Al-Amin Exotic Foods

Al Amin Exotic Foods is a grocery wholesaler with a good range of Middle Eastern ingredients. Being a wholesaler, it’s pretty cheap, and stocks more commonly seen things such as the full range of Patak’s spice pastes and sauces alongside fresh imported vegetables and halal products. The halal section looks good, including frozen burgers and fast food as well as a fresh meat counter.
There’s also a toiletries section where you can buy kohl and hair oil, and various products from different countries that might not be so widely available in the UK. They have exotic and intriguing looking sweeties, and a good range of snacks.
It was a bit of a strange atmosphere when I went in and I didn’t feel entirely at ease browsing, but then it’s a very small shop and there’s pretty much nowhere for the counter attendant to look except straight at you. He seemed like an approachable man though, who would enter into a discussion about what ingredients you might need for something specific. By and large I think this place would be a good visit if you had a curry night planned, or generally just fancy expanding your culinary horizons.

Al-​Amin has a good selection of imported foods, considering its size. Fresh fruits and vegetables are displayed both inside the shop and out onto the sidewalk, all looking healthy and delicious.
On the shelves are several pre-​packaged sauces for those who don’t have time to whip things up from scratch; as well as ingredients for baking and cooking. Beans, rice, nuts, pastas, flours… many choices for each item.
The back of the shop held a meat counter, and possibly a kitchen behind it. I heard someone ordering, «More chilli!» and it smelled like yummy, spicy soup.