There is a particular kind of Saturday morning pleasure that belongs entirely to the food market — the unhurried kind, where you arrive with a rough list and leave with something you’d never heard of an hour before. North London does this well. Better, I’d argue, than anywhere else in the city.
Wing Yip, Cricklewood
Calling Wing Yip a market is underselling it. It is a superstore, a warehouse, a destination. The car park alone is a destination — you will spot things being loaded into boots that you cannot identify and will immediately want. Inside, the dried goods aisle alone could occupy a careful shopper for the better part of an hour.
The fermented black beans here are essential. The range of rice wines, the fresh tofu, the frozen dim sum — all of it priced fairly and stocked reliably. This is the kind of shop that makes you feel seriously underprepared every time you visit.
Yaşar Halim, Palmers Green
The bread. Start with the bread. Yaşar Halim bakes it on the premises and it is the kind of loaf — slightly sesame-scattered, with a proper crust — that makes everything else taste better. The deli counter runs the length of one wall: olives cured several ways, at least four types of white cheese packed in brine, vegetables pickled in colours you don’t usually see.
The bakery section does börek on weekend mornings. Get there early. This is not a suggestion.
Bang Bang Oriental Foodhall, Colindale
The upper level of a retail park, which sounds unpromising, but Bang Bang is a genuine foodhall — a large open space with stalls running around the perimeter selling food from across East and Southeast Asia. The combination of a hawker market and a supermarket all under one roof makes for an efficient and absorbing afternoon.
The hot food stalls do a serious bowl of beef noodle soup. The supermarket section has fresh pandan leaves, galangal, and lemongrass that puts most other sources to shame.
A Few Rules
If you’re going to shop this way, a few things help. Bring a bag that is larger than you think you’ll need. Go early to Yaşar Halim and late to Wing Yip (the car park thins out). Keep a running list on your phone of things you’ve run out of — the temptation to browse without purpose is real and the shops will happily enable it.
Most importantly: don’t rush. These places reward the kind of attention that a weekly supermarket run does not allow.