Do you love exotic fruit but haven’t been able to find anywhere to buy it? Or hate the extortionate price attached to them… Well, I have been on a hunt and have gone to some expensive shops, some I would steer clear of and some I would recommend.
When I first started my hunt for fruit, it seemed there was nowhere that stocked the more exotic side of fruits – think less Papaya and more Feijoa. I began my hunt in the supermarkets – Sainsbury’s and the like, but sadly they only really stock Papaya and maybe Physalis if you’re lucky.
So I decided to go for some of the more specialist shops I started at
Newington Green Fruits and Veg – N1 4QY
Now, a couple of years ago I had bought a selection of fruit from here – I had mostly gone looking for Starfruit (My Favorite). I was shocked at the price – it was almost 4 pounds for one fruit. So that sent me looking elsewhere (I will come back to this)
I checked in Planet Organic – no joy, just lots of overpriced produce and a markup for every time the word Organic was stamped on the food. There’s no tropical fruit, mostly just veg.
Then I checked in The Grocery – N1
This was an instant NO! A simple Vegan Bacon, which is sold everywhere else for £1.96, was £5.90 here. There was also Sainsbury’s pasta (99p) that you could still see the label of, with a Grocery sticker stuck on top that was being resold for £8.99. I dread to think what Starfruit would have been, but as it isn’t a British fruit, they don’t stock it.
Green Valley
This shop has become my instant go-to shop – The staff is really nice, pleasant, helpful – to the point of being shocking (In a good way). They have a range of fruit smoothies that you can get to take away and some plants. The only flaw is that they don’t stock Starfruit.
Tian Tian Market 天天超市 – E14
This was a surprise, we had gone to see this shop as it was all over TikTok when it first opened. On my first visit, I found Starfruit! I found Mangosteens! I found Fruit! The price was really good too, there was a pack of 2 Starfruit for £2.00, not to mention all of the other items that we wanted to buy – there’s an entire row of Ramyeon! The only issue is that you never know when anything is in stock and the staff don’t seem to be very knowledgeable.
During lockdown, most Indie Fruit and Veg shops had shut and there was nowhere for me to get my supply but I ended up stumbling into Lemon and Limes, who would deliver. I wasn’t really aware of where they were as I was ordering online. They have a large selection of fruits at pretty reasonable prices , the delivery was exceptionally fast – as in, the next day. However, the last time I tried to order, I found out that they have changed delivery companies, because of this, they no longer deliver to my postcode. So for that order we decided to go via bike – all the way across London for Bob’s fruit (thank you, Ash). It is a trek and probably not one we will be making often.
Now, in doing this blog, I have looked again and found that, except for Tian Tian, Stoke Newington is actually the cheapest option and the treks all around London are no longer needed.
So although we still have to deal with trendy people and self-entitled parents and children throwing strops because they want a custard apple or to be carried via Babboe bike box around the streets of London, it may be worth it to get my Fruit fix.
Have you found anywhere for the exotic fruits? Do you suffer as I do without your fix of sweet, sour yummyness?
Leave a Reply