London’s tastiest food villages

It might sound strange to talk about foodie villages in a city as big as London. But if you’ve ever walked along The Pavement in Clapham with a bag of M Moen & Sons’ artisan sausages and a spelt boule from Venn Street in one hand, and a bouquet of flowers from Birksen in the other, you’ll know exactly what we mean.

As London grew and developed over 2,000 years in an unplanned fashion, it absorbed dozens of villages, including Clapham, Hampstead, Dulwich and Blackheath. This explains why so many of the city’s neighbourhoods have their own distinct look, demographic and sense of community – something its food and drink producers and purveyors play a huge role in maintaining.

These foodie locales have all the hallmarks of a real country village – charming pubs, open spaces used for community events such as farmers’ markets and food festivals, a high street lined with independent shops, restaurants, bars and cafés – but retain the advantages of living in a big city in terms of employment and culture. So it’s no surprise that people want to make their home in spots such as leafy Greenwich, with its neoclassical grandeur and daily food and antiques market, which opened in 1737. Here you can get your fix of ramen or freshly shucked oysters without having to make the 25-minute journey into central London.

Perhaps the best of all the city’s foodie villages is the area around London Fields and Victoria Park, a neighbourhood where, according to Jennifer Holmes of Savills Hackney office, “people are so friendly, they actually say hello to each other in the street”. From a gastronomic point of view, she says, “there’s so much choice within easy reach – even though I’ve lived here for five years, I haven’t tried everywhere I want to yet”. Her favourite restaurants in the area include Cornerstone, Elliot’s and Planque.

“It’s a proper little village,” says Tim Wilson, founder of the award-winning Ginger Pig, a high-welfare butcher and deli on Lauriston Road, a pretty parade of Victorian shops just off Victoria Park. “We have locals who come into the shop practically every day with their dogs – you could be in the middle of Gloucestershire.” It wasn’t this way when he opened up 20 years ago. “But what was the junk shop is now a really good café, and we have a baker, a fishmonger and three proper greengrocers.”

Similarly, Dulwich Village, famed for its large villas set in huge (by London standards) gardens, and quaint white-painted finger signposts, has shops such as the excellent Dulwich Vintners and is a stone’s throw from Lordship Lane. This winding high street is made up almost exclusively of independent businesses, including Söderberg (for excellent cardamom buns), Moxon’s fishmongers, Mons Cheesemongers and Bora & Sons, greengrocers and purveyors of – honestly – the most extraordinarily beautiful lettuces.

There are foodie villages, too, in the heart of London. Some, including Marylebone, have been drawing gastronomes for decades – the wonderful Paul Rothe & Son deli has been selling pastrami and preserves since 1900. Marylebone High Street bustles with boutique fashion brands and atmospheric restaurants such as Fischer’s, inspired by Vienna’s grand cafés. As you wander past Victorian and Georgian townhouses and mansion blocks, you’ll come across shops such as La Fromagerie and restaurants including Jikoni (modern fusion), Dinings (Japanese small plates and sushi), Lurra and Donostia (sister restaurants, both Basque).

The area around Mount Street, in Mayfair, is even higher end, with restaurants and suppliers such as Scott’s and Hauser & Wirth’s Farm Shop on the ground floor of intricately detailed Queen Anne revival buildings in gold-red stone. Back on Lauriston Road, Wilson, still a Yorkshire farmer at heart, has the last word. When he first arrived, he says, people would tell him London was made up of lots of little villages. “‘What a load of rubbish,’ I thought. ‘London is just a huge suburb at the end of the A1.’ I was very wrong.”

Little black book
M Moen & Sons; Birksen; Greenwich Market; Dulwich Vintners; Söderberg; Moxon’s; Mons Cheesemongers; Paul Rothe & Son; Fischer’s; La Fromagerie; Jikoni; Dinings; Lurra; Donostia; Scott’s; Farm Shop; Cornerstone; Elliot’s; Planque; Ginger Pig

Pictures from top: cheeses on display at La Fromagerie; Laveli Bakery’s fresh pastries (Alamy); the light-filled dining room at Planque; and Basque food at Donostia