Deep in the heart of London’s Southbank, you’ll find a gem of a food festival which takes place on a weekly basis and on special occasions (like Easter weekend) extends to the banks of the Thames itself. Its called the Real Food Festival and is one of the best ongoing food festivals in London at the moment.

Bringing together a fusion of food from around the world, the Real Food Festival is starting to establish itself as the affordable, fresh, go-to food market for foodies and those who just fancy something different for lunch.  What we really liked about it is that there is so much variety available. This is probably our third trip and every time we go there is something new. On this occasion we went for the full three course meal, starter, main and desert, and were not disappointed!

Unconventionally our starter was a cup of yummy Jasmine Tea from Bunta which is a Vietnamese inspired street food stall which is as colourful in colour as it is in flavour…From prawn skewers to sweet potato crisps and noodle salads, this was the perfect starting place to get an education in worldwide food.

Vietnamese Street Food stall Bunta

Next up was a pit-stop via the Community Kitchen Project which uses fresh food produce to create North African inspired food… this stall was always busy and very helpful to explain where the food comes from, definitely worth checking out… We absolutely loved its philosophy being based on the old idea of having a central kitchen space where everyone from the village comes to cook, chat and share recipes and resources – its a commercial business with a social purpose – so really does have people at the heart of what it does.

Cheese and freshly baked cakes all on show at the Real Food Festival

We also wondered around the stalls and settled on a tasty Paella cooked in a stall aptly named Paella! As the stall holder said, whilst battling the gigantic paella pans “its worth the wait” and it really was, a generous portion of healthy seafood paella cooked to perfection, absolutely divine… its just a shame that they haven’t developed their online marketing strategy just yet otherwise we’d be more than happy to point all you lovely people straight in its direction!

Finally, continuing the Spanish theme, (we just couldn’t resist) it was Churros! Churros! Churros! and if you didn’t have a chance to sample any there, here’s a fantastic video showing you how to make it at home!

Remember its not just these few stalls that are on show at the Real Food Festival. Some of our other recommendations are:

 Craft Beer Rising which is traditionally a festival at its brewery in Brick Lane but hosted a number of yummy beers at this festival too…well worth a sample or seven!

Battersea Pie  which is great British pies using traditional pastry and free range meat – British street food dining at its finest with food sourced from our fair Isles.

Grays and Feather a delightful taster of some fantastic world wines sold in quirky bottles and fantastic additions to any dinner table… all you winos out there will relish in this treat!

So there you have it an action packed food festival full of tasters from worldwide cuisine ready to get your mouth watering!

The Real Food Festival runs every Friday – Sunday right next to the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, so make sure you check it out!