Pavilion Delicatessen, Fine Food Store and Cookery School would not look out of place in any of London’s swankiest foodie neighbourhoods and we’re lucky that it’s not there but here in Market Place, Henley-on-Thames.

The doors were opened this morning (9th Dec) to Henley’s newest purveyors of fine food and it was not a disappointment. It is a veritable food lovers emporium filled to the rafters of wonderful fresh, cured, smoked and ambient delights as well as rotisserie chicken (you can watch it cooking), rare roast beef and beautiful hams cooked in the kitchens clearly visable from the shop floor.

Condiments from around the world fill the shelves along with first rate store cupboard delights of pasta, Portuguese tinned fish, Spanish beans, Yorkshire wild grown seaweed seasoning, the list goes on. Gorgeous leafy lemons and clementines, golden beetroot, globe artichokes and Isle of Wight tomatoes sit enticingly in the entrance of the shop. There are baskets of wild mushrooms, micro herbs, glorious chillis, fresh horseradish and roscoff onions to pates, butters, fresh pasta and not forgetting ice cream and sticky toffee pudding. There’s a lot of scrumptious stuff.

There are pulses and rices that you can loosley buy as well as select your own Cacklebean Eggs. There’s plenty for those with a sweet tooth including an outstanding array of chocolates, boxes of luxury La Maison Guimauve marshmallows and for Christmas a stunning display of beautiful panettone in eyecatching Dolce & Gabbana hat box tins

Superb cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy selected to be at is premium sits in the counter as well as other carefully selected cheeses in the bank of fridges that house even more sumptious and mouthwatering produce from Brindisa iberico ham to fresh lobster bisque.

Also nestled on the shelf next to the excellent wines is Pavilion Gin with their Classic Dry and their special edition Seasonal Gin Blackberry & Apple subtley blended with Christmas aromatics cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg; made just up the road by the talented Master Distiller Jacob Wilson of The Henley Distillery.

If you can prise yourself away from the rotisserie with bronzing poulet de bresse, there will be daily cook at home dishes appearing throughout the day prepared in the Pavilion kitchen, as well as freshly baked bread and wonderful sandwiches to go.

There are so many glorious goodies in the store (many products on the shelves are supplied to the likes of Harrods and Fortnum & Mason food halls) that we can’t list or tell you everything in this exciting new edition to the Henley food scene, that is for you to find and explore yourself, as we are afterall, all about the experience. We think you’re going to love it.

The cookery school will open in the New Year.

To find out more visit Pavilion Foods – Arriving Autumn/Winter 2021