The Pall Mall Barbers’ Guide to the Best Street Food in King’s Cross… If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you’ll already know that Pall Mall Barbers has just opened our fifth shop at 68 York Way, just outside the suddenly quite stylish King’s Cross Station. We’d be delighted to see you in our shiny new digs, but even if you don’t need a haircut, there’s plenty going on right outside our door. Especially if you’re hungry. Thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of a few humble souls, King’s Cross now has some of the best street food you can find anywhere in London. Here’s our guide to what’s cooking (literally) in our new neighbourhood.
Pall Mall Barbers’ Guide to the Best Street Food in King’s Cross
KERB King’s Cross
Granary Square, N1C
KERB market is the brainchild of former chocolate vendor Petra Barran. What started as a flash of inspiration while driving her van up and down the country has expanded into six thriving London markets in just seven years. The King’s Cross branch is the original, though, and it’s finally found a permanent home in Granary Square after years of a nomadic existence. There’s usually only about eight vendors pitched up at any one time, but only about five percent of applicants make it through the strict vetting process, so it’s nearly impossible to put a foot wrong. It is only open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 12-2, but don’t worry if you can’t sneak out of the office. The recently opened KERB Camden. just two stops up the Northern Line, is open seven days a week and boasts a rather impressive thirty traders on any given day. Check the website before you go if you’re hankering after something specific – the line-up changes from day to day. The Insta-worthy cheeses and rainbow veg of Borough Market are lovely and worth a visit, but KERB is the real deal for hungry Londoners. Its success is well-deserved. Go now, and take all of your mates.
Real Food Market King’s Cross
King’s Cross Square, Euston Road N1C 9AL
If you can’t make it to KERB or if you’ve got Pret-fatigue (no disrespect to the Posh Cheddar and Pickle, it’s just good to shake things up once in a while), have a go at cobbling together a lunchtime feast at the Real Food Market. Turn up outside the Euston Road entrance to King’s Cross Station from noon onward and you’re guaranteed to find something to tickle your fancy among the twenty or so traders pitched up in the square. You might end up with some strange combinations (a Scotch egg, lamb samosa, salted caramel brownie and a loaf of sourdough bread “for later” on our last visit), but it definitely beats another tomato and basil soup.
KIOSK
King’s Cross Station, N1C 4TB
Vegetarians, look away now. KIOSK has but one raison d’être, and that’s meat. Stacks and stacks of hot turkey, salt beef and pork, hand carved and dished up between thick slices of fresh bread. It’s basically the best part of Boxing Day, but without the stress of Christmas to get through first. And that’s about all there is to it. Do we really need to say more?
Dishoom
5 Stable Street, N1C 4AB
Okay, Dishoom isn’t street food if you want to be super technical about it, but only in the sense that you don’t have to eat it on the street. But the food’s so bloody good it would be criminal to get too pedantic about seating arrangements. The original Covent Garden branch was inspired by the once-ubiquitous Irani cafes of Bombay, opened in the early 20th century by Zoroastrian immigrants serving everyone from businessmen to taxi drivers. They’re open all day, but we recommend setting the alarm a bit early and turning up for one of their signature bacon naans or Bombay omelettes. According to the menu, Parsi bodybuilders famously consumed up to a dozen eggs a day to maintain their muscular physiques, so you won’t have to break your diet if you’re competing for the coveted “Mr. Zoroastrian” crown this year. Oh, and they do have a takeaway menu, so you can take grab a chicken tikka roll or vada pau (Bombay’s answer to the chip butty) and go sit by the Granary Square fountains if you’re dead-set on dining al fresco.
What do you make of our rundown of the best street food in King’s Cross?
