Walking into some food shops is a treat for all the senses. Delicious aromas, gleaming displays, the sounds of conversation and slicing and wrapping, and the chance to feel the love and taste the best. Here are some delis and food halls to look out for.
Bakers and Larners, Market Place, Holt
The magnificent food hall at Bakers and Larners in Holt is packed with delicacies from around the world – with a strong emphasis on stocking local produce. In the delicatessen there are more than 100 varieties of cheese alone, many of which are local, plus an impressive array of pies, pâtés, olives, antipasti, meats and desserts. Bakers and Larners even creates customised cheese wedding cakes. Perfect for browsers looking for food inspiration, and shoppers eager to support local producers and buyers, much of the impressive range can be ordered online or by phone. “If a customer requires a certain item, we will do our utmost to fulfil their needs,” said Denise Moy of Bakers and Larners.
What are some of your best-sellers?
Our Food Hall is an emporium of tantalising food and drink made all the more distinctive by our range of Bakers and Larners branded foods. At Christmas time our food hall and wine department really comes into its own with an array of festive and traditional treats and our renowned B&L hampers - perfect as a gift with a range from £30 up to our Regal at £500. We now offer a year-round selection of hampers. Best-sellers also include Norfolk Gins, Mrs Temples cheeses, B&L ground coffee and Norfolk Garden Seville orange marmalade.
Which would you recommend as must-try products?
All the team have their own favourites. Here are a few: Henriot Champagne, Cook chicken liver paté, Candi’s Chutneys, Tenuta Marmorelle pasta and Bakers and Larners own oven-cooked roast ham.
Have people’s tastes changed over the years?
Over the years our customers’ tastes have changed. Many want to enjoy the local products and we have a loyal following for Mrs Temple’s Cheeses and Winbirri Wines but with the internet and many online cookery programmes we are often asked for the unusual as well as the traditional.
Walsingham Farms Shop, Guild Street, Little Walsingham, and Norwich Market
The shop, deli and butchery in Little Walsingham, is all about celebrating mouth-watering Norfolk food and drink. It began with the aim of linking food produced on the farms of the Walsingham Estate with people living nearby. Today the pretty shop is packed with good food, ranging from store-cupboard groceries to fresh meat and veg, much of it produced very locally.
“In our deli we make and produce almost all our own products including pies, sausage rolls, cakes, tarts and salads,” said general manager Sam Bagge. “We have a vast cheese selection and olives and antipasti.”
The Walsingham Farms stall on Norwich Market stocks the full Walsingham deli range, plus many Norfolk artisan products, hot food and drink and its speciality - hot pie, mash and gravy.
What are some of your best-sellers at Walsingham?
We are well known locally for our deli-made pies and our sausage rolls which we sell in the thousands. Our team of butchers are also kept incredibly busy preparing our locally sourced Norfolk beef, pork, lamb and poultry with much of what we sell sourced from Walsingham Estate or farms in South Creake just a few miles down the road.
How do you decide what to stock?
We have three rules: quality - if the product is the best in its class we will find a space for it.; local - we put a huge emphasis on where and how our products are made or produced; and we support small producers.
How have people’s tastes changed over the years?
There has been a significant shift towards healthy foods and vegetarian and vegan options, particularly in the last two years. We are always developing new products and sourcing quality alternatives to sell in our deli and shop.
What would you recommend as must-try products for customers?
Cheese and pies. Is there anything better than trying before you buy? We offer tasters on all our cheese range. Our pies also are a must for any pie lover!
And which of your foods or drinks do you love best?
I love our steaks. The best bit for us is we can offer exactly what you want and prepare it in front of you to your specification. But we also offer the ease of buying our top-quality products pre-packed and clearly labelled. My particular favourite however is our scotch eggs – slightly runny centres with beautifully seasoned meat and a golden crust. Our home-made tiffin eggs offer a really great vegetarian alternative also!
Picnic Fayre, High Street, Cley-next-the-Sea
Walk into Picnic Fayre and you are surrounded by a treasure-trove of the best of Norfolk produce. The deli opened in the former village forge in 1984 and has been promoting and championing local food and drink ever since. As well as supporting local farmers and producers it sells its own enormously popular home-baked cakes and specially mixed spice pastes.
Shoppers can browse more than 1,000 different products from fresh delicacies to gourmet store-cupboard delights. Picnic Fayre is run by John and Victoria Pryor and the cakes baked by Victoria and her team are fit for royalty – which could come in handy as Victoria is the Queen’s goddaughter.
Her mother was first cousin, childhood playmate and lifelong friend of the Queen and her grandmother, Mary Bowes-Lyon, was the Queen Mother’s sister. In normal times Victoria regularly meets up with her relatives at Sandringham.
John opened Picnic Fayre after running a north Norfolk country house hotel and said: “I wanted to continue living in Norfolk and working with food and drink. Our aim has always been to promote Norfolk produce. I’m really passionate about the business. Having been established for 35 years we now have three generations visiting us and it is very satisfying to see families returning year after year - nothing brings people together like good food.”
What are some of your best-sellers?
Our home-made cakes and pastries, many of which are made in the deli in our kitchen including our own-recipe sticky pear and ginger cake, Victoria sponge, brownies and vegan flapjack. Bray’s pork pies, made just up the road, and vegetarian tarts from Walsingham Barns with flavours including, goat cheese and caramelised onion, Binham blue cheese and pear, brie and plum.
Which of your products do you love best?
I take a great interest in selecting the wines, which often involves visiting the vineyards!
Which would you recommend as must-try products for customers?
Cheeses and pies. Local ciders and wines. We have built the business largely on people tasting our produce. Our spice pastes are unique and very versatile. Our Moroccan spice paste was originally made for tagines but you can stir it into all kinds of other dishes and we also have a popular chilli and chocolate spice paste.
Have people’s tastes changed over the years?
People have become much more adventurous, mainly due to cookery programmes and books and foreign travel. In the late 80s as people began to travel far more they would come back from their holidays and ask us for things.
After 35 years, John and Victoria are looking forward to retirement and hoping that, with the business up for sale, what they have created at Picnic Fayre has whetted someone’s appetite enough to take the shop, and their much-loved customers, into the future.
The Norfolk Deli, Greevegate, Hunstanton
This award-winning delicatessen is focused on the best food and drink available – most of it made in Norfolk. Managing director Mark Kacary searches for exceptional products customers might not find elsewhere including olives, antipasti, charcuterie and cheeses, as well as supplying the widest-possible range of food grown and made locally. The Norfolk Deli also has its own café three doors away and sells all its products online, where customers across the country can share Norfolk’s bounty, creating cheeseboards, hampers, picnics and more.
What do you sell?
Some product ranges consist only of products which have been produced using local ingredients and made in Norfolk. For example we only sell Norfolk wines, representing nine Norfolk vineyards, we only sell Norfolk spirits and represent close to 20 businesses which distil their spirits here in Norfolk. The list of Norfolk products and producers is extensive, and I think it is fair to say that there are very few product areas where Norfolk produce isn’t represented. This includes the widest variety of cheeses within a single shop anywhere in Norfolk, alongside products made by small artisan producers. We like to get to know our suppliers, who they are, what makes them tick, what products they make and how they make them and in turn we’ve been publishing a series of blogs to highlight that the story behind products on our shelves is richer and deeper than the products typically found on a supermarket shelf.
What are some of your best-sellers?
Cheese, in particular lots of Norfolk cheeses such as Binham Blue and Norfolk Dapple, Baron Bigod too. Gin is a great seller too with gins, from Black Shuck and Norfolk Gin being our best sellers, Candi’s Chutney as well as Season’s Bounty jams and marmalades as well as The Garden Pantry’s range of chutneys, jam and marmalades. Norfolk Cookies have also proven to be amongst our top selling products.
Which of your foods or drinks do you love best?
This is a little like saying which of your children do you like best? Simply put we don’t stock anything we don’t like. If it’s in our shop it’s because we think it’s a great product and we love it.
Which would you recommend as must-try products?
Where does one start? We’d have to say there are many cheeses which are a must-try. Not only would we suggest some of the local cheeses we stock such as Baron Bigod, Mrs Temples, St Jude, Ferndale Dairy etc, but we also find some real gems from people like Wildes Cheese ‘The Urban Cheesemakers,’ based in Tottenham, or Cornish Gouda (you must try their three-year-old vintage gouda!)
The Deli, Jarrold, Norwich
The Jarrold delicatessen is a destination in itself for Norwich residents and visitors from much further afield. The Deli opened in the basement of the beautiful city centre department in 2004 and has been so successful it has expanded several times. The emphasis is on Norfolk produce and last year it launched its Own Label range, working with local people to create exclusive products for Jarrold customers ranging from salami to shortbread and coffee to condiments. More should be added by Christmas as Jarrold continues to source local suppliers and produce. Fresh food includes temptingly displayed cheeses, pâtés, quiches, pies, tarts, cakes and chocolates, and shelves and tables nearby are laden with gourmet treats and ingredients.
What are some of your best-sellers?
Norwich Porridge, Norfolk gin, oat flips, chocolate generally and sausage rolls. Hampers also come top of customer’s lists for gifting and our bespoke hampers are a year-round best seller.
Which of your foods or drinks do you love best?
We love our Bandarellow (stuffed olives and anchovies). They have just arrived in our fresh counter and are delicious.
What would you recommend as must-try products for customers?
Definitely our Italian pastries – Diforti Cannoli pistachio pastries.
Have people’s tastes changed over the years?
Yes tastes are definitely more cosmopolitan. Free-from and organic food sales are also growing and there is a lot more interest in non-alcoholic drinks such as Noughty (an alcohol-free sparkling Chardonnay.)
Six more shops focused on Norfolk food
The Goat Shed at Fielding Cottage, Colton Road, Honingham, between Norwich and Dereham, sells fruit and vegetables, bread, cakes and pies – and Fielding’s own goat cheese of course.
Blofield Farm Shop, Yarmouth Road, Blofield, is full of Norfolk-made food including locally-sourced meat and veg and has been so popular it has now been joined by the Blofield Food Hall in the Oaklands Hotel in Thorpe St Andrew which also has a café and hamper room.
Algy's Farm Shop at Bintree is especially famous for its popcorn, but there is a lot more to it than popping corn. Buy fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, meat, ice cream and more.
Back to the Garden in Letheringsett, near Holt, has a deli plus lots of fresh fruit, veg and meat.
Charlie Hodson of Hodson and Co Cheese Room and Delicatessen in Aylsham is a cheese and sausage roll specialist with many more Norfolk foodie treats too, plus hampers.
Creake Abbey Food Hall in North Creake is another favourite destination for gourmets hungry for fantastic local produce.
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