It was about seven years ago that I was fully introduced to the wonders and flavours of a truly…read moreauthentic Thai meal. I had gone over to my friends house, and she had brought a load of ingredients from Paya Thai Market to make a Thai green curry - my first ever one. I watched as she laid out herbs that I had never seen - kaffir lime leaves, sweet basil. The vegetables too - I had never eaten baby aubergines, or seen them in supermarkets. The meal was so good that I can still remember the taste of the flavours in my mouth as I sit here. Since then, whenever I have wanted to make a Thai curry, I have come here. My favourite discovery at Paya Thai is the red paste, sold in containers. There are no artificial ingredients in it whatsoever, just chilli's and herbs. I still get the baby aubergines here, as well as big bunches of herbs that are always cheaper then in other supermarkets. It is a well stocked market, and does ingredients from all different regions of Asia, so this place can be visited for plenty of culinary reasons. The food is always reassuringly inexpensive, and on my way out, I always make sure I pick up their jumbo sized bags of Thai crackers!

Anytime I need ingredients for a delicious home-cooked Thai dish, I head to Paya Thai Market…read more I really like the layout of the market. Ingredients common to several Asian cuisines are grouped together (fish sauce, for example). All other ingredients are generally grouped together by cuisine. So for example, coconut milk and Thai curry pastes are in the Thai area, while rice vinegar and panko bread crumbs are together in the Japanese section. The selection of ingredient is impressive. The rice section carries a few different varieties of Thai rice including Jasmine and glutenous rice, and Thai curry pastes, including my personal favorite, panang. Also, you can get a pretty good selection of spices for usually no more than 80p per packet. It's an especially good deal considering Tesco will charge about three times the price for a third of an amount of ingredient. The only downside is that Paya does not accept cards for purchases under £10. So if you're not certain how much you are looking to buy exactly, make sure you have some cash on with you.

This store stinks like sausages. When I say stinks, I mean stinks. It is hard for a Vegetarian to…read moredeal with this shop. I was pleased to find frozen Peroggis in a case. You can get these little potato parcels and heat them up from Frozen. Awesome. This store also sells magazines of all types in Polish. Downstairs, the bookshop has a wide selection of Polish books. I can't tell you the sections because I'm not Polish but there is a lot of them.

This shop is essentially a Polish deli but they also have a Polish bookstore down the stairs at the…read moreback of the deli. They offer a large selection of deli meats and sausages at the deli counter. I bought some small spicy sausages for only 1.99. They have a lot more fresh stuff here than the other Polish store on the Broadway which focuses more on non perishable items. This deli is smaller and caters more for the fresh items with a large dairy selection ie cheeses, milks and the like. They also serve large cakes at the cake counter at the front of the store.

Waseem greeted us warmly and found seats for us right away. The restaurant was so full - not an…read moreempty table. We had attentive service and great recommendations on which dishes went together well. The lamb was tender and flavorful and quality meat. The best lamb I've ever eaten. Waseem thanked us as we left, making it a most pleasant evening.

Went on the recommendation and with my Pakistani friends…read more The food dishes are Pakistani/Indian/Turkish depending on what you choose from the menu Each dish portion is huge ;) so best to go with friends and order a couple dishes to share.. the food is fresh and has great flavour the average price for a dish is £6-8 so can definitely eat for cheap and feel full I have been quite a few times and the service here is fast and friendly The best dessert is the ice cream pops in mango,pistachio

I LOOOOOOVE ATARIYA!!!…read more Seriously! This is the best shop for Japanese food in London (I am shocked that I did not review it yet!!) It is tiny...so expect to queue around the whole shop for sashimi/ fish if you come here at the weekend! The sashimi is amaaaazing! The shop is busy, with a high turnover, so the fish never has a chance to rot or become smelly. This means when you enter the shop, you'll be greeted with a lovely smell of rice vinegar. It never smells fishy, despite all the fish. They cut the sashimi for you freshly, so you can ask for it to be cut sushi-style or sashimi-style. I like Sashimi-style better as you get larger chunks of fish. I recommend the following if you'd like to try their sashimi: - Hottate (Onmygoodness the raw scallops here are soooo good!) - Amaebi (sweet little shrimps) - Saba (mackerel) - Tamago (I really like their dashimaki, eggrolls - they'll slice as much as you like for sushi) - Salmon - Hamachi - yellow tail tastes lovely, and has a slightly 'bite-y-er' texture than salmon - The toro (tuna) is good (melts in your mouth) but to be honest, I love the other sashimi more. Other mouth-watering food available: * Frozen gyoza - we always have some in our freezer for tastey-fast-food emergencies * Frozen edamame - much cheaper than eating out! * Kabocha - a bit like butter nut squash...only better! * Croquettes - I love the curry-flavour ones :) * Huuuuge bags of rice (if you ask nicely, they'll open a bag, and just sell you part of it) * Frozen unagi and the sauce to serve it with * Cup ramen/udon and all the noodles to cook yourself! * Sooo many happy Japanese sweets * Essential speedy food like furikake (the yummy food to shake over rice to make an instant meal) or packets of ready-to-go miso soup. There is lots more...you'll have to head West to explore Atariya yourself!! The staff are all really nice, so if you need help in choosing, just ask for their advice. The Japanese bloke with a moustache is an absolute legend!! *Damn writing this review has made me hungry!!*

It's a tiny grocery store but has a great selection of fresh fish! I'd say almost half of this…read morestore is dominated by the seafood counter. And the men behind the counter are energetic. The selection of the Japanese packaged food is limited here if you are looking for snacks or dry food.

This is a great little Russian grocery store! They have canned foods (like kapusta and ikra), loose…read morecandy, lots of deli meat, and prepared dishes (like olivyeh salad). It's a clean and well-lit store, and the lady working there is very relaxed. And if you like some pretty terrible Russian pop music with your food shopping, this is the place to go. :)

Started out as a butcher, but now they are more famous for their pies…read more I spotted this shop as soon as we exited the Kew Gardens station and crossed to the other side. I just HAD to walk in. They did not have any pies that were ready to eat, but I did try a sausage roll and the pastry was absolutely flakily and mouth meltingly amazing. Personally I'd like a bit more spice in my sausage, but I am in London after all and it was a good sausage. They had a variety of pies to take home to be baked, but I didn't want to carry them all over the gardens and unfortunately this shop closes at 6 (gardens close at 6:30) so I couldn't pick them up on my way back either. Maybe on a future trip when rains send me scurrying out of the gardens early??? Very friendly staff and service. UPDATE : On my last visit to Kew, I was accompanied by a friend and her 10 year old, who obviously got tired much before the park closes its gates, so I was able to stop here and buy some pies to take home. The Steak & kidney pie was awesome as were the sausage rolls. (They sell them frozen, you just need to pop them in the oven) I even picked up some fresh Cumberland sausages - Italian (sundried tomatoes, basil), a spicy version and a herby garlicky one. I roasted them in the oven with some potatoes and they came out lovely, the skins were perfect and the fat from the sausages crisped up the taters nicely.

Although I failed at Vegetarianism, I still strongly believe that farmed animals should be treated…read morewell, which is why I always buy free range meat, fish and eggs. I also think Butchers play an important role and its so much better to see the meat your eating like this than as the plastic, packaged, processed stuff in supermarkets. Pethers is such a wonderful butchers selling not just free range meat and poultry but also a selection of fine cheeses, pickles and hot sauce. The meat all looks such good quality and the smell is even appealing! (I've walked passed so many butchers in the city with stinking ill looking carcasses that it is so refreshing to find a quality place). More over, this year Pethers joined a green movement with other shops in Kew to become more ethically sound and has stopped using, or giving out plastic bags. So for the conscientious and fine meat loving carnivore this is a great place to go.

Cudi is a wonderful place, the mongrel of fruit and veg shops. Like all mongrels, its better than…read moreits dopey, thoroughbred pals (pedigree chums?) and we love him all the more for it. Part south asian fruit-and-veg, part mediterranean, part Polish deli, it has: European and 'exotic' fruit and veg, halal butcher, turkish and greek yoghurts, cheeses and eggs, dried fish, herbs and spices, fresh olives, in-store bakery selling delicious poppy seed bread, freezers with indian snacks and green veg, range of polish jars and tins of pickles etc, sauces, antipasti, pitta bread, booze, rice and grains, sweets, and occasionally fresh carp. And its cheap. Not quite as cheap as the people flogging stuff out of silver bowls, but there's more choice and better quality. It's open early til late. Also, they've recently renovated the front of their store so it's now less crowded and more presentable, with a better choice of herbs including basil and tarragon, (last time I checked) to compliment the usual mint/coriander/parsley. UPDATE: Cudi have been in a bit of trouble with the law recently, for selling booze in the early hours. This seems a bit harsh considering there's a load of bars just down the road that do exactly the same thing, but it does give me the opportunity to say that the guy running this place is no cudi-two shoes...

Made my first visit to Cudi today. What a great store ! Bought fresh lamb and a variety of spices…read morefor a North African recipe. The prices are great, staff helpful, its open late and they have a wide range of international ingredients for people who love to cook. Recommended definitely.

Tried this place during my lay over at London.. this isn't the authentic afghan food but the food…read morewas still pretty decent.. even on a busy evening we were seated quickly because of reservation. The server were great and attentive and took good care of our order and guide us to order just enough portion for I utter group. The place was nice and clean with decent lighting and space for large group. The excellent service and food earns them five stars

After a flight delay and an unwanted hotel airport stay, my wife used it as an opportunity to hit…read moreSouth Hall for some south Asian food. Two friends recommended this spot. So first. Service. They are busy. Very busy. It's hard to get anyone's attention. When we did, the young women was in a constant rush and a little rude. As an example - I placed our food order and also asked for chai. She abruptly said "no too busy go somewhere else for that." Later, I saw other people order and get chai after their meal at the table next to us. There was another guy running back and forth. I must have asked for water 4 or 5 times before he finally just dropped a bottle off on the table while running by with no glasses. Getting the check was an ordeal. So finally I just walked up to the counter and asked for it at the take away register and the same rude women said "just pay here". I gave her my Amex and it wasn't going thru she just kept saying "decline". She did it two or 3 times. Then I said "do you take Amex". She says "no only visa MasterCard." I don't expect white glove service at spots like this, just don't be rude. Maybe say I'm sorry we are too busy tonight. Anyway. The food. That saved the day. Seekh kabob 5/5 Afghan Naan 5/5 Chicken tikka 4/5 Saag paneer 3/5 Nihari 2/5 Chutneys - 2/5 I normally take an average and round up. They get a 3.5 on the food only. I'm rounding down this time because of the service.