Shop local: the best grocers and delis around London
NORTH
1. Mestizo Market, Euston
Attached to the restaurant of the same name, the market sells everything you could want for a Mexican spread: refried beans, tortillas (corn and wheat), totopos, tahin, tequila and all manner of dried chiles. Pick up one of the colourful market bags to carry it all home.
2. Salvino, Kentish Town
Run by Sicilan brothers for 40 years, this is la dolce vita incarnate: freshly baked focaccia, hand-stuffed ravioli, homemade Italian sausage and an excellent cheese and wine selection, plus everything (including panettones) in between.
3. Phoenicia, Kentish Town
Ottolenghi is a fan of this Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African ‘food hall’. Expect colourful, heaped spices, olives hailing from Lebanon, Spain, Greece and Morocco, and ready-to-cook meats such as kebabs. Don’t leave without a box of baklava.
4. Melrose and Morgan, Hampstead
A grocer for the modern age (with another outpost in Primrose Hill). Great for locally sourced store cupboard goods: Rummo pasta, organic passatas, Brindisa olive oil, Pumphouse chocolate, Allpress coffee. Their parmesan and poppy seed rounds are a popular snack.
5. Panzer’s Deli, St John’s Wood
The Jewish community of St John’s Wood has been stepping under the green awnings of this deli since 1944. They still do a roaring trade in bagels, their house-sliced Scottish smoked salmon and chicken matzo ball soup – but they’ve since extended to include a sushi counter. Anywhere Nigella goes…
SOUTH
6. Persepolis, Peckham
A corner shop offering Persian ingredients plus a little café with a mezze menu in the corner. Pick up dried limes, sumak, saffron, za’atar, fenugreek and rose water (good for both baking and beauty).
7. General Store, Peckham
Seasonal produce from British and European suppliers – sourdough by Flor bakery in Borough, French butter, Gloucestershire eggs and bacon from the Basque Country – plus fruit and veg.
8. Kim Lien Mini Market, Peckham
A family-run supermarket packed to the rafters with predominantly Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean goods. Find a range of noodles and rice, fresh fruit (such as harder-to-find pomelo and custard apples), and store cupboard essentials such as the Laoganma chilli oil range. Also – all manner of emergency freezer dumplings.
9. Italo, Vauxhall
A neighbourhood corner shop with culinary chops: it’s owned by Charlie and Frank Boxer, and Luigi di Lieto. There’s a focus on predominantly Italian goods – everything from Campari to coppa – plus an excellent ice-cream selection, including gelato and ice-cream ‘sandwiches’. The kitchen turns out decent dishes such as paninis and ragu.
10. Lumberjack Café, Camberwell
A café-meets-grocers, with their own homemade bread and pastries, but also a selection from some of the best independent producers around the country and beyond: Neal’s Yard cheese, beer from London’s Kernel Brewery, coffee by Hasbean in Staffordshire – plus every flavour of Tony’s Chocolonely.
11. Brindisa shop, Borough Market
Many of the shops featured here sell Brindisa goods – and this is the mothership. Find jamón Serrano and Iberico (if you don’t know the difference, they also offer a ‘ham school’ course), chorizo, cheeses (including a variety of Manchego), pre-made gazpacho, cava and plenty else besides.
12. Neal’s Yard Dairy, Borough
London’s original artisan cheesemaker, who brought farmhouse cheddar and interesting varieties such as Stinking Bishop to the public conscience. They have great selections under categories such as ‘vegetarian’, ‘pregnancy’ and ‘January blues’.
13. H Mart, New Malden
The well-established Korean community of New Malden is catered for at H Mart, which features staple Korean ingredients and brands, including Gochujang red pepper paste, vegetables such as Korean radish and sesame leaves, and a variety of dried noodles, from egg to vermicelli to soba.
EAST
14. The Deli Downstairs, Hackney Village
Hackney Village’s original grocers (the premises had originally been one in Victorian times). They specialise in a big range of single-item producers, so you’ll find everything from E5 bread and Ampersand cultured butter to Ortiz tinned anchovies. You can also pick up snacks such as sausage rolls for picnics at nearby Victoria Park.
15. Wilton Way Deli, Hackney
Wilton Way is a community of independent shops, cafés and restaurants, and amongst the fray is this deli. Lots is Italian: dry and fresh pasta, Genovese pesto and a lovely selection of olive oils and wines. Plus: pastries from Flor and buns from Lyle’s.
16. Leila’s Shop, Shoreditch
A visit here puts the joy into cooking, with crates abundant with colourful fruit and veg sourced from the best suppliers, plus there’s glossy chocolate eclairs, soft-serve sorbets (made from the aforementioned fruit) and takeaway tiffin tins of things like chilli or vegetable gratin.
17. Spar Eat 17
Walthamstow Village’s Spar is franchised by a family-run business which offers premium-level supermarket goods. Highlights include their refill station (of pulses, grains and pasta), the locally brewed beer selection and their own range of chutneys, jams and mustards. There’s a rotating takeaway food counter in the corner too (currently it’s sushi).
18. Taj Stores, Brick Lane
The oldest south Asian supermarket in London, offering a range of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi goods. Come here for the spices, the on-site butchers and the hard-to-find fruit and veg: you’ll likely find gondhoraj lime, dragon fruit and countless types of mango.
19. Longdan, Hackney
Sat in and amongst the Vietnamese restaurants and cafés that populate this part of Hackney. It deals mainly in Vietnamese ingredients – rice noodles, a variety of fish sauces, radish cakes and much more – but features other south-east Asian favourites too (including an excellent selection of mochi ice-creams).
WEST
20. Daylesford, Notting Hill
Daylesford changed the face of British farming with its pioneering approach to organic living. Its Notting Hill shop sells everything from fruit and veg from its Cotswolds farm and ready-made soups to its own-brand cleaning products and Bamford beauty line. There’s also an onsite butcher and fishmonger. The café’s a popular weekend spot.
21. R Garcia & Sons, Notting Hill
A family-run Spanish deli which has been here since the 1950s. It’s the place to come for Bellota ham, La Chinata paprika, paella rice, cuttlefish ink… and Torres truffle crisps.
22. Luigi’s Delicatessen, Chelsea
The tomato red exterior of Luigi’s has been here since 1973. There’s salumi, cheeses, countless varieties of fresh tomatoes (plus Mutti tinned ones), classic Italian wines and panettone hanging from the ceiling. The takeaway lasagne is buonissimo.
CENTRAL
23. Japan Centre, Piccadilly
London’s foremost supplier of Japanese goods. It’s an emporium: all manner of noodles, sake, dried shiitake mushrooms, pork stock for ramen, ingredients with which to make sushi (plus freshly made sushi at the deli) and everything else in between: sweets, stationery and even skincare. There are other outposts, including White City and Stratford, but this is the original.
24. See Woo, Chinatown
The original Chinese supermarket (which also has Thai and Vietnamese goods). The fruit and veg selection is impressive, featuring the likes of arrow root, Chinese asparagus and chives, and shimeji mushrooms. Don’t leave without the Haday seafood soy sauce and the Way-on XO scallop sauce – cupboard essentials.
25. I Camisa & Son, Soho
A tiny, longstanding Italian deli in Soho, with shelves stocked with a variety of pasta shapes, gnocchi, olive oil and wines. The fresh counter is key: bring home handmade pumpkin and ricotta ravioli, nocellara olives plus pecorino, ricotta and parmesan. Their sandwiches draw the local lunchtime crowd.
26. Green Valley, Marble Arch
A Middle Eastern food hall serving the citizens of Marylebone since the 1980s. Pyramids of Lebanese sweets grace the windows, while shelves house a huge range of herbs. The best bit? The mezze counter with fatoush salad, tabbouleh, vine leaves and plenty else.
27. Terroni of London, Clerkenwell
Terroni is said to be the London’s oldest deli, situated right next to St Peter’s Italian Church. It’s the kind of place people stand at the metal-topped bar with an espresso and a cannoli, Roman style, but many also come here for the antipasti, dried pasta, sauces and wines from all over Italy, including the islands. The daily specials board is a sight to behold.
28. Honey & Spice, Bloomsbury
From the same people behind Middle Eastern restaurants Honey & Co and Honey & Smoke comes this grocery store and deli. It’s the same produce as used in their restaurant kitchens: the best quality vegetables and spice blends, their favourite brands of tahini and pomegranate molasses – plus all their cookbooks to tell you how to use them.
Lead image: Honey & Spice. Photograph by Patricia Niven
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