Bring home the bacon

London’s streets are chockful of independent and alternative food shops. You just have to know where to look, says Emma Hughes, who rounds up some of her favourites

- Emma Hughes

BE honest, where did you do your last London grocery shop? Quite possibly online, to be delivered in a van, or, now that most of the major supermarkets have teamed up with Deliveroo, on the back of a bike. Much of the time, the pace of modern life makes it impossible to do otherwise, but when you’re as busy as we all are it’s easy to forget the wealth of jewel-like independent food shops the city has to offer, many of which deliver to the door.

Time was that every London high street had a butcher, a baker and a greengrocer at the very least. Although only the ‘villages’ (Hampstead, Chelsea, Dulwich) tend to have hung onto the full complement of these, their spirit lives on in the new crop of food shops. In a city where seasonal shifts can feel obscured, they offer a way of keeping in touch with Nature’s rhythms as you browse the shelves and crates —as well as the best delicacies from overseas, such as east London-based Forno’s maritozzi (Roman fluffy buns stuffed with whipped cream, facing page, top right), which people in the know traverse the capital for.

Italo, 13, Bonnington Square, SW8

The Nine Elms skyscrapers might not be to everyone’s taste, but nearby Bonnington Square remains indisputably bucolic. Its heart is Italo, the deli-café run by Charlie Boxer that leans towards the Continental: San Danielle ham, finocchiona and mortadella, Parmesan cut from the wheel to your specifications, artisan gorgonzola, pecorino and taleggio. There’s also a specifically London seasonality evident: Christmas wreaths and, come Easter, handmade Kouttone Colomba from Catford’s Cem Altinsoy. Open Monday to Friday, 10am–3.30pm,