Yesterday I made it down to the Brixton markets, located on the southside of the Thames in London. Brixton itself is a suburb of London teeming with culture dissimilar to other parts of London. Here the Caribbean influences are strong as you can tell from the common things that they sell in most of the stalls including plantains, Cassava, Jamaican fruits and vegetables, various chillis, jerk seasoning and jerk sauce. The markets extend from two major streets (at least from what I saw) and form an almost circular path from either exit of the Brixton tube.
I would best describe the markets, as markets you might do your grocery shopping at if you were a local, with many of them selling bric-a-brac, utensils and varying amounts of clothing. Countless fruit and vegetable stalls abound, all with a noticeable Caribbean influence, though you’re not going to find any food like you might at the Borough markets. Butchers also make up a vast majority of the sidewalk stores as you pass through the markets, and what looked like good quality meat for decent prices is readily available. Whole carcasses of animals hang from hooks in the butcher, and unlike most traditional butchers, all parts of the animals are up for sale. In fact I would be surprised if I didn’t see a butcher there not selling chicken feet, pig’s trotters, or pig intestines.
For lunch I was hoping to hit a Caribbean cafe but I didn’t across one so I ended up stopping in at an organic café called Rosie’s. You can find this café tucked away in a little arcade just off Market Row. The three small tables outside effectively double the sitting capacity but take-away ciabattas and salads are easy enough to eat. This café, and I suppose deli, has mostly Spanish type food and serve great coffee. My sun bleached tomato, mozzarella and spinach toasted ciabatta went down a treat!
