Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market (2025 Edition) – Week 4 and Norwich Fresh

And the fourth week of this year’s attempt to visit every food stall on Norwich market. James and I visited this stall in 2023, his first appearance in this riveting series after he inherited this rather sacred duty from Nathan. He’s truly embracing the role now, displaying admirable dedication… primarily dedicated to finding creative ways to make the ‘random’ stall choice land squarely on the purveyor of whatever deep-fried delight he’s currently craving. His methods lack subtlety but score high on optimism.

The stall opening hours and there’s a juice bar opposite run by the same operator. I had forgotten about this and we did consider including this last time, but we opted for stalls which sold food, so limited ourselves to this main event.

The menu part one and the price increases since 2023 have been moderate, around 50p for each dish. The pricing was already towards the higher end of the scale for the market, so they perhaps don’t have much margin here to increase prices further. It’s an extensive list, but it’s all clearly displayed. The stall accepts cash and cards, with the service being efficient when we visited despite there being quite a queue.

The menu part two….. I am supposed to be ordering different items from 2023 but hadn’t checked (I’ve been ill so I’ve had to limit my screen time to under twelve hours a day which has caused me some issues) what I had last time, but thought it unlikely that I’d order the same thing given the menu is quite broad. I mean, what are the odds of my getting the same again? Apparently, the odds are 100% when you’re a creature of habit whose subconscious has the culinary imagination of a beige brick….. I might as well copy and paste this from my last visit…

“I decided to opt for the Korean Chicken Bowl which is battered fried chicken served with jasmine rice, chicken and vegetable dumplings, boiled broccoli, spring onion and homemade Korean sweet and sour sauce.”

Your number’s up….. Customers are given a ticket and they wait for their number to be called. We had a wait of six minutes, which wasn’t unreasonable given that it was busy when we visited.

And the food was served, looking very similar to what I ordered in 2023 although that’s not unsurprising since I ordered the same bloody thing. I will make an effort to improve on this…. Anyway, I digress. The food looked appetising and the dumplings added texture and firmness to the arrangement. The chicken could have perhaps been a little crispier, but it was tender and the sauce had a sweet flavour. The broccoli was perhaps a little too healthy, but it was soft but retained some bite. There was a depth of flavour to the whole arrangement and the rice was soft and cooked well.

James and his food, which I think was the chicken dumpling ramen. I actually think my photo is better than his, but I didn’t mention this when he sent it. I asked James what he thought and he replied:

“Ah, Julian, this is all about ramen. One must endeavour to articulate the sheer transcendental magnificence encapsulated within this quintessential paradigm of Japanese gastronomy. It is not merely sustenance, you understand, but rather an intricate, alchemical concatenation of profound flavours and textures meticulously orchestrated into a singular, Cimmerian vessel. The foundational quintessence, the broth, is an ambrosial elixir; a deeply umami-laden decoction derived from protracted, painstaking processes involving porcine or avian carcasses, desiccated piscine elements, and select vegetal constituents. Its unctuous viscosity and olfactory profundity serve as the very soul of the experience. Submerged within this veritable nectar reside the alimentary filaments – delicate, yet resilient strands, exhibiting an exquisite al dente characteristic, providing the crucial textural counterpoint. It’s not as good as a battered sausage though.”

I think he liked it, but he did mention at the time he was getting a bit bored of it as he was eating it. He gets distracted easily.

All told, this was a rather lovely lunch, but the price point is still a little high and so it verges into being a rather more decadent option. The server was though friendly, the service was efficient and the food had a pleasant taste, so all to the good.