UK
Britain’s bagel boom: Classic sandwich from London shop named Deliveroo’s ‘top trending’ dish in global league table
November 5, 2025 10:36
Jewish Londoners and Brits with a penchant for Ashkenazi nosh have long favoured bagels laden with smoked salmon and cream cheese, but the allure of the “roll with a hole” is enjoying a surge in popularity, according to a report on food trends.
A smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich from a small, family-run bagel shop in east London has been named the “top trending” dish of the year in an international league table.
Papo’s Bagels in Hackney, which draws its inspiration from the bagel shops of New York City, has topped this year’s “Deliveroo 100 report”, an annual list published by the company, with the shop’s classic bagel – filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese, along with sliced red onion, tomatoes and capers – taking first place both in the UK and globally.
The list, which showcases what the platform refers to as the best “trending” orders from around the world offers a glimpse into the cravings of the food-ordering public.
Founded by Georgia Fenwick-Gomez and her husband Gabe "Papo" Gomez, Papo’s began as a home-based lockdown venture, until it took off the ground, expanding into a commercial kitchen and later evolving into an established takeaway outlet in Dalston.
The couple set out to replicate the “art” of bagel-making, characteristic of New York delis, and now routinely sell out by lunchtime, they said.
Accepting the accolade, Papo’s Bagels remarked: “Winning Deliveroo’s top-trending dish of the year is honestly a crazy honour. We had a simple desire to bring a taste of home – New York City – to London, and The Classic is a classic for a reason. Thank you!”
Bagels are rooted in Ashkenazi Jewish history and culture, originating in Jewish communities in Poland during the 17th Century. Jewish immigrants brought their bagel-making traditions to North America in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and the boiled ring-shaped roll is now synonymous for many with New York City.
The word “bagel” is believed to come from the Yiddish “beygl”, sometimes written “beigel”, from Middle High German “boug”, meaning "ring, bracelet" and related to the Old High German “biogan”, meaning "to bend" and the Old English “beag”, meaning "ring".
In her 2008 book, The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread, author Maria Balinska pinpointed the first ever reference to the bagel — made in Yiddish in 1610 by the Jewish Council of Krakow in Poland.
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