Persepolis Spice Shop in Peckham: 25 Years of Persian Blends

Persepolis, the Persian grocery at 28-30 Peckham High Street, London SE15 5DT, has been selling spice blends, dried limes and saffron on the same stretch of road since it opened on 16 December 2001. That makes it a strong answer to a spice shop near me search anywhere in South London: the shelves carry blends you rarely find in a supermarket, the bags are small and cheap, and a cafe at the back means you can taste the food before you buy the spices behind it.

The business calls itself For a Taste of Persia online, and its owners sign their posts as Mr. and Mrs. Shopkeeper. Mrs. Shopkeeper is Sally Butcher, the cookbook writer behind Veggiestan and Snackistan, and the shop explains that the restaurant side began almost by accident: she needed somewhere to test recipes for her books, and diners kept turning up. Today the building seats over a hundred people across three levels, yet the retail shelves remain the reason many visitors walk in from Peckham High Street.

In 2026 the shop marked its 25th year with a blog post that reads like a family album, promising old photos taken in the days before and during the opening. The owners compare their quarter century with the 2,500 years of the ancient city whose name hangs over the door, which tells you a lot about the tone here. The place is serious about Persian ingredients and cheerfully unserious about almost everything else, from product names to the way the staff greet regulars.

Start with the house advieh blends, because they are the backbone of everyday Persian cooking. The rice spice, Advieh-ye-Pulao, is listed at £2.19 for a 100g bag in the shop's online catalogue and is described simply as instant rice magic. Fold a spoonful through buttered basmati with a pinch of saffron and you get the fragrant layer that defines a polow. The casserole version, Advieh-ye-Khoresht, is the one to buy if you plan to cook a slow stew with lamb, split peas or herbs.

Next, pick up ground dried lime, Gard-e-Limoo, at £1.99 a bag. Whole dried limes are easy to find across London, but the powder is less common and saves you the job of cracking and grinding the hard little shells. It brings a sour, slightly smoky edge to soups, marinades and yoghurt dips. Golpar, the seed sold as Persian hogwort, is another distinctly Iranian purchase: sprinkle it over pomegranate seeds or boiled broad beans the way cooks do in Tehran.

The shop also sells a pair of playful house mixes. Mr. Shopkeeper's Silk Trail BBQ Mix costs £2.49 and exists, according to the product note, because Mr. S. does like his barbecues; it works on chicken thighs or halloumi. Mrs. Shopkeeper's Little Bag of Happy costs £1.99 and is meant to be opened and inhaled when you are feeling blue. Neither is essential for a first visit, but they make good gifts and show how personal the range is.

Persepolis is not limited to Persian cooking. The catalogue runs to Iraqi baharat, Georgian khmeli suneli, Ethiopian berbere, Turkish urfa chilli flakes, za'atar and dukkah, so a single stop can cover a Middle Eastern dinner from starter to stew. If your recipe calls for one of those blends, buy the smallest bag you can and smell it at home before committing to more. Fresh blends lose punch within months, and the low price points here make it painless to restock rather than hoard.

Saffron deserves its own note. The shop treats it as a staple rather than a luxury, and it even sells saffron stock cubes for cooks who want the colour without measuring threads. A good test of any Persian grocer is whether staff will talk you through the difference between threads and powder, and here they will. Ask how many threads a pot of rice for four needs, then buy accordingly rather than grabbing the biggest tin on the shelf.

If you have time, eat first. The kitchen serves food seven days a week from roughly noon to nine, and tasting a stew made with the same advieh on sale helps you decide what to take home. Groups of five or more automatically get a version of the feasting menu, while smaller tables can choose it. Bookings are taken by phone only; the shop states plainly that it does not accept reservations by email or social media, and evening bookings need a £5 per head deposit.

That deposit is fully refundable with 24 hours' notice, and the owners say they usually move a cancelled booking to another date instead of keeping the money. The restaurant does not charge corkage, so locals often arrive with a bottle from a nearby off-licence. Weekday lunchtimes are calmer than Friday and Saturday evenings, when the dining floors fill and the aisles near the counter get crowded with people waiting for tables.

Because shop and restaurant share one building, the best time to browse is late morning, before the lunch crowd settles in upstairs. Bring a tote bag, since the bags of spice are small and easy to collect in a pile, and expect to queue briefly at the till behind diners paying their bills. If a blend you want is missing from the shelf, ask at the counter: the online catalogue flags out-of-stock items, and staff can tell you whether a delivery is coming.

One honest piece of advice: skip the novelty mixes if you only have room for two bags. The rice advieh and the dried lime powder will change more meals in your kitchen than any gift blend. Regulars tend to be home cooks from the surrounding streets, students hunting for cheap flavour, and Iranian families stocking up on familiar brands, and nobody minds if you take your time reading labels. Asking for help is normal rather than awkward.

Persepolis sits on Peckham High Street close to Peckham Library, the copper-clad, upside-down L of a building that is the easiest landmark in the area. From there, walk south along Rye Lane, one of London's busiest independent shopping streets, where Nigerian, Ghanaian and Caribbean grocers sell yams, Scotch bonnets and smoked fish. Comparing those stalls with the Persian shelves you just left is the best free food lesson in South London.

Rye Lane leads down to Peckham Rye station, the area's main rail stop, and beyond it to Peckham Rye Park and Common if you want open grass after the shopping. Plan a loop of around an hour: spice shop, library square, Rye Lane, station, then back up to the high street for a late lunch at the Persepolis cafe if you did not eat earlier. Wear comfortable shoes, because Saturday pavements on Rye Lane are packed.

Address: 28-30 Peckham High Street, London SE15 5DT. Phone: 020 7639 8007, answered from 11am to 11pm seven days a week, according to the official site. Food is served daily from about noon. Getting there: Time Out suggests Peckham Rye station or the number 36 bus, which runs along Peckham High Street. Online, the shop sells its blends through foratasteofpersia.co.uk, and orders over £30 come with free saffron. Bookings for the restaurant are by phone only, with a £5 deposit per person for evenings.