DELILAH: LE1’S MOST ELIGIBLE DELICATESSAN

For a while now my go to place for foodie gifts has been Delilah, located in the heart of historic LE1 in Leicester city centre. However it was only at the beginning of this year, I started to actually try out the fine food on offer for myself! In fact, my first encounter, was for my post about coffee and cake in LE1: independent coffee and cake locales.

The Delilah deli was first born in Nottingham and expanded to open its doors in its current LE1 location back in 2016. Delilah aim to be ‘fiercely’ independent fine food and wine merchants and are housed in the beautifully renovated former bank hall adjacent to the Richard III Visitor Centre on St Martin’s. Feel free to go over and read all about Delilah’s history, story and team on their website over at Delilah Fine Foods.

Delilah has a lovely relaxed feel to it. It’s not pretentious and it showcases it’s main stars, the ingredients, beautifully. The deli combines a Food Bar and culinary myriad of food sections, which allow an interactive experience. I love that you can go and speak to a specialist in one area such as the cheeses, meats or condiments and they’ll happily advise and guide you on your preferences.

As I mentioned earlier, I have made numerous purchases at Delilah including buying ingredients to make up special hampers around the festive period. Some of my favourite items have been the dried pasta (which actually remind me of summers in Italy), the self-service olive and truffle oils, which I have personally seen being made in the rolling hills of the Tuscan countryside and ermmm, lets not talk about my cheese fiend tendencies right now!

Products in the deli are used to knock up some fantastic dishes on their menu, which have a focus on tapas. Weather permitting, you can also almost imagine sitting outside in Spain with a vino in hand and one of the delis expertly crafted tapas boards to accompany! All this with the beautiful backdrop of the cathedral and lanes.

I just love Delilah’s old school shopping experience! It’s traditional, it’s jam packed, quite literally with outstanding foods, freshly baked breads, over 150 cheeses, pickles, conserves, condiments and for you meat eaters, a load of the stuff including a globally stocked charcuterie. If that doesn’t instantly take your fancy, they operate a ‘try before you buy’ policy and I assure you, once you try, you’ll buy!

I absolutely love the Delilah family slogan too…

‘We aim to reclaim the word ‘delicatessen’ from the plethora of sandwich bars

and take-aways that so abuse it!’

Moving onto sampling some of the items from the menu, I am well versed in…

Coffee and cake catch-ups – My recommendations: the salted caramel chocolate and peanut butter tart (chocolatiest chocolate with melt in the mouth pastry) paired with a latte.

Brunch option 1, for the not so hungry – The Turkish eggs. Poached eggs made to perfection served with confit garlic and lemon yoghurt, spinach and harissa and of course some crusty bread useful for mopping up the yolk and sauce spillage! Mines a cappuccino on the side too!

Brunch Option 2, definitely for the hungry – Delilah vegetarian Gourmet Breakfast. Wilted spinach, cherry tomatoes, grilled halloumi, packed eggs, avocado, toast and Granny’s secret ayvar!

Oh and the little hanger on in the last shot is the Delilah slow roasted tomato sauce with Lincolnshire sausage and chorizo accompanied by scrambled eggs and toast! I’m hoping  the images are singing their own praises, need I say more?!

Delilah can also do you antipasti platters, gourmet sandwiches, a plethora of cakes and sweet treats and even picnic boxes. I’m hoping if I mention the word, Picnic enough, Dr C will take the hint and take me for a romantic summer PICNIC!!!

Additionally, Delilah even lay on wine pairing and taster evenings along with a whole host of foodie events so go take a gander on Delilah Fine Foods.

Delilah Fine Foods

4 St Martins

Leicester

LE1 5DB

Tel.  0116 296 3554

Any Leicester or Nottingham based readers tried Delilah? What are your experiences? I’d love to know if you adore it as much as I do.

À Bientôt…

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