07 Dec Plant-Based Christmas Review of Top 4 London Food Halls – Part 2: Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges
Fortnum & Mason
The third food hall of the day was Fortnum & Mason. Renowned as the place where the Queen buys her food. Although it’s hard to imagine the queen doing a food shop, whether it’s pushing a trolley through the aisles of Tesco or wandering around F&M, basket in hand.
Here the focus is on three floors:
- Ground Floor: Tea & Speciality Food
- Lower Ground Floor: Fresh Food Hall
- 3rd Floor: Hamper Department & The Christmas Shop
Ground Floor: Tea & Speciality Food
When you enter Fortnum & Mason from the Piccadilly entrance, you’ll see the chocolate counter to your immediate right, the sweet counter straight ahead and the tea, coffee, and biscuits on the left.
The range of plant-based chocolates on offer at the chocolate counter is impressive. The staff inspired confidence as they were well versed in what was and wasn’t vegan.
At the sweet counter it was a similar story. The staff were great and knew their stuff and also gave advice on plant-based items in the rest of the store. At the sweet counter they had:
- Glacé fruit and chillies
- Peanut brittle
- Boiled sweets
LOWER GROUND FLOOR: FRESH FOOD HALL
Of all four shops covered, the lower ground floor of F&M is most like a traditional grocery store. There is a decent range of fresh produce, ambient food like pickled vegetables, dried herbs, and oils, along with counters serving fresh food.
Unfortunately the cheese monger does not carry vegan cheese. I was hopeful that the cooked food counter would have a range of plant-based pies at least, but alas, only a lonely vegetarian (not vegan) wellington.
I asked a staff member about the vegan options are available for a Christmas lunch main course, she was flummoxed. She insisted to bring me over to the vegetables and encourage me to buy some lettuce and vegetables along with a garlic infused olive oil to make a salad for Christmas. Very well-meaning but I’m not sure we were on the same page. Interacting with other staff produced a similar reaction of blank faces or pointing towards the lettuce. As they are well known for their cooked food, I was hoping F&M would at least have a token nut loaf but unfortunately not.
3RD FLOOR: HAMPER DEPARTMENT & THE CHRISTMAS SHOP
On the Christmas Shop floor there is a hamper section to the left as you enter. Here there are pre-packaged hampers on display, along with an area where you can sit with an F&M representative to custom create a F&M hamper.
There was one vegan hamper, prominently displayed, which contained hot chocolate, olives, Christmas pudding, white wine, two types of tea, peanut butter, mushroom pâté and peppermint chocolate fondants.
OVERALL
F&M did well for sweets and chocolates but was disappointing on on the savoury side. As with the other halls, finding freshly prepared plant-based main courses was more difficult than imagined. I would give Harrods the edge for availability of special ingredients, for example, white truffles, but F&M is more of a ‘complete’ grocery store where you could get most of what you need for Christmas dinner ingredients.
SeLfridgeS
Last but not least is Selfridges. To get to the food hall when entering from Oxford Street, navigate your way to the back left on the ground floor. Alternatively, one can enter directly to the food hall via the Orchard Street entrance.
The food hall has seven restaurants / bars within. The rest of the floor space is made up of some deli counters, chilled food storage and ambient packaged food items. They also have a small hamper section.
While roaming around, I spotted a sign that said, ‘Plant-Based’. I excitedly made a beeline for this area, thinking it would be the find of the day. Unfortunately, there was just a squat fridge with some plant-based products. In fairness to Selfridges, this was the best selection of chilled vegan foods in any of the other shops. which included Saga steaks, artisan cheese and and gourmet ‘butter’ from I am Nut Ok.
Another fridge held a good range of fresh lettuces and herbs. Apart from that it was similar fare to Harvey Nicholas, lots of packaged food not much plant-based, although I did find a plant-based Christmas Cake tucked away on one of the Christmas shelves.
Final Thoughts
Harvey Nichols: not worth a visit for plant-based food
Harrods: high end experience, best for high end ingredients, good selection of sweet treats
Fortnum & Mason: most like a grocery store compared to others, best for sweet treats in range and quality
Selfridges: chilled plant-based food, fresh herbs, and lettuce
While all but Harvey Nichols has plant-based food on offer, I was approaching this from a Christmas lunch perspective. Hoping there would be a choice or freshly prepared plant-based main courses or otherwise, quality ingredients and sweet treats. Harrods and Fortnum & Mason are worth a visit or Selfridges if only for the vegan steaks. Otherwise, you’ll fare better at Waitrose where you’ll find multiple options for prepared vegan main course options for Christmas dinner.
Happy Shopping.
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