage to deal with their queues in an efficient manner which is a challenge given how busy they are. The food is of a consistently high standard and it’s always a delight to come here. Their prices are some of the lowest on the market, there’s a seating area and they have scraps to put on top of the chips.

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And that means, in first place is…..

1ST PLACE : BODEGA

Just look at that, a packed pastrami sandwich which tasted as good as it looks. The service is friendly, efficient and it feels all very on-trend and customer focused. It’s not necessarily the cheapest option at the market, but the quality is so high that it justifies its price. For extra excitement, Toby’s Beer is located just one market row away to enjoy this decadent sandwich with a craft beer. So very lovely.

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Many thanks to Nathan for his help, always merrily chatting to stall holders and selflessly going for a different option to broaden out the reviews, whilst although James has often been inspired to have the same food as me, his photos have added a huge amount to the blog posts. Thanks also to everyone on the market, I’ve very much enjoyed this project.

Here we are with the final instalment (for now) of my plan to eat at every food stall at Norwich Market, this time it’s Go Crepes.

There was a friendly welcome from the smartly dressed team member, who added some theatre to the whole proceedings with his style, not just in terms of his appearance but also in how he was preparing the food. There’s a choice between sweet and savoury crepes, with plenty of choice in terms of the ingredients. They accept cards and cash here, with everything looking spotlessly clean.

I went for sweet and here’s the start of preparing my Nutella, banana and coconut crepe.

Flipped over.

Here we go, neatly presented and generously filled with ingredients including lots of Nutella, a whole banana and plenty of coconut.

James went savoury with cheese, pepperoni and egg. This is his photo, as the better quality of the image perhaps makes obvious. That’s his hand too.

James was suitably impressed, with the fillings being of a generous amount with his, plenty of cheese, four large slices of pepperoni and an egg. If I’m being honest, this isn’t necessarily my go to type of food as I find it a bit stodgy, but it was one of the best crepes that I’ve had. I felt that they represented very reasonable value for money, they tasted of a good quality and I liked the engagement and theatre from the team member. This was a marvellous visit to end of this project and there will shortly be a final results post 🙂 Oh the anticipation for my two loyal blog readers.

And we’re in the final week of eating at every food stall at Norwich Market and today’s visit was to the Walsingham Farm Shop. James and I are visiting the final stall tomorrow and our job here is done.

As a spoiler, I think it’s fair to say that this stall managed to confuse both James and I. Initially we thought that this display was misted up because of the warm pastries and pies inside.

The team member came over to clean the front of the display for us, which should have made it obvious to us that the food inside would not necessarily be warm as we thought it might be. But, look at how tempting this food selection is, this is all very me and my expectations were high.

I went for the turkey, stuffing and bacon pie which cost £4.95 and it was served cold. It’s fair to say that I had managed to be confused with the hot food signs at the unit. I’ve looked back at photos of this stall (and noted another customer has had this issue in a review that I hadn’t noticed earlier) and there appears to be a separate display board at the rear of the unit. The moral of this story is that don’t assume your customers aren’t idiots  🙂

And here’s the photo that James took, which is notably better than mine and so I’ll use this as the thumbnail once again.

The pie was of a high quality but we did think just how good this would have been hot with gravy. There’s a small seating area at the stall and everything was clean and organised with some condiments available. Anyway, the pie was packed with the promised ingredients with the turkey being tender and the bacon adding flavour, and some cranberry sauce at the base of the pie. All really rather lovely and I felt that I received perfectly reasonable value for £4.95.

Anyway, we were just about to leave when someone came with a hot pie, gravy and mash. They must have either been cleverer than us, more aware of their surroundings or it might have been explained to them differently. The shame about this is that if they had sold me a hot pie with gravy this would have been a contender for the best market stall when I announce the results to my two loyal readers tomorrow. But they didn’t, so they’re not.

Apologies that Norwich Beer Festival meant that there was no post last week, but I’m pleased to say that there will be two next week and that’s the conclusion of my plan to eat at every food stall at Norwich market. Being honest, I’ve had to get James to rush those two visits in next week before I’m off on another little project.

Bread Source has something of a strong reputation locally with a couple of shops in Norwich and one in Aylsham.

The baked goods were neatly presented and looked appetising. The service was efficient and polite, with the stall accepting cards and cash. I ordered the last pastrami roll, meaning that James was forced to opt for something different, he went for a chicken mayo roll. The roll cost £3.80 and the everything in the stall was clean and tidy.

We’re on week 27 now and I haven’t really queried the quality of any item yet, just a couple have been a little expensive. I’m afraid this is the first one that I thought really wasn’t quite there in terms of the quality if I’m being entirely honest. Let’s compare this with the same product that I purchased at Bodega (and I’ve included that photo at the base of this post for those who don’t follow that link), another market stall, a few weeks ago. There were huge quantities of pastrami in that sandwich whereas this one had just one solitary piece. The roll was just a little dry and the ingredients completely inadequate in quantity for the roll, so the taste was mainly just dry roll. The flavour of the roll was pleasant and the pickle added some texture, but this didn’t really work for me as it just needed more filling. The seeded part of the roll was decent, but the salad element was just a couple of small pieces of lettuce, they hadn’t gone beyond that. It was a Tesco meal deal type of quality and I would have got a snack and a free drink if I had gone there for less than the price here.

This is James’s photo of his chicken salad roll, which had the same issue of being slightly dry and we’re looking here at something that probably wasn’t as good as Greggs would make. Perhaps we got unfortunate and other products are just better, with the doughnuts looking tempting. The main problem here wasn’t necessarily the slightly dried out roll, but really the lack of ingredients within it to try and add moisture, taste and texture. As mentioned, comparing this to Bodega showed the difference in the quality. I’m also not entirely sure that rolls should be left out in the open as they will need to be discarded more quickly if unsold, and I’m not entirely sure that they were doing that here.

But, I have to note that the reviews for Bread Source are very popular and they’ve been going here for several years, so it’s clear that there’s much that they’re doing right. If we had gone earlier and the roll was fresher, with more filling included, this would have likely met my expectations and I would have been merrily praising it. I’ll go again at some point and maybe one of the other products will surprise and delight me. But, for the positives, the service was friendly, the environment was clean and the products looked appetising. And, ultimately, the roll didn’t taste bad, it just wasn’t quite what I expected and I hope that the stall wouldn’t be annoyed at my mentioning that.

Just as a final reminder, this is the Bodega pastrami sandwich. I’m craving one of those now…. And I want to remind my two loyal readers that I’ve been impressed with nearly every other food stall at Norwich market, so I want to end on that positive note.

It’s week 26 of my eating at every food stall on Norwich Market and this is Lucy’s Fish and Chips. I have to declare here that I’ve been coming here with James for over a decade and he questioned the point of the entire project as we might as well announce Lucy’s as the winner without visiting any other stall. That slightly defeated the object of the exploration process, so I stood my ground. Anyway, I digress, but it’s important to note that this stall has already surprised and delighted me on many occasions in the past.

The menu, which continues to inspire me. The payment process was efficient and well managed, with the impressive situation that they remembered our regular order despite visiting other market stalls for several months. They get a mark for that level of customer service and they accept cards and cash. Friendly as ever, the welcome was personable and engaging.

There’s a seating area reserved for Lucy’s customers. It’s rare that we don’t get a seat here, although the stall can often busy.

There’s a little diagram explaining where to order from. I’m not going to suggest that it’s completely obvious to see, but it’s more effort than some other stalls have made. There’s a vegan menu as well showing how they cater for everyone.

Our regular order of large chips, large battered sausage, curry sauce and scraps, which is £5.10 each. Compared to some other stalls, this is a bargain. I think it might be starting to become evident that I’m going to like this visit. The chips are fluffy on the interior and firm on the exterior, with the scraps adding texture and decadence. The butcher’s sausage isn’t as good as they once had, but it’s still better than the generic offering often received at chip shops, with the curry sauce being rich and suitable for dipping chips into. All really rather lovely, as well as being hot and the portion sizes are generous. The whole thing sometimes sends me to sleep in the afternoon, but I had squash an hour later so that ensured that I didn’t have a little nap.

James had the same as me, but his photo is considerably better than mine, so I’ll be using this as the thumbnail.

It will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that I’ll strongly recommend this stall and I’d be surprised if it doesn’t appear as one of my top three stalls in the final posts in a few weeks….. This is comfort food for the many, not the few.