Ethnic Food Shop finds

I was thinking Edinburgh was my only hope for canned black beans.

ooh I came here to add that I've found tins of black beans at Tesco, in the Jamaican section of the ethnic food isle.  The price fluctuates a bit but it's typically 59p per tin. 

There are also a couple of varieties of corn flour in this section.  I will look the next time I am there, but I think there were also some tamarind-based candies as well.  (I'm not a fan of those so I usually just grab the beans!)

There's a great little Chinese market in Bristol called Kin Yip Hon:

http://www.itchybristol.co.uk/review.cfm?id=194301&cityid=4&section=44

The majority of it is Chinese but they do have some other asian foods as well including my precious precious ramen! Although its never going to be as cheap as the states (I miss my 5 packs of Ramen for $1), they're still pretty good pricewise compared to some of the prices I see online.

American food and goods are beginning to be so ubiquitous here in Kingston that it's hard to think of anything to bring home when we visit.

Bentalls in Kingston has a huge American section in the lower ground floor, and they have everything that I ever would want except for a couple of things.  The biggest thing I miss is Amy's Mac and Cheese which is my favourite, and so far unavailable in the UK as far as I can tell.

We went to Wing Yip in Croydon on the weekend, and they have so much good stuff including all the Chinese, Indian and Thai that I can think of.  There are a few things that I can't get there, such as whole white peppercorns, but they have things such as Saltines that I don't see anywhere else.

Has anyone encountered any good cuban / dominican / nicaruaguan restaurants?

American food and goods are beginning to be so ubiquitous here in Kingston that it's hard to think of anything to bring home when we visit.

Bentalls in Kingston has a huge American section in the lower ground floor, and they have everything that I ever would want except for a couple of things.  The biggest thing I miss is Amy's Mac and Cheese which is my favourite, and so far unavailable in the UK as far as I can tell.

We went to Wing Yip in Croydon on the weekend, and they have so much good stuff including all the Chinese, Indian and Thai that I can think of.  There are a few things that I can't get there, such as whole white peppercorns, but they have things such as Saltines that I don't see anywhere else.

Ooh! I live near enough to Kingston as to make a trip to Bentalls not too cumbersome. I'm def gonna have to check it out, thanks!

Has anyone encountered any good cuban / dominican / nicaruaguan restaurants?

There are a bunch of south American places along Holloway Rd betwen Highbury and Nags Head.  You might find something there.  Also, there was a Cuban place on Upper St in Islington, towards the Angel end. I am not sure if it is still there.

I think this topic is so funny because I know EXACTLY how you all feel about not being able to find real dill pickles!  My husband is a brit and thinks all pickles are evil anyways (sort of like me and marmite) so the "adventure" of finding good pickles has resulted in alot of jars of pickles that I have had to pawn off onto friends who like sweeter pickles.

  However!  I did find that in Surrey there is a garden center called Long Acres (I posted about this earlier today in the post on where to find american food) that sells Kosher Dill Pickles.  They aren't the crispiest of pickles- but the taste is real dill.  <3  I was having my mom ship me little jars of pickles before I found these... lol I really really like dill pickles. 

As for Mexican food- there is a really nice Mexican restaurant called Charley's Horse (http://charleyshorse.com/ [nofollow] ).  They make really nice authentic chili's as well as other dishes that are slightly harder to find in england.    It's also in a really cool location, nice restaurant!

There's a large middle eastern supermarket in Slough. I forget the name of it but it's at the end of the High St, opposite Nandos. Great for food from Turkey, Cyprus, N. Africa, Iran, Saudi, Lebanon, Egypt etc etc. Lots of specialist ingredients plus fresh fruit, veg & herbs, patisserie counter, some kind of bread (I didn't check what kind) made right in front of you and a take away pizza counter! And almost an entire aisle dedicated to pickles!

DH found cartons of cooked black beans at Sainsbury's and now he's in Hog Heaven. It satisfies his TexMex craving for black bean burritos with salsa and quacamole. And he's so dang persnickety, it must taste pretty good. I won't eat them, but they sure smell the same when he's heating them up.

I am really addicted to drinks cans of "Ting" its really refreshing....good thirst quencher.

Its not by the normal drinks stuff tho, its always at the bottom of a isle on the world foods shelf in Tesco...

Its lurvely...

Jamacian grapefruit flavour.

Ducky do you have an african pygmy hedgehog? 
<3 I recently got one, he's lovely....but still very shy...we're working on that.

ooo Never tried ting...but the grapefruit flavor sounds nice!

Ducky do you have an african pygmy hedgehog? 
<3 I recently got one, he's lovely....but still very shy...we're working on that.

No - but now you mentioned it I WANT ONE!  cute!! 

The only hedghogs I have are a little family of them that have made a little home under my BBQ cover in the garden....They are cute..but I just leave them to it..

I am really addicted to drinks cans of "Ting" its really refreshing....good thirst quencher.

Its not by the normal drinks stuff tho, its always at the bottom of a isle on the world foods shelf in Tesco...

Its lurvely...

Jamacian grapefruit flavour.

I love Ting!  I keep it in the freezer until it goes slushy.  Yum.

I love Ting!  I keep it in the freezer until it goes slushy.  Yum.

I never thought of that! what a fab idea 

There's a large middle eastern supermarket in Slough. I forget the name of it but it's at the end of the High St, opposite Nandos. Great for food from Turkey, Cyprus, N. Africa, Iran, Saudi, Lebanon, Egypt etc etc. Lots of specialist ingredients plus fresh fruit, veg & herbs, patisserie counter, some kind of bread (I didn't check what kind) made right in front of you and a take away pizza counter! And almost an entire aisle dedicated to pickles!

Oh if only I lived here!  Anyone know of a good place to get Lebanese foodstuffs near Harrogate?  Online would be great too!!