The first of a chain now all over London, this place maintains a consistently high standard. There is always a wide range of fresh fruit and vegetables and it's usually good. The tomatoes and cucumbers, for example, taste of something, unlike the watery stuff often sold. There is a wide range of fresh herbs (heavenly coriander), spices, dairy and just about anything else you'd expect in a supermarket. Much of it is Turkish, of course. You can buy honeycomb there, lots of different kinds of halva, fabulous Lava houmous, a delicious aubergine dip...
And then there's the bakery. At the back of the shop there's usually a rack of trays of flat bread cooling from the oven. They do large round loaves and the bobbly ones with sesame seeds too.
There's also an extensive meat counter but as a vegetarian I shall pass over that.
Every now and again I go in to find that the layout of the shop has substantially changed. When I first went there about twenty years ago they had a small part of a disused clothing factory. Now they have all of it. They have invested to improve the shop and increase their range without sacrificing quality. Mr Tesco please note.
The downside: the olives from their deli counter are disappointing and there's often produce that is out of season and from the other side of the world. I don't have to buy it, though. read more