London food stores: a list of the best...

[ooglewoogle]

When I am in London, I am often trying to search out the best produce and ingredient stores from which to room-picnic/squirrel goodies back to Scotland from. Rather than keep asking every year, I wondered if it might be useful to others to have a list/thread of the best?

I started by dahsing off the ones I know of/have used as 'an outsider'. It would be great if you could add your faves in a similar manner....adding any info or categories (eg Markets, Sweet shops etc) where needed. Thx!

Bakers

e5bakehouse - East London artisan sourdough bakers using organic and locally sourced ingredients.
St John Bakery - Puerveyor of delicious rustic breads - and doughnuts with an emerging cult following.
Poilane - London outpost of traditional French baker serving respected breads and croissants. Belgravia.
Wild Caper - Wonderful Bread and Pastries in Brixton Village.

Cheesemongers

Neal's Yard - Farm cheese from the British Isles, starring the showstopper Stichelton. Various outlets, with stores at Borough Market and Covent Garden.
Paxton and Whitfield - Historical cheesemongers specialising in artisan English and French cheeses. Jermyn Street.

Italian Delis

Lina Stores - Popular Soho deli with a good selection of charcuterie.
I Camissa & Son - London's original Italian Deli since 1961
Luigi's Deli - Popular Italian Deli in Chelsea with beautiful ingredients and prepared foods.

Spanish Grocers

R Garcia - Notting Hill based store with a good selection of Spanish ingredients.
Brindisa - Popular store for Spanish ingredients in the heart of Borough Market.

Asian Grocers

Center - Wide selection of Japanese ingredients. Regent Street.
Taj Stores - Brick Lane retailer with a wide selection of Bangladeshi/Indian and Asian ingredients.

Greengrocers

Michanicou Brothers - Oft touted as the best greengrocers in London and a gem for foodies. Holland Park.

Chocolate shops/chocolatiers

Paul A Young - Award winning young chocolateirs with several stores. Flagship in Soho.
L'artisan du Chocolat - Haven to many chocoholics across the city and the world....and purveyor of the lethally addictive liquid chocolate salted caramel. Chelsea, Notting Hill and in Selfridges.
Roccoco - Thriving chocolate shop selling a wide variety of beautifully wrapped chocolate and confectionery. Three stores with flagship in Belgravia.

Large Stores/Foodhalls

Selfridges foodhall
Harrods foodhall
Wholefoods
Harvey Nichols foodhall
Fortnum and Mason

[Harters]

By the by, I'm enjoying Nigel Slater's Friday evening series (he's my food god). Every week he visits a food retailer (later cooking some food for them) which I presume are all in the London area. Can anyone ID the places and if, indeed, they would be anyone's "best" list?

[damien76]

My favourite deli's tend to be where the owner displays obsessive compulsive behaviour. My current favourite is Melrose & Morgan, only been to the Primrose Hill branch but they have another in Hampstead.

http://www.melroseandmorgan.com/shops...

Poilane bakery, off Victoria, the smell of the shop alone is amazing (in particular the mornings), but is also alot cheaper (?) than buying their bread elsewhere.

Honourable mention for Gennaro's in Lewisham, similar to I Camissa & Son but bigger, cheaper and with really friendly staff.

[limster]

Should also add:

Little Bread Pedlar - great pastries -- had a superb pear danish with a very fragrantly fruity pear. Monmouth Coffee sources their pastries from them.

[Harters]

Cheese - Teddington Cheese Co (branch also in Richmoind).

Good selection of British cheeses (albeit the more obvious ones - e.g. Appleby's Cheshire and Kirkham's Lancashire, rather than, say, Bourne's or Shorrock's )

[limster]

Bread and pastries:
Boutique Deli (Clapham Junction)
Tetote (Ealing)

Chocolate:
Rabot Estate (Borough Market)
Verde & Co. (Spitalfields)

Cheese:
Mons (Borough Market and Spa Road/Maltby Street)

Another vote for Green Valley

[J Sheridan]

Cheese: Hamish Johnston in Nortcote Road, Battersea. Particularly good for UK cheeses but do French, Spanish and Italian as well.
Desserts: the Dessert Deli stall in Nortcote Road market at weekends. And doughnuts from hte bread stall.
Farmers markets all over London.

[limster]

Forgot to mention the Paul Wayne Gregory concession in Brixton Market next to Franco Manca, previously the Argentinian ice cream stall. Superb tempering and flavours in his chocolates.

[Kavey]

Ooh yes, I went for the launch evening. Have really enjoyed his chocolates from Chocolate Unwrapped and Chocolate Festival for last couple of years so good to see him in a shop. It started out as for a month, then quickly was suggested it should be 3 months and then a year. So it's not quite as much of a pop-up / short lease as originally expected.

The desserts are good, especially the coffee one. He sells them frozen, and they need a few hours to defrost, before eating, which is ideal if you are buying them to have at home that evening.

[Kavey]

Which reminds me of the Roast + Conch (Hotel Chocolat) store at Seven Dials, near Covent Garden.

I really like their hot drinks made from cocoa beans treated like coffee beans. Sounds like hot chocolate, but not quite, has more of the roasted flavours of coffee and is served unsweetened.

[dcatki]

Love this post

Bread is spot on i've tried so much and these four are my favourites as well....

Greengrocers

Leila's on Arnold Circus is sensational for fruit and veg. I would also add Chegworth Farm Shop's both in Notting Hill and Borough Market they are spectacular and as local as London fruit and veg gets

Markets
- Broadway
- Borough
- Brockley FM
- Islington FM
- Maltby St
- Stoke Newington FM

Organic friendly food stores
- Grocery on Kingsland Road
- Wholefoods both Kensington and Stoke Newington
- Unpackaged

[scottca075]

Any new fish mongers or meat markets worth mentioning?

Since I am using in London only for short stays these days, not really looking for fish or meat to cook, but smoked or cured would be nice.

[abby d]

if you like italian cured meats then Lina Stores in Soho is worth a vsit - there is so much flavour and subtlety to the products they sell, compared to a lot of other italian delis.

there was a thread recently about sourcing good smoked salmon - that might give you a few ideas.

[Robin Joy]

Hardly unknown, but for cakes, tarts, flans etc. the Paul chain (about 30 shops around London) is first rate:

http://www.paul-uk.com/content/find-a...

[brokentelephone]

Im sure there are better Korean stores in New Malden, but I really like Seoul Plaza in Golders Green for Korean ingredients (after a quick google it turns out they have locations across London, including New Malden).

Golders Green also has Yarden and Kosher Kingdom for Kosher/Jewish ingredients, though neither are probably much interest to non-Jews.

[abby d]

Green Valley, near Marble Arch, just off Edgware Lane - fabulous Lebanese treasure trove

http://green-valley.co/

I haven't been for a while but used to like the Tas shop/deli which is part of Tas EV, Southwark/Waterloo. Does anyone know if it is still worth a visit?

[Kavey]

Cheesemongers
- La Cave a Fromage - very close to South Kensington tube station, lovely selection, always in very good condition, and staff very helpful, not at all sniffy as I've found in another well known cheesemonger (not listed above). And if you are buying cheese for that night or for eating in a few days time, tell them and they'll help pick something that will be perfect for that date.

Specialist Grocery
- Atari-ya - Sell Japanese food including fresh seafood (incl sashimi grade), sushi and, depending on which location, a great selection of fresh, dried and frozen ingredients and food. The one in Finchley is excellent.

Chocolate Shops
- William Curley - chocolatier and patissiere, his patisseries in particular really are superb. Two locations, Belgravia and Richmond.

[ooglewoogle]

Thanks Kavey, some good ones!

I had hoped to collate additions into the original post, but didn't realise that Chowhound doesn't allow editing past 2 hours of OP. If we get a good thread going I will ask a mod to allow it, or link to a collated list somewhere.

Thanks again.