New Italian deli Stroud Green (roughly opposite the Sainsbury's)

Noted from the bus in the past few days, today I got off and inspected.  The name of the shop is not exactly clear - there's a website address, something like theitalianfarmer.com on the awning that comes up as an un-owned domain online.  There's some other name on the frontage that doesn't stick in the mind.  Carrier bags are nameless but at least bio-degradable.

Run by Italians, of whom the female of the trio in the shop when I visited collars each customer and, if they make the mistake of saying it is their first visit, gives them one of those 'let me explain the menu concept' type of lectures (sorry, this is a subjective reaction to a certain kind of spiel that makes me want to punch the poor person giving it).

But once you get over that nonsense, there's some special stuff in this shop.  Said lady foolishly tells you that everything is organic and produced by farmers.  Yes, well.  Certainly no major brands and some of it is small scale production.

What really caught my eye were the meats.  If you appreciate good quality, non-mass-produced Italian cured meats, such as are not easy to find in London, then I strongly suggest you make your way asap to this shop.  Not cheap but well worth it for the quality.  I came home with an experimental purchase of a piece of Cinta Senese salami, a piece of liver salami, a piece of something like capocollo (cured shoulder) and finally something I have never seen before: a kind of pork jerky that is so good it has almost disappeared already.  I'm no good with unfamiliar names unless I see them written down so I haven't the foggiest what this is called.  The guy told me that you can only get it in Rome.  I'm not totally ignorant of Italian cured meats but I've never seen anything like this before.  He had one kind that was out on the counter but when I expressed curiosity, he went out the back and got another pack of a softer type, but lightly coloured and spiced with chilli.  Amazing stuff - like pork candy as someone commented at the dinner table, but with a kick.

Cheeses - a limited range but look decent.

To have proper Parmesan and pancetta on my doorstep in Crouch End makes me profoundly happy - I'm silly that way.

All proper Italian food businesses tend to have a regional emphasis depending on the origins of the owners: in this shop it seems to be Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo.  They also have some rather amazing Neapolitan cherry tomatoes on a rope that evidently keep and gradually dry if not consumed quickly.  More than I was prepared to pay but interesting.

In honesty I can't see this business surviving in its current form unless they get the online aspect up and running and some decent publicity.  I wish them all the best though.  Certainly well worth a visit if that kind of thing floats your boat.

v