Billingsgate fishmarket

Saturday morning…4am…and I was already awake and getting ready by the time my friend was coming to pick me up going to BillingsgateFishMarket.

It was surrealistic driving through London when the sun was already up, but there were no tourists or actually there were no people at all on the streets, not counting those on their way to Billingsgate too.

When we arrived we hardly could find any parking space, but after around 10 minutes waiting time finally we got a good spot close to the entrance!

Billingsgate Market

All of us were a bit afraid of what we have read about Billingsgate on the internet. Plus Nigella and Paul strongly advised Andreas and me to wear ugly clothes that we wouldn’t mind if it gets dirty. Well our answer was that we did not have ugly clothes :)

On the contrary, there was no strong fish-smell and we did not need a wellie or a mackintosh either. :)

The market itself is industrial, crowded and not comparable to for example Hamburg’s fishmarket. In the 3-4 lanes of sellers we could find so many things for so cheap! Again internet said some stuff were still expensive, but I don’t think it was.

Billingsgate Market inside

Billingsgate Market inside

Billingsgate Market inside

Billingsgate Market inside

Billingsgate Market crab

Billingsgate Market crab

Billingsgate Market

Billingsgate Market sharks

Billingsgate Market tune and salmon

Billingsgate Market

There were many different types and sizes of prawns, crabs, lobsters, cute little sharks, parrotfish, swordfish, tuna, salmon, langoustine, caviar, squid, babysquid, octopus and many many different mussels and clams.

In the end we bought some:

                              -       black mussels for £3.5 a kilo

                              -       giant razorclams for £10 a kilo

                              -       scallops pieces for £10 a kilo

                              -       clams for £6.5 a kilo

                              -       9 mackerels for £8

                              -       prawns for £8 a kilo

We did not buy any, but lobsters were sold for £20 a kilo. Salmon fillets for around £8-10 a kilo, and they asked £15-£25 for a massive whole fish.

Finally the 5 things you need to know before going to Billingsgate Market!

1. The earlier the better. Although the market is open from 4am-9:30am, wake up early and go there at least before 6am! Some sellers will sell all their goods by 7am and they start packing up, so you might miss out if you arrive late.

2. Parking: the parking lot is getting smaller towards the end, and some lots are even closed there, so you have better chances getting a place if you try to stay towards the entrance or at least half way through!

3. Don’t forget to pay for parking. It’s £2 for a maximum of 2 hours. The machine accepts most of the coins.

4. There is no need to go there in willies or in crap clothes, you can still be stylish J you won’t get dirty. Sellers are aware of the people and they shout ‘Mind your legs’ all the time when they are approaching with their trollies.

5. At most sellers you are not able to buy just one piece of fish, you need to buy the whole box. This usually is put in a big thick black bin bag, but you are better off if you take a big IKEA or Tesco etc bag with you as well.

+1 But for a nice smile and some haggling you might get away buying only 1 or 2 fish instead of the bulk buy

And stay tuned because we got so excited about these that once we got home, we were cooking, eating, drinking, cooking, eating and drinking all day :)
Tomorrow I will show you our feast!

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