The Polish delicatessen, Polita, is a relatively new addition to the shops in the Newtownards Road…read morearea near Holywood Arches. For someone who occasionally embarks on a recipe that requires ingredients such as buckwheat groats which are hard to find in the supermarkets I frequent this is the place to come. Also stocked is usual Polish produce of ham, sausage, sausage, cured meats and other imported packaged foods as well as pasta and pierogi, dumplings etc. Polita caters for the burgeoning Polish population in the area and unless you are part of that you will not find it easy to decipher the labels on the food sold here. I often find that the service in shops of this type is not particularly friendly, with little inclination to converse with English pleasantries, but here it was better than usual. There were some deliciously aromatic sticky cakes which I'd have bought if I'd had time to eat them there and then. I came away with a packet of superior chocolate wafer biscuits and will no doubt return in due course to check out the buckwheat groats.

This is why I think Yelp is great; through it I hear about spots I never normally would hear of and…read moream encouraged to try new places I wouldn't usually visit. Hence, thanks to Yelper Eda N and her Albertbridge Road Karolina Shop review, I was intrigued enough to walk into the Ormeau Road Karolina Shop tonight for the first time, after having bypassed it for the last couple of years. Sure, I couldn't understand any of the Polish labels haha - apart from a few which included English language descriptions! Nonetheless it was fun and interesting to walk through. It has a huge range of pickled foods, sweet things, baked goods, deli items and cheeses all of which looked very interesting. The shop itself is small but well laid out, clean and bright. I managed to acquire a jar of black olives and some blueberry and strawberry filled chocolate - delicious and reasonably priced. I'm definitely going to call in again and try out some of the pickles and cheeses. Here's to new experiences and food adventures!