A serendipitous find in Hampstead Road

A plate with frijoles on rice, with coriander, soured cream and totopos

Some years ago we were on a bus to Muswell Hill, and we saw the sign for a big-looking shop called “Rupashi Bangla Cash and Carry”, which got me very excited.

It was the year that I had got the “Fresh India” book from Meera Sodha and I was very happy to be learning about Indian food.

I was also on the lookout for supplies, because oftentimes they were whimsically, inexplicably, unavailable from supermarkets. So the sight of a big shop that could sell a huge variety of these things under the same roof and in big portions was MEGA thrilling to me. Thus we said we’d visit some time—after all, it is a short walk from our place.

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Integrating with the locals

Have you seen the size of those MEGA STRAWBERRIES ??

We have queued at Russafa’s market, got some cool produce, asked for WHO’S LAST? and then had an excellent flat white and cinnamon roll at Blackbird.

At Blackbird

They have a big glass wall and you can see how they’re busy preparing more pastries on the kitchen.