La Salumeria

Situated on a rather scruffy bit of Trafalgar Rd opposite the Forum, La Salumeria has been around for donkeys years and looks like it. It's very much of the "old school" of delis - a tiny, crammed little gem of a place, where cheeses and sausages dangle from the ceiling and packets of pasta and strange-looking tins of god-knows-what jostle for position on the floor. In between, the shelves are stuffed full of packets and jars - mainly Italian, but between them incorporating pretty much all the European languages known to Man. Behind the counter you can find home-made pesto sauce, cheeses, hams and meats, some breads, sweeties and salads. At the back a rather perfunctory wine selection sits gloomily waiting for someone to claim it, but down the front there's a marvellous box of Turkish delight that has my name stamped all over it.

At Easter there's a fabulous selection of colourfully-wrapped chocolate eggs and sweets, bettered only by the display at Christmas where not only the window, but the whole ceiling fills with hanging tins and boxes of pannetone, ameretti, turron and various other sweetmeats. I want to buy them all just for the packaging, which may explain the full-state of my place.

It's a funny, tatty and utterly delightful little shop and I love it.