The Turkish Food Centre is a large supermarket where you can find cheap imports form turkey, and…read moreother Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. It is a joy to live near by, open 365 days of the year, 8am to 10pm without fail. Organic vegetables, tomatoes bursting with colour and flavour. They have a large delicatessen where they have a large selection of olives, Halal meats and cheeses , and make their own Turkish bread on site too. It all has a lovely smell of when you walk in. They have absolutely everything that a Turksih Chef would need. My family shop here virtually everyday to get bread and other certain thing they might need for whatever is being cooked. For quantity, it is by no means competition for any large supermarket chains, but as for quality, it definitely is. It is a regular for me.

Once in a while I have a craving for Greek Salad...and then I always come here, as they have all…read morethe ingredients right here and there: tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumber, red onions, fresh olives, feta cheese, lemons, etc. Furthermore, you can get all kind of "Mediterranean" products here, as well as different cured meats.

Nice local store with a great range of vegetables in good price. Recommended for every N19 :)read more

In my endless quest to be cooler than all you people I shunned the food stalls of Sunday UpMarket…read morewith their mobs of people wearing ironic large sunglasses, I turned my nose up at the hog roasts at Shoreditch cliches 93ft East and the Truman Brewery, and I certainly wasn't going to join the More4-loving set lunching away at shiny chain restaurants in what used to be wonderful Spitalfields. No, I decided I'd abandon the Time-Out guided Sunday masses and wonder the wrong way down Brick Lane in search of authentic options. And because of that my lunch for £2.40 consisted of two of the best spinach samosas I've ever had and two hearty but dry fish cakes. It was window placement of these savoury cakes, samosas and pakoras that magnetised me into Ambala. The rest of the shop was largely devoid of the Bangla sweets they profess, but do I look like I'm bothered? It was lunch time, I wanted something salty, satisfying and solid value and I found it in spades. Next time you do the sunday brick lane thing, give Ambala a look. Don't just be another sheep having free range tofu sausage crepes with the other Nathan Barleys.

I work in the City with a team from India and they have established a custom of zipping out to…read moreAmbala on a Friday afternoon and returning with a huge box of hot samosas. When I find out who came up with the idea I shall demand that they are promoted and given some sort of employee of the decade award. Ambala sell a vast range of Indian/Pakistani savoury snacks and sweets. Both their lamb and vegetarian samosas are fantastic, their pakora is great and so is more or less everything else they sell. If you work near this part of London you absolutely have to go in here and buy enough of their delicacies to fill a wheelbarrow, push it straight back to your office and bask in the warm adulation of your co-workers as they scarf hot eastern yumminess. Unfortunately they aren't open early otherwise I would pick up breakfast here.

Ben's house is AWESOME. A really simple well executed concept: all products are made by Londoners…read more And all products stocked are awesome. It's small business supporting small business and I love it. You will most probably see Ben when you're in there and he's worth going to see for a 'how's it going'. You can also get coffee, bready snacks and, as he describes it, treats. The take away 'hard treats' such as the gins and wines are my favourite, but to be honest everything on that shelf is great. I would quite happily stock up my cupboard with the pickles, hot sauce, cordial, breads etc etc. He also has an excellent magazine range. AND he puts on supper club style events which shouldn't be missed. Small, intimate, delicious. Think there is a small room out the back hireable for small meetings. Low light: this place is not next to my work.

The clue to how wonderful this place is is all in the name! You truly do get a warm, homely welcome…read moreat Ben's House and are treated as a friend rather than a customer. I didn't know where to start with all the wonderful treats on offer, the brownies were delicious and the coffee just as excellent. It was really difficult to bring ourselves to leave as Ben is great to have a chat too and knows so much about all his locally sourced products on offer. I definitely learnt a thing or two about all the amazing gins, honey and other bits on offer. He has a real passion for everything sold in his 'house' and it's incredibly refreshing to visit somewhere so welcoming and fun. If any of you are lucky enough to have a pooch in your life, too, they're also welcome! Added bonus... not sure this place could get any better, really. But I'm sure Ben will find a way! I can't wait to go back!

Windows, crammed full of faded posters advertising phonecards and money transfers to African, this…read morelittle shop offers some of the tastes and smells of African right here in Hackney. I grew up where there were no food shops like this, where you couldn't buy a mango in the local supermarket so coming across this still seems really exciting and novel. Chin-Chin. Dried Fufu, fufu flour, garri, palm oil, Soko Yokoto, Ozziza, Egu, Semovita. I really don't know what these things are. The woman there was really friendly, despite clearly, my not being there to get my weekly shop. And I did pick up some hot pepper soup spices, which I love... So that was good. And it's amazing to come in and see dried catfish piled in boxes. Places like this are surely only found in certain areas of big cities. So, check it out for an interesting (and interested cook?), well worth a browse.

See Woo Greenwich…read more Went there this afternoon and found many of shelves empty as was a month ago. The same reason - refrigeration out of order caused by flooding considering the area is 33 ft above sea level. and had no incidence of flooding previously. Last year in the middle of the pandemic we were there 15 mins queueing up to go in only to find lots of empty shelves. This afternoon we bought a pack of beef flank weighing 1300 gms only to find 435 gms (almost a third of the weight) of thick fat hidden under the leaner meat - was this on purpose ?

One of the places in London that I really should have hauled my ass to by now. I've lived in the…read morearea for almost ten years, I love Chinese food and this place is less than five minutes away from my house. Not exactly rocket science is it? Luckily, a friend dragged me here last week and I finally got to play in the Chinese supermarket I'd heard so much about. It's fun here. There's stuff you won't ever have seen before (I lived in China for a while and I still didn't recognise some of the stuff). It's not easy that everything is sold in bulk. I ate pak choi for almost every meal over three days. But, it would be great if you were planning dinner for friends. I have a bamboo steamer now. Everyone is getting wontons whether they like them or not. I wasn't impressed with their Crispy duck - the carving was so bad that it was 30% bone which was annoying (and has probably cost them that final star actually). I'll try the char sui next time. I'm very excited about that. They stay open late on a Sunday too (illegal? maybe? leave them alone, please). It's not cheap here, but that's understandable. That's a bit like complaining that Cyber Candy is expensive. Besides I don't know many supermarkets that will sell me a lobster that's still swimming about in a tank.

By far one of the best and most unusual shops in North London. I've been living in the area for 4…read moreyears and have grown very fond of this place. Andreas Michli & Son is a family concern which has been at it's current location for at least 35 years. While many other shops on the green lanes offer cheap selections of fruit and veg much of it is well past it and all too often pretty bashed. Andreas always has fresh vegetables delivered throughout the week and his prices are always reasonable. A strong believer in traditional methods much of the fruit and vegetables he imports are organic and untreated. The citrus fruits especially are of a quality I have been unable to find elsewhere - sweet lemons (!!), bergamots, seville oranges, jaffa etc they are all amazing. If you want advice on how to cook anything he is always happy to offer suggestions (if it's green and leafy - olive oil and lemon is a good way to go). He's always happy to barter and if you talk to him he often discounts purchases or gives you things to try. When in season he sells a wide selection of wild salads, greens and unusual mushrooms - don't be afraid to try new things! When watermelon season hits (end of April) the shop explodes out onto the street with the best and tastiest watermelons I have ever tried. Some of them even take two people to carry! He also salts and marinades his own olives from fresh and prepares at least 10 difference kinds on a regular basis. There are often unique and traditional foods available which he makes himself - from marinaded fish to pickled cucumbers and even jellied ham! Finally I was amazed to find out recently that during the summer many of the vegetables on sale are actually grown by him and his family on their farm in Herts just outside of London. If you want the best seasonal food that Cyprus (and England!) has to offer I personally would look no further - this shop is a hidden Gem in the Harringay Green Lanes. Have fun!

Hiding in the shadow of the Lyle & Tate factory in Silvertown is this massive Far East Asian…read moresupermarket selling almost everything you could possibly need. You've probably seen Loon Fung in Chinatown, right in the middle of Gerrard Street, the largest Chinese supermarket there, complete with butcher and funky smells. Well, this is their larger and better store, right next to City Airport. It's a bugger to get to. Even if you have a car, the Crossrail works happening in its immediate vicinity have rendered Sat Nav systems a little bit useless as Factory Road now appears to be one way only. But perseverance pays off because you will literally be able to load your car up with all the stuff you can't buy elsewhere and not need to make this trip for another 3 months. There's free parking on site. A huge fruit and vegetable section, massive frozen section, you can buy industrial boxes of laundry detergent here (cheaper than at a mainstream supermarket.) A fishmonger, butcher and every single brand of soy sauce under the Sun. It's also possible to buy hotpot stoves/pots as well as as bamboo steamers and other kitchen objects popular in Far Eastern cuisine. It used to be a cash and carry which meant you needed a membership card to shop here. I've recently been told that I can get points on the card. No idea if it's still a cash and carry but it's worth getting a card for the loyalty points if you plan on being a frequent shopper.

If you're looking for 'have a nice day' shiny happy staff dont shop here!!…read moreHowever if you like Chinese/Oriental food and if you like cooking this is the place for you! There's every type of Chinese ingredient you can think of and a few you cant..think instant shark fin soup and odd looking pickled ingredients from mushrooms to monkey heads!! once over the initial shock there is every type of soy sauce, noodles, tofu dim sum, stirfry paste and cooking utensil you can think of,worth it just to look at the packaging! have a browse you wont be dissappointed