The World's Best Food Halls
Go hungry when you visit a food hall, a great place to sample the culinary delights of a city during your travels. These popular eateries, which incorporate everything from small food trucks to restaurants in upscale department stores, offer plentiful options under one roof, from international dishes to the best regional produce and other foods. Here’s a sampler of great places to satisfy the most free-ranging appetites:
Provast
Great Food Hall, Queensway, Hong Kong
Celebrate Chinese New Year with abalone noodles, green tea almond nougats, or steamed milk cakes at Hong Kong’s Great Food Hall. Presided over by Executive Chef Timothy Broderick, who hails from New York, this international food hall features such in-store eateries as Estudio Iberico, a Spanish tapas bar; Triple O’s, a made-to-order burger joint from Canada, and Zambra, a coffee shop that brews beans from around the globe. Don’t miss the luxury counters that sell wines, premium teas and gourmet chocolates.
Courtesy Great
Latincity, Chicago, Illinois, USA
The spirit of Latin America is alive and well in Latincity. Buzz by a counter or cart for a Mexican hot chocolate or Prickly Pear Chilcano (a Peruvian cocktail made with grape-based brandy). If you’re hungry, build your own salad with fresh produce and artisan dressings, order a Brazilian steak, or dive into a plate of mussels steamed in beer, chilies and garlic butter. Pata Negra is Latincity’s full-service restaurant, but commuters can find lots of grab-and-go goodies for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Courtesy Smart Pixel Studio
Markthal Rotterdam, Netherlands
Markthal opened in 2014 as a hybrid mix of apartments, offices and dining and shopping options. Vendors sell fresh flowers and organic veggies, warm breads, artisanal cheeses, fish and poultry, and more. Choices are diverse and international, ranging from Chinese to Dutch. The well-stocked supermarket, cafes and restaurants are all under one horseshoe-shaped arc in this huge space.
Courtesy Provast
Ponce City Market, Atlanta, GA, USA
This popular market sits in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, an established neighborhood currently being redeveloped into a buzzing nexus for city adventurers. Stroll through the Central Food Hall for dishes created by James Beard Award-winning chefs like Linton Hopkins and Sean Brock; you’ll find everything at Ponce City Market from global cuisine to Southern favorites. Check out Prohibition-inspired 18.21 Bitters, which serves tonics, tinctures and other cocktails, or the Collier Candy Company for old-fashioned treats. Grab fresh breads, cheeses, spices and other goods to go, or browse the boutiques and specialty stores.
Sarah Dorio
Sarah Dorio
London’s finest foods are sold inside this upscale department store, in displays that please the eye as much as the appetite. Take afternoon tea at The Georgian Restaurant (be sure to book ahead), enjoy seafood at Caviar House Oyster Bar, or try the Swiss-fusion cuisine at Montreux Jazz Café. Harrods offers a great selection of teas, wines, jams and preserves, biscuits and cakes and much, much more. If you can’t decide, take home a hamper, a curated collection of gourmet foods and/or beverages. The Brit-sourced culinary options also make great gifts for friends back home.
Krog Street Market, Atlanta, GA, USA
A stove factory from the 1920s now houses Krog Street Market, a West Coast-style food hall that also offers Southern-inspired restaurants. Stop by for ice cream, Szechuan dumplings, BBQ, Tex-Mex cuisine or Southern fried chicken. Triconderoga Club is helmed by some of the city's best bartenders and offers creative cocktails and eclectic food in an atmosphere-rich space that mixes us seafaring, Colonial and hipster-chic. As you might guess from its name, Frankly’s sells hot dogs, sausages and other butcher shop items, while The Little Tart serves up pastries made from organic, local and seasonal ingredients. Shop for a gift or for yourself at one of the retail stores; they’re stocked with soy candles, handmade soaps, flowers, artisanal chocolates and other must-haves. Krog Street is located in Atlanta’s Inman Park, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Copenhagen Street Food, Copenhagen, Denmark
Colorful, affordable Copenhagen Street Food, on Paper Island, overlooks the city’s waterfront, so diners can eat outdoors on the pier or inside the big hall. Small food trucks serve sustainable foods--dishes made from local produce, not ingredients transported from far away. Artists and musicians often set up easels and instruments so visitors can take in lively entertainment, shop or wash down fish and chips, duck fat fries, Italian desserts, or tacos with beer, coffee or other drinks.
Ulf Svane/Copenhagen Street Food
Ulf Svane/Copenhagen Street Food