Best Food Ltd at 156-8 Forest Road is, from the outside, a general supermarket and grocery shop, with onions and other vegetables on display next to the bus stop to the right of the entrance, and one of those slot dispensers for items in plastic eggs to tempt children to the left, next to a sign for a link cash machine inside. The awning announces to those who can see it all (it is obscured by the bus shelter), that they sell Sri Lankan, Indian, English and Polish Groceries. There is a sign at right angles to the frontage telling passers by that it is an off-licence and on the main sign over the door, writing in Tamil and English saying that the store is owned by the Kumar Brothers. So far so normal - wider than Faris's or St James Supermarkets, but nothing obvious to say how very different it is.
On entry, there is a sales counter to the left of the door, behind which are the cigarettes and some friendly people and then there is an area with some 'ambient goods', like in most such places, before the very well stocked shelves of booze and the standard cakes, sweets and other ambient goods. All admirable stuff in its own way, but behind this area and to the right hand of the shop is where Best Foods really stands out.
The rear of the shop has a wonderful display of Sri Lankan and South Indian pickles, chutneys, spices (which easily rivals Ummers) , masalas, sauces and curries unobtainable gathered together anywhere else as far as I know. These are real gourmet treats from the TRS, Pataka, Aachi, Leela, Niru, Rajah, MD and Larich ranges, as well as many others. Here can be found such interesting items as ready made Bread Fruit Curry, Curry Leaf Sambal, Polos or fried Jackseed Curry, tinned fruits, (Green jackfruit in brine), tamarind and dried fishes - anchovies and sprats.
There is a wide range of oils, coconut milks and products, nuts and pulses, Sri Lankan rice, rice flour and wheat flours, including roasted red rice flour, 'ponni rice', hand pounded red rice, hand pounded par boiled rice, Thancha Country Idly Rice and instant string hoppers.
To the front right of the entrance there are freezer cabinets where frozen roti is available for the lazy, as well as spring roll pastry, porotta and an interesting range of seafood, including prawns, crab, king fish, barracuda and squid.
So far so good, but there is more - a fabulous range of snacks for instance, Hot Pakoda, Hot Thin Sev, Sev, Murukku, Kara Murukku and plenty more, a room to the back left of the shop which has real licorice - the stuff that looks like the tree it grows on, incense and dhopp sticks, cultural, religious artifacts and entertainments, and another room to the back right which is air conditioned and contains fresh Sri Lankan fruit and vegetables, some of them so exotic even the Sri lankan customer I discussed them with did not know what they all were in English or exactly what to do with them: drumsticks, punajam, rambai, vallarai, etc. as well as jet-fresh curry leaves. There are loads I have no idea about.
All this has had me inprired to root happily around for my Ceylon Daily News Cookery Book by Hilda Deutrom (5th Edition, October 1964, Lake House) a handy tome I picked up on one of my visits to that wonderful country in the early 1990s. Much of the book has long been a mystery to me because I have no idea what the various untranslated ingredients actually are. It is frustrating because I love Sri Lankan food, which is what I found so disappointing about the Palm Restaurant being moribund when I called in there not so long ago. Tel 0208 509 3322.
Between RA News and Dominic's Pizza.