From the Roberts London film archive, originally published on 5 February 2016. This is my account of that lunch break; the menus, traders and street scenes belong to the visit.

Daddy Donkey on Leather Lane was my answer to a grey London working day. I was in Hatton Garden, the sun had finally begun to appear, and I fancied something with enough spice to brighten up lunchtime. A carnitas burrito sounded just right.

This was familiar territory. I had worked in the area for years, so Leather Lane was somewhere I knew through ordinary lunch breaks. There was always another stall to try, another queue forming, or a new shop to investigate. On this occasion, I had a particular destination in mind: Daddy Donkey and its signature Daddy D burrito.

Leaving Hatton Garden for Leather Lane

When I arrived, the market was still setting up. That was deliberate. Being self-employed meant I could step out a little earlier and try to beat the lunchtime rush. I knew what the queues could become, especially at Daddy Donkey.

Leather Lane had a very weekday rhythm. There were people living nearby, but during the working day they were joined by a much larger crowd coming into the surrounding offices and businesses. In the film, I talk about the media companies and other workplaces feeding that lunchtime demand. The market was part of their daily routine as much as it was part of mine.

My plan was simple: get the burrito first, then walk back through the market once more of the stalls were ready. It was a way to fit a proper look around into a lunch break without spending most of it standing in a queue.

Daddy Donkey: from market stall to shop

I remembered Daddy Donkey as a food truck or market stall before it moved into permanent premises. There had been a buzz around it from the beginning, followed by the sort of queues that tell you a business has become part of people’s routine.

By this visit, it occupied a shop at the corner of Leather Lane and the cross street. Moving indoors had not made the demand disappear: I still expected the queue to head towards the door once lunchtime got going.

That progression was what interested me about the business. A market pitch had given it a start, customers kept returning, and eventually there was both a reason and an opportunity to move into a shop. It was the kind of success story every hard-working market trader could hope for. The attraction remained straightforward: people wanted the food.

Choosing my Daddy D burrito

The board outside made the ordering process clear. The Daddy D was the signature burrito, alongside a fajita version and a naked burrito served in a box. There were also tacos and tostadas. You chose a filling, then a salsa, with extras available if you wanted them.

The filling choices on that 2016 menu included chicken, steak, carnitas, shredded beef and a vegetarian option. Salsa ran from milder choices through to hot smoky chipotle and extra-hot habanero. I settled on carnitas and smoky chipotle: pulled pork with some heat, wrapped up as a Daddy D.

The standard burrito combined a flour tortilla with coriander-lime rice, black beans and sour cream. Cheese and lettuce were available at no extra charge, but I described my order as keeping things simple. The carnitas were pork shoulder and leg, slow-cooked with garlic, spices, chilli and Coca-Cola, according to the menu I read in the film.

Inside, the ingredients sat along the counter ready for assembly. It was an efficient setup for the lunchtime trade: decide what you want, work through the choices, and leave with a substantial foil-wrapped lunch.

Carnitas, black beans and smoky chipotle

I unwrapped the burrito outside and tried to show the filling to the camera. The rice, black beans and pork were all there, with sour cream and the chipotle salsa. My immediate verdict was uncomplicated: delicious.

The salsa delivered a real kick. That was what I had wanted when I set out looking for something to spice up the day, and the sour cream was part of the combination I kept coming back to as I described it. There were plenty of possible additions, but I was happy with this order.

Eating a burrito while filming it is not the neatest operation. The foil, the camera and the attempt to show a cross-section all needed attention. Still, I finished it before properly beginning the market walk. I had also managed the other objective: getting served before the queue built up.

A walk through Leather Lane Market

With lunch finished, I went back along the market to see what else was on offer. The walk was as much about familiar places as new discoveries. I pointed out Pieminister, which I had already filmed, and mentioned the fish and chips as another option I could vouch for from previous visits.

Having worked nearby for so long, I tended to try places when they opened. That gave the street a personal history: shops and stalls I knew, meals I remembered, and changes I had watched happen between working days.

It seemed fairly quiet that day. I joked that a food market might be feeling the effects of everyone’s New Year’s resolutions. Even so, the queue at Daddy Donkey was beginning to form by the time I passed again. Nearby, I also pointed out Boom Burger as a place where good burgers could bring a queue.

Further along, I mentioned Prufrock Coffee and, near the end of the walk, the Department of Coffee and Social Affairs. I knew the latter from both Leather Lane and my visits around Spitalfields. These were recommendations drawn from earlier experience; I did not stop for another meal or a coffee in this film.

What the lunchtime queues told me

A Brazilian barbecue stall looked popular, although I made clear that I had not tried it. That prompted a thought about how this market worked. Many customers might not live in the neighbourhood, but they worked nearby and could return every day. Repeat custom mattered.

A queue was not the only way to judge a place, but I thought it was a useful clue. A new opening could attract the longest line through curiosity alone. Keeping that line was another matter. Daddy Donkey’s familiar lunchtime demand was part of why I had arrived early in the first place.

The film also catches the rest of the street: clothing rails, shopfronts and the everyday business of a London market. Then I reached the end of Leather Lane and headed back to work. It had been a short escape, a very good burrito, and another opportunity to record a neighbourhood I knew well.

Watch the original Daddy Donkey film

The full film preserves the order, my first impressions and the walk through Leather Lane as it appeared in 2016.

For more London food visits from the same period, join me for Pizza Pilgrims and Bar Italia in Soho, or explore Pop Brixton and Mama’s Jerk.