Honey & Spice

Fitzrovia, London

Jump off the Tube at Warren Street Station and it’s less than a minute’s walk to this brightly lit little deli. Opened by a husband-and-wife team whose résumé glitters with illustrious chef positions – think Ottolenghi and the Oxo Tower – you’ll spot Honey & Spice from the zingy yellow chairs that sit outside the storm-grey shop front.

A labour of love for Israeli couple Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, inside lies a miniature modernist iteration of a Levantine souk. Lebanese tahini, cardamom coffee, spices, nuts and herbs foraged from the wilds of far-away lands sit alongside beautiful homeware and kitchen accoutrements. Egyptian falafel scoops, delicate blue and white pottery from London-based potter Keith Lewis and wooden moulds for making date-filled Arabic maamoul cookies have all been carefully tried and tested before making it onto the shelves.

Sitting opposite the deli’s popular sister restaurant, Honey & Co, you will also find the ingredients used by chefs in the professional kitchen. Fill your rose-gold shopping basket with hard-to-find dry store ingredients like the best-quality freekeh and kadaif pastry, bulging pomegranates, dusty figs and brown paper bags of legumes and nuts. And don’t miss the locally sourced honeys taken from beehives found across London, in nearby Regent’s Park and Bermondsey.

But it’s not just a larder: you’ll find honey parfait ice cream to go, vast platters of summer salads and delicate bakes of plum and pistachio cake, as well as their legendary cherry Fitzrovia buns.

In the evening, head down for a glass of wine or two (straight from the restaurant’s menu) and evening nibbles. Can’t get to the shop? The couple’s food-focused podcast is recorded just across the road, featuring a carousal of famous foodies. LK.