Places: Damas Gate

Fiona Mountford
Sunday 30 November 1997 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Pop into Damas Gate for a routine grocery round-up and you may well find that you leave with some freshly made aubergine salad and a few tins of baba ghannouge, as well as the cornflakes you originally went in for. This is because Damas Gate is an Aladdin's cave of Middle Eastern goodies, either imported directly from Syria (hence its name) and surrounding countries, or cooked each day on the premises.

Uncle and nephew team Ekrayem and Shaban started this delight 10 years ago, and are proud to report that although the first couple of years were "too hard", they are now flourishing, with an ever-expanding supermarket, a warehouse currently wholesaling to more than 300 other shops and a clientele who make pilgrimages here from as far afield as Brighton.

And should you ever tire of the 27 different platters of olives, the jumbled top shelves offer a host of non-comestibles to enchant, including 2ft-long Egyptian hubbly-bubblies, decorated with silver, painted glass and beading for a truly novel smoking experience.

Damas Gate, 81-85 Uxbridge Road, London W12, 0181 723 8428.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in