Jamon Jamon – Paella Stall

Walking at the Saturday market and saw the paella stand. Normally I won’t do food that needs a fork for street food. We made the exception and the paella was totally worth it! So good. Had to pick up the chicken pieces with our hands and took turns holding the container and wooden fork. Good stuff.

the absolute best paella i have ever had. they have 2 options to choose from: paella valencia (my favorite) and seafood paella. they operate every saturday at portobello market. i try to come here almost every weekend i can and without fail they always have people surrounding and drooling at the 3 large paella pans or lined up get in on the action. their rice in the paella has the perfect texture with a nice subtle crunch on the inside of each grain. the flavor is amazing and its not too oily either. the chicken complements the flavor of the rice and is very tender. they only use dark meat (leg/​thigh), which is another plus.
the prices are very reasonable and the portions will fill you up, which may be the only downside because you won’t have any room to try other foods at the market. i’ve had the pleasure of chatting it up with them every so often and they are really nice people as well.

You all know this place… it’s THAT Portobello Market stand with hula-​hoop sized pans of Paella, bubbling away while battalions of Italian and Taiwanese tourists take photos of it with Nikon N70s and various vintage hipster cameras.
Apart from being camera-​porn for the tourist set, they also serve big cartons of paella for £5 for chicken and £6 for seafood. While it’s nice to share a mass of reddish rice and two prawns while you walk down a busy street, the paella won’t blow anyone away with its severe lack of seasoning and spice. I can’t help but thinking there are better deals to be found for tasty street food elsewhere on Portobello Road, but at least the Paella cooking display provides a million Flickr uploads.