Turkish Food Centre Dalston
Turkish Food Centre (TFC), Dalston
89 Ridley Road
E8 2NP
The Victim: Myself
The Damage: £10
The Background: I really can’t explain why I do the things I do. On Saturday morning, I woke up and said, “You know what I want to do today? I want to go to the Turkish Food Centre in Dalston.” Luckily for me, there’s a bus that picks me up right on my corner and takes me all the way up to the Dalston Kingsland Road Junction.
The Entrance: To get to the TFC, you have to walk through Ridley Road Market. More about that tomorrow. (Or maybe Monday. Depending on how I’m feeling.) I will say this…Ridley Road is awesome. And if you like tripe, you’ll probably find it even more awesome.
Towards the end of Ridley Road, you’ll come to the TFC. At first, I was a little disappointed. From the outside, it didn’t look like much of anything. In fact, it sorta looked like the Turkish grocery on my corner. I could have just stayed at home.
But these feelings all gradually disappeared as I entered and made my way down the first aisle of Dalston’sTurkish Food Centre.
Behold, the hummus. And the tarmasalata. A huge-ass container of hummus = £4.29. (Prices may have changed since I wrote this.) Take that, Waitrose.
And then there was the olives and cheese guy, who was so sweet and picked me out some of his favorite black olives, along with a big block of Greek feta.
Onto the sweets!I bought some baklava, and to be truthful, it was a bit too wet for me. So I wouldn’t recommend it.
But the bread…these photos don’t do it justice. I couldn’t get a good shot because there were all these people picking out their bread. But here’s some, hot out of the oven.
And well, mindful of getting my daily fruit and veg requirement these days, I did spend some time looking at the green stuff. Lots of peppers. Didnt buy any though.
The Verdict: I hope the pictures speak for themselves. I need to hang out in Dalston more often. You too. In fact, the whole field trip to the Turkish Food Centre and Ridley Road in Dalston had me looking at property in Dalston for days afterwards. Hmmm.
3 comments
There’s a Turkish Food Centre in Lewisham, near me which is very handy. I often go to stock up on orzo, pomegranate molasses, and those green peppers.
I agree – there’s a lot of good stuff waiting to be found in Dalston. I once bought a 10 kg bag of yellow onions for £3 at Ridley Road market (it was perfect for making a massive carbonnade). Anyway, I’m off to Istanbul tonight, so I’ll be thinking of TFC as consolation for having to come back to London. Have a good bank hols!
Wow! I used to use this place daily when I was doing a course in the area 15 yrs ago! Loved doing my food shopping here.. Great big tubs of humous that lasted a week.. And the bread.. And the thick yoghurt.. Oh happy days 🙂
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