Middle Eastern Shopping

Al-Ahram Bookshop

Al-Ahram is Egypt's oldest and biggest daily newspaper. Its London outpost, Al-Ahram Bookshop, sells Arabic-language press and books, plus a small selection of predominantly Egyptian CDs and DVDs.

Al Mustafa

133 Edgware Road, W2
Tel: +44 (0)20 7402 7707
One of the Edgware Road's best ba'als (grocers). Shop here for mangoes, figs and dates, beans and pulses, trays of briny olives and sharp pickled veg, white cheese, rosewater and great big sacks of rice.

Damas Gate

A keystone of Shepherds Bush's "Little Syria" strip, Damas Gate is a large grocery store with fruit and veg racked out front and freshly made falafels, kofta and pastries, plus a halal butcher, and heaps of nuts, olives and pastries inside.

Dar al Dawa

A modestly-sized but tightly-packed Islamic emporium, Dar al Dawa sells everything from Korans and collections of hadith to mosque alarm clocks, prayer mats and jalabeyyas.

Green Valley Supermarket

The Green Valley Supermarket is an excellent Lebanese emporium, notable for its deli counter and bakery. The first sells halal meat and every kind of meze imaginable and the second does Lebanese pizza and flat disks of unleavened bread sold hot. It also does great syrupy baklava and konafe.

Maroush Deli

45-47 Edgware Rd, W2
Tel: +44 (0)20 7723 3666
Part of the Maroush chain of restaurants, this Edgware Road deli has a ground floor offering prepared Arabic food, from marinated meats to stuffed vine leaves, falafels, fatayer, kibbeh and baklava, plus a good meat counter. Downstairs there is a small supermarket offering tinned imports of fuul, chickpeas, wara einab and essential herbs and spices.

Saqi Bookshop

Saqi is London's premier Middle Eastern bookshop and stocks imported fiction and non-fiction in Arabic, plus a vast array of English-language titles including Arabic fiction and poetry in translation, books on Islamic art and architecture, and plenty on regional politics. The shop also acts as the intellectual hub of London's Middle Eastern community, organising talks and lectures, and publishing its own titles.