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Quality Chop Shop, Clerkenwell, one of the best places in London to buy fine food and provisions during the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

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A Guide to the Best Food Shops in London

Bread, wine, meat, fish, fruit, veg, and other groceries from shops, provisioners, and restaurants

Quality Chop Shop, Clerkenwell
| Quality Chop House [Official Photo]

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One upshot of the closure of restaurants and the dearth of supermarket slots during the height of London’s lockdown in the spring of 2020 was a new opportunity for all of the independent food and drink suppliers across the capital, many of which hastily introduced brand new delivery services. Some of the restaurants have brought these innovations into 2021 and beyond.

These are shops and suppliers selling outstanding meat, fish, bread, fruit, vegetables, store cupboard ingredients, spices, seasonings, fresh food, wine, beer, and other provisions. Separated into key sections and with locations and how-to-order linked, here’s a directory of where to keep stocked up all over the city.

All sections are listed in alphabetical order.


GROCERIES

While supermarket queues may have gone down and delivery slots might be slightly easier to get hold of, for those who are able to do so, shopping locally at independents remains a generally much less fraught experience. It’s also a vital way of supporting traders who have never been more vulnerable.

La Chatica/Official

SPECIALISTS

  • Best Foods Supermarket — Walthamstow
    Vast range of South Asian foods, including fresh fruit and vegetables, rice, bread, spices, and store cupboard ingredients.
  • Bin Bin Q — Delivery
    Euston’s Xi’an skewer and barbecue specialist delivers fresh and dry goods all over London.
  • Green Onions — New Cross
    Organic healthfood store that specialises in teas, gluten-free foods, and... vinyl.
  • Japan Centre — Delivery
    One of London’s leading suppliers of Japanese supplies, including noodles, rice, soy sauces, noodles, miso, sake, and snacks.
  • Kim Lien Mini Market — Peckham
    Exceptionally well-stocked Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean supermarket offering delivery via eBay.
  • La Chatica Shop — Elephant and Castle / Delivery
    Produce from Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador.
  • Lai Loi — Deptford
    Vietnamese grocery specialist offering delivery within Deptford.
  • Le Mi Supermarket — Hackney
    Vietnamese and East Asian grocer selling fresh vegetables and herbs and a huge range of dried goods, seasonings, and drinks.
  • Made In Portugal — Walthamstow
    Portuguese specialist stocking fresh and dried foods, snacks, and drinks.
  • Persepolis — Peckham / Delivery
    Persian grocery specialist open for mail order and local collection.
  • Proudly African (Jumbo) — High Street, Walthamstow
    Everything from gari, flours and beans to fresh and frozen produce, with a catalogue available to download and an online ordering system currently under construction.
  • Reineta — Dickens Yard, Ealing
    Groceries, produce, Spanish cheese and charcuterie and a range of Basque sweets and wines. Delivering locally.
  • SeeWoo Asian Supermarket — Chinatown / Various
    A huge selection of fresh, frozen, dry and tinned goods (including much of the Laoganma range) with no minimum order for delivery.
  • Sunland Caribbean — Delivery
    A wide range of Afro-Caribbean fresh produce and prepared foods including yams, sweet potato, breadfruit, mangos, and sour-sop.
  • TFC — Various
    North London’s preeminent Turkish and Mediterranean supermarket, with baked goods from Turkey, Cyprus and Iran.
  • Vinegarshed — Delivery
    Specialist vinegars and premium-grade spices.
  • The Ealing Grocer — Delivery
    From Vinegarshed founder Andy Harris, a wider selection of staples and sought-after specialist foods.
Parkway Greens/Official

PRODUCE AND FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

  • Al-Madinah Food Centre — Old Kent Road
    Well-stocked grocer and convenience store.
  • Borough Market — London Bridge
    Many of the traders at London’s oldest and most renowned food market remain open, with a delivery service a new string to their bow. Brindisa is among those trading.
  • Clifton Greens — Maida Vale / Warwick Avenue / Delivery
    Routinely voted one of London’s best grocers, and a favourite of Yotam Ottolenghi’s. Online brochure available to download, with home delivery offered.
  • Embas Express — New Cross
    Supermarket with a vast range of fruit and vegetables, imported foods, and deli products.
  • Middle Lane Market — Hornsey / Delivery
    Stocks everything from Margot Bakery sourdough to fresh pasta, fruit and veg, germents and baking supplies.
  • Newington Green Fruit and Vegetables — Canonbury
    One of London’s most well-stocked (and photographed) grocers remains open for business with social distancing measures in place.
  • Parkway Greens — Camden
    Supplier to the likes of Honey and Co and Mildreds; brochure available to download online and home delivery offered.
  • Spar, Eat17 — Walthamstow
    Full grocer with fruit and vegetables, store cupboard ingredients (including tinned Mutti tomatoes), fresh bread, Ararat naan, booze, and ice cream.
  • Spa Terminus — Bermondsey
    Among the producers open for retail business are Puntarelle, a fruit and vegetable specialist with a focus on Italian produce and a sideline in fermented goods, Natoora and Monmouth.
Instagram/@general_store

DELIS and RESTAURANTS SUPPLYING PRODUCE

  • 40 Maltby Street — Bermondsey
    Open as a shop and traiteur from 12 p.m. — 5 p.m., Wednesday — Sunday.
  • General Store — Peckham
    Deli food, artisan cheese, bread, coffee, wines, beers and fresh produce. Collection daily, or local delivery in south east London on Friday with orders placed by midnight on Thursday.
  • Spring — Delivery
    Skye Gyngell’s Spring is making the most of its partnership with renowned farm Fern Verrow to deliver outstanding produce within 12 kilometres of the Somerset House restaurant, as well as pre-prepared restaurant dishes, bakes, and sweets.
  • Leila’s Shop — Shoreditch
    Fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, cheeses and meat. Order 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday for same day collection between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
  • L’Emporio – Bermondsey
    This Italian deli is well stocked with pasta, sauces, gelato, honey, jams and much more.
  • Ombra — Hackney
    Fresh pasta, fresh southern Italian fruit and vegetables, wine, negronis, and deli items, such as flour, yeast, eggs, olive oil, and tinned tomatoes. Delivery will resume soon.
  • Brawn — Hackney
    A range of foods either made or bought by the restaurant, from charcuterie and panna cotta to anchovies, cod’s roe, and more.
  • Ambassador General Store — Nationwide
    A delivery venture from London restaurant juggernaut JKS, offering Michelin-starred restaurant food from Gymkhana and Trishna, dishes from City hit Brigadiers, cocktails, and pantry items.
  • Provisions — Holloway
    Top wine and cheese importer and deli offering tins, charcuterie, fresh pasta, and more. Delivered or pre-ordered for pick-up.
  • Quality Chop House Shop — Clerkenwell
    Has added local and national delivery to one of the most renowned food shops in London, with fresh produce alongside deli items, meals, cuts of meat, and more. Delivering online.
  • The Plumstead Pantry — Plumstead
    Everything from fresh yeast and proving baskets to seasonal veg and honey. Reopening in a few weeks into November.

BREAD

DIY sourdough, banana bread, and chocolate chip cookies might no longer be swamping Instagram, but London’s best independent bakeries are still doing a trade and delivering by foot, bike, and car all over the city.

Flour tortillas fresh off the grill
Sonora’s flour tortillas.
Sonora
  • Ararat Bread — Dalston
    Freshly baked naan.
  • Aries Bakehouse — Brixton
    Viennoiserie, patisserie, and sourdough.
  • Brunswick East — Dalston and Hackney Downs
    Sourdough.
  • Dusty Knuckle — Dalston
    White and wholegrain sourdough, focaccia, and pastries
  • E5 Bakehouse — London Fields
    Range of artisan breads, sweet and savoury pastries, and cakes.
  • Horizon Foods — Tottenham
    Trinidadian roti.
  • Luminary Bakery — Camden
    Bread, cakes, and brownies.
  • Paul Rhodes — Greenwich
    Sandwich loaves, and other breads.
  • Sonora — London Fields / Take away
    Fresh, flour tortillas from Sonora in Mexico via Netil Market (three options: lard, goose fat, vegetable oil.)
  • Popham’s Bakery — Islington / London Fields
    Sourdough loaves, Viennoiserie, and meal kits including fresh pasta and sauces.
  • Raabs The Baker — Islington
    Fresh loaves, rolls, cakes, and doughnuts.
  • Sunflour Bakery — Caledonian Road
    Sourdough, tin loaves, soda bread, bloomers, baguettes, and rye. Plus cakes.
  • The Bread Station — London Fields / Delivery
    Baguettes, Italian-style loaves, and produce boxes.
  • Today Bread — Walthamstow / Delivery
    Baguettes and sourdough loaves.
  • Flor — Borough Market / Bermondsey / Delivery
    Mince and quince pies, breads, and laminated pastries.

MEAT AND FISH

From butchers and fishmongers at the heart of local communities to top-notch suppliers who ordinarily only sell to restaurants now doing doorstep deliveries to all Londoners, this is where to find superb meat and fish outside the supermarkets — and beyond.

Hill and Szrok/ Facebook
  • Atari-Ya — sashimi-grade fish / Various
    Best known for its restaurants, the shops will prepare fish for any mode of cooking.
  • Boi Gordo Butchery — Plaistow
    A treasured Brazilian butchery specialising in cuts for barbecue.
  • Cobble Lane Cured — Islington
    As the name suggests, a specialist in curing, smoking, and charcuterie.
  • Coombeshead Farm — Cornwall
    The U.K. restaurant staycation par excellence is putting its farmland to good use, offering provisions like pork pies, sausages, and bacon from its Mangalitza and Middlewhite pigs; pickles, ferments, and condiments from its vegetables and fruits; and one-off boxes for sheep and duck.
  • Fin and FlounderBroadway Market / Delivery
    Longtime east London fishmonger offering delivery across London.
  • Fosse Meadows — Delivery
    Some of London’s best restaurants rely on this chicken.
  • Henderson’s Seafood — Delivery
    One of the best restaurant suppliers in the business offering boxes for delivery.
  • HG Walter — Delivery
    Order direct or via The Estate Dairy or Notting Hill Fish Shop.
  • Hill and SzrokBroadway Market
    Another popular east London butcher offering whole carcass, small farm meat. Recently added Stella’s, in Newington Green.
  • M. Moen and Sons — Clapham
    One of south London’s oldest butchers moves into home delivery.
  • Moxon’s — Various
    Shops in Clapham, East Dulwich, South Kensington, and Islington offering local delivery while staying open. One of the best retail fishmongers in the city.
  • Notting Hill Fish Shop — Notting Hill / Holland Park / St. John’s Wood
    Same-day delivery of outstanding fish, HG Walter meat, and pantry items, with longer-lead orders available too.
  • Parson’s Nose — Various
    South west London butcher offering Sutton Hoo chickens, soups, stocks, and pastas as well as the classic range of cuts of meat.
  • Pesky Fish — Delivery
    Fish is caught in the morning. At 8a.m., the catch is posted online. It is delivered to your door the next day. Catch changes every day, market open Mondays to Thursdays.
  • Phillip Warren’s On the Pass Delivery
    Prime, aged beef, lamb, and duck from one the country’s best butchers and renowned restaurant meat suppliers.
  • Steve Hatt Fishmonger — Islington
    Essex Road institution with a great range of fresh fish and seafood.
  • The Ginger Pig — Various
    Famous London butcher offering aged, free range beef, pork, chicken, and lamb, plus a few choice provisions and sausage rolls.
  • The ButcheryVarious / Delivery
    Finest quality aged beef from one of London’s best butchers. Plus pasture-fed lamb, Gloucestershire Old Spot pork, and Fosse Meadows chickens.
  • Turner and George — Angel
    Famous Basque dairy cow beef, pork chops, burgers, sausages, bacon, and other fridge staples.

WINE AND BEER

London’s wine bars, bottle shops and craft breweries were among the first to start switching to delivery when the first lockdown was announced. Many of the best are now dispatching cases all over the city, with some able to deliver with as little as an hour’s notice, while a handful remain open for collection in person — this can be subject to change, however, so check in with them by phone or on Instagram for the latest before setting off.

Wines at Diogenes the Dog, a new wine bar for London in Elephant and Castle Diogenes the Dog/Daniel Ogulewicz

CHEESE

British cheesemakers, many of who depend to a large extent on the restaurant trade for their survival, have been among those hardest hit by the pandemic. London hubs like Neal’s Yard Dairy and Paxton and Whitfield are offering swift doorstep delivery, while many local cheesemongers remained open for shopping.

Cheese selection at Pistachio and Pickle, one of the best places to eat cheese in London Pistachio and Pickle/Instagram

COFFEE AND TEA

Coffee by post is nothing new, but in lockdown London’s top-tier roasteries, tea purveyors and coffee shops have, for obvious reasons, had to rely on dispatch more than ever.

Climpson and Sons/Official

PASTA

Delivering fresh and dried pasta, sauces and aperitivi to the doorsteps of loyal customers has been a lifeline for some of London’s most beloved Italian restaurants. And as delivery options go, pasta is surely one of the best — it travels well and lends itself to easily creating a much-missed sense of occasion at home.

  • Lina Stores — Delivery
    One of London’s most extensive Italian delivery options, bringing everything from cannoli to pasta- and pizza-making meal kits to the door.
  • Officina 00 — Delivery
    As well as delivering via Slerp, the Old Street regional pasta specialist is running online cooking masterclasses during lockdown.
  • OMBRA — Hackney / Delivery
    As well as pasta and sauces, Ombra will resume delivering bottled cocktails, pantry provisions and one of of London’s best tiramisus.
  • Passo — Delivery
    Fresh pasta and sauces from the Old Street Italian, plus pizza kits.

Gymkhana

42 Albemarle Street, , England W1S 4JH 020 3011 5900 Visit Website

Quality Chop House

94 Farringdon Rd, London, Greater London EC1R 3EA +44 20 3490 6228 Visit Website

St. John

26 Saint John Street, , England EC1M 4AY 020 7251 0848 Visit Website

Salon

18 Market Row, , England SW9 8LD 020 7501 9152 Visit Website

Swift

12 Old Compton Street, , England W1D 4TQ 020 7437 7820 Visit Website

Persepolis

28-30 Peckham High Street, , England SE15 5DT 020 7639 8007 Visit Website

Broadway Market

Broadway Market, , England E8 4QJ

Gnarly Vines

464 Hoe Street, , England E17 9AH 020 8556 1256 Visit Website

BRAT

4 Redchurch Street, , England E1 6JL Visit Website

Italo

13 Bonnington Square, , England SW8 1TE Visit Website

Pavilion

Old Ford Road, , England E9 7DE Visit Website

Sunday

169 Hemingford Road, , England N1 1 020 7607 3868

The Cheese Truck

Maltby Street, , England SE1 3PA 07825 838530 Visit Website

London

, , England Visit Website

Weino BIB

39 Balls Pond Road, , England N1 4BW 020 7254 6123 Visit Website

High Street

High Street, , England KT3

Mae + Harvey

414 Roman Road, , England E3 5LU Visit Website

The Bread Station

373 Helmsley Place, , England E8 3SB 020 7254 7388 Visit Website

Pollo Feliz

13-23 Westgate Street, , England E8 3RL 07479 478722 Visit Website

Japan Centre

1 Montfichet Road, , England E20 1GL 0870 820 0055 Visit Website

The Cheese Bar

Chalk Farm Road, , England NW1 8AH 020 7428 6441 Visit Website

Newcomer Wines

5 Dalston Lane, , England E8 3DE Visit Website

The Laughing Heart

277 Hackney Road, , England E2 8NA 020 7686 9535 Visit Website

Trishna

15-17 Blandford Street, , England W1U 3DG 020 7935 5624 Visit Website

Canonbury

Wallace Road, , England N1 2PG 0343 222 1234 Visit Website

Spa Terminus

Dockley Road, , England SE16 3SF Visit Website

E5 Bakehouse

396 Mentmore Terrace, , England E8 3PH 020 8525 2890 Visit Website

Margot Bakery

121 East End Road, , England N2 0SZ Visit Website

Reineta

, , England W5 2TD 07760 827713 Visit Website

Brawn

49 Columbia Road, , England E2 7RG 020 7729 5692 Visit Website

40 Maltby Street

40 Maltby Street, , England SE1 3PG 020 8076 9517 Visit Website

Catalyst

48 Grays Inn Road, , England WC1X 8LT 020 7242 8777 Visit Website

Brindisa

, , England SE1 2QN

Dynamic Vines

26 Foubert's Place, , England W1F 7PP 020 7287 2179 Visit Website

Horizon Foods

14 Bull Lane, , England N18 1SX 020 8807 3820 Visit Website

Ararat Bread

132 Ridley Road, , England E8 2NR 07581 522418 Visit Website

Borough Market

8 Southwark Street, , England SE1 1TL 020 7407 1002 Visit Website

Social Pantry

Unit 7 Ferrier Street, , England SW18 1SN 020 8871 1949 Visit Website

Luminary Bakery

47 Chalk Farm Road, , England NW1 8AJ Visit Website

VinoTeca

299 North Highland Avenue Northeast, , GA 30307 (470) 377-5100 Visit Website

Esters

55 Kynaston Road, , England N16 0EB Visit Website

Atari-ya

595 High Road, , England N12 0DY 020 8446 6669 Visit Website

OMBRA

1 Vyner Street, , England E2 9DG 020 8981 5150 Visit Website

Brigadiers

1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, , England EC4N 8AR 020 3319 8140 Visit Website

Primeur

116 Petherton Road, , England N5 2RT 020 7226 5271 Visit Website

Percy Ingle

70 Broadway Market, , England E8 4QJ Visit Website

Lina Stores

18 Brewer Street, , England W1F 0SH 020 7437 6482 Visit Website

Made in Portugal

171 Shernhall Street, , England E17 9HX 07570 106066

La Fromagerie

2-6 Moxon Street, , England W1U 4EW 020 7935 0341 Visit Website

Kapihan

13A Parkgate Road, , England SW11 4NL 07847 325891 Visit Website

Paul Rhodes

37 King William Walk, , England SE10 9HU 020 8858 8995 Visit Website

Notting Hill Fish Shop

Westbourne Grove, , England W11 2QA 020 7221 7524 Visit Website

Padella

6 Southwark Street, , England SE1 1TQ Visit Website

Burro e Salvia

52 Redchurch Street, , England E2 7DP 020 7739 4429 Visit Website

Pressure Drop

Unit 19, Bohemia Place, London E8 1DU, London, 44 020 8533 0614 Visit Website

The Ginger Pig

4262 Lowell Boulevard, , CO 80211 (720) 324-8416 Visit Website

Ottolenghi

287 Upper Street, , England N1 2TZ 020 7288 1454 Visit Website

Lamb

94 Lamb's Conduit Street, , England WC1N 3LZ 020 7405 0713 Visit Website

Passo

80 City Road, London, EC1Y 2BJ Visit Website

La Chatica Shop

91-95 Newington Butts, , England SE1 6SE 020 7231 2282 Visit Website

Officina 00

156 Old Street, , England EC1V 9BW 020 8037 7161 Visit Website

Salon Wine Store

20 Market Row, , England SW9 8LD 07951 025795 Visit Website