The Best Oxford Markets For Food & Shopping – A Local’s Guide

This Oxford food market, Gloucester Green Outdoor Market, is the heart of the city during the latter half of the week. One half of the market sells fresh produce while the other half sells delicious street food.

Nearby the less-than-amazing chain restaurants of George Street, a ton of local businesses start serving ready-to-eat authentic world cuisine from 9am. This open-air market great place to try new cuisines that you can’t elsewhere in Oxford, for example Ethiopian, Tibetan, Hungarian and Goan.

Read next: a complete guide to visiting Gloucester Green Market Oxford (and what to eat!)

Some of my favourite Oxford market food is served at Lula’s Ethiopian Cuisine. If you’ve tried Ethiopian or Eritrean food before, you’ll know about injera, a type of sourdough bread served with curries. You can scoop up messy mouthfuls of curry using your hands and injera as a spoon. Prices start from £7.

The lovely chef and owner of Gyoza Oxford serves Japanese dishes like gyoza, onigiri, takoyaki (squid batter balls), steamed buns and pumpkin croquettes. There are plenty of veggie options available. You can build boxes with items starting at 60p! Bargain.

Oxford Covered Market

The Covered Market is an indoor food market in Oxford has been around since 1774 and brings a load of character to the city centre. It does sell fresh market goods but its main focus is static shops that rarely change, most of which are local Oxford businesses.

Many sell souvenirs, clothes and trinkets but I’m, of course, focussing on the food…

Sasi’s Thai

Sasi’s Thai serve affordable, authentic Thai food in giant scoops. It’s a squeeze to find a seat at lunch but it’s well worth it. Most mains are £5 or you can get an extra scoop of a different curry for £7.

Georgina’s Cafe

This colourful cafe is one my favourites. Georgina’s Cafe serve delicious Greek mezze. It’s not market food but I’ll make an exception because I love this friendly, cosy cafe.

Alpha Bar

At Alpha Bar, sizeable takeaway salads are under £5. Salads may not sound particuarly exciting but these are super salads packed with tasty ingredients like feta-stuffed red peppers, stuffed vine leaves, fish, meat and veggies. Even a small one will keep you stuffed for hours.

The Souvlaki Brothers

The chatty siblings from Souvlaki Brothers serve excellent Greek food. They started life at North Parade Oxford Market but have since bagged a permanent stand at the Covered Market where they’ve continued serving delectable Oxford market food.I had a delicious halloumi souvlaki wrap with tzatziki, paprika and fries.

Pieminister

Pieminister serve pies with all different fillings and sides including gravy, mash and peas. They have a small cafe in Oxford Covered Market where you devour a heart, messy meal for under £10. Being English never tasted so good.

Ben’s Cookies

The birthplace of what’s now a chain, Ben’s Cookies are served warm and gooey (insert heart-eyes emoji here). Dark chocolate and ginger is my favourite flavour. They’ve recently started serving vegan cookies although they were out of stock by mid-afternoon when I last visited.

North Parade Market Oxford

Next up, North Parade Market. This wholesome farmers market in Oxford doles out tasty produce to its guests on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month. North Parade is a gorgeous street so make sure you take a trip with or without the market.

Note – the vendors at North Parade Market vary weekly due to their individual commitments. I can’t promise all these stands will be here every week.

Tuyen’s Vietnamese Kitchen

Here you’ll find yummy, authentic Vietnamese dishes. The fresh spring rolls with prawn (£2.50) were just as good as the ones I ate in Vietnam, and the pho ga (chicken noodle soup, £5) was hearty and satisfying on a cold morning.

Sin Azucar Organic Chocolate

Love chocolate but watching your sugar consumption? Sin Azucar is Spanish for without sugar. These goodies contain high percentages of Peruvian cacao and quality ingredients including orange, dates, ginger and pumpkin seeds.

Padstow Fish

This is the place to purchase fresh seafood from sea bass to monkfish, lemon sole, swordfish and oysters. It doesn’t get fresher than Padstow Fish.

PSOUL

With the tagline ‘if almonds can be milk, you can be anything’, this is Oxford’s first vegan food van. Try PSOUL‘s delicious vegan burgers in eye-catching pink buns and take home freshly baked brownies and peanut butter cookies for later.

East Oxford Farmers Market is a lovely community-run market held near Cowley Road on Saturdays. As the name suggests, it’s more about local produce (think bread, milk, cheese and honey) than street food, although there are a few things you can sample while wandering around, starting with takeaway coffee at the front. A few top picks include…

Mediterranean

I ate the best falafel of my life at this stand serving Mediterranean and North African veggie and vegan food. In this box below I’ve got hummus, falafel, stewed aubergine in tomato, lentil curry and a giant crispy roll stuffed with potato and cheese.

Fill a box for £7.50. I imagine it would last several days in the fridge.

It’s not the biggest or best Christmas market in the UK but if you’re in Oxford come December, it’s worth checking out Oxford Christmas Market. This Oxford market serves all the usual German classics like bratwurst and mulled wine. You can also browse adorable hut-shaped stalls selling everything from gourmet cheese and chocolate to trinkets and Christmas decorations.