A Guide to the Best Food Shops in London

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Flounder — Broadway 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 Szrok — Broadway 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 Butchery — Various / 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

Ancestrel Wines — Bermondsey
Beavertown — Delivery
Clapton Craft — Various
Cloudwater — Delivery
Crate Brewery — Hackney Wick / Delivery
Diognes the Dog — Elephant and Castle / Delivery
Drop Wine — Delivery
Dynamic Vines — Bermondsey
Earth Ale — Wood Green / Delivery
Gergovie Wines — Delivery
Gnarly Vines — Hoe Street, Walthamstow / Delivery
Goldfinch — Tooting / Delivery (plus cocktails)
Hedonism Wines — Soho / Delivery
Kernel Brewery — Delivery
Les Caves de Pyrene — Delivery
Modal Wines — Delivery
Newcomer Wines — Dalston - Delivery
Noble Fine Liquor — Broadway Market / Delivery
Pandemonium Wines — Delivery
Passione Vino — Shoreditch / Delivery
Pressure Drop — Delivery
Pulp — Ealing / Delivery
Rebellious Goods — Delivery
Salon Wine Store — Delivery
Salthouse SE4 — Brockley / Delivery
St. John — Delivery
The Laughing Heart — Hackney
Top Cuvee — Highbury and Islington / Delivery
Tutto Wines — Delivery
Uncharted Wines — Delivery
Vinoteca — Farringdon, Marylebone, Chiswick, King’s Cross, and The City
Weino Bib — Dalston / Delivery

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.

Cheezelo — Euston / Delivery
Hamish Johnston — Clapham
La Fromagerie — Marylebone, Bloomsbury, Highbury / Delivery / Collection
Mons Cheesemongers — Spa Terminus / Dulwich / Delivery
Neal’s Yard Dairy — Delivery
Paxton and Whitfield — Delivery
Pistachio and Pickle — Islington / Delivery
Teddington Cheese — Teddington / Delivery
The Cheese Bar — Delivery / The Cheese Truck is touring London

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.

Allpress — Delivery
Amoret — Delivery
Caravan — Delivery
Catalyst — Delivery
Climpson and Sons – Delivery
Dark Arts — Delivery
Kapihan — Delivery
Kiss the Hippo — Delivery
Old Spike — Delivery
Origin — Delivery
Postcard Teas — Delivery
Rare Tea Co — Delivery
Sendero — Delivery
Square Mile — Delivery
Workshop — Delivery
Wood Street — Delivery

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.