“I just couldn’t say no,” says Michelle Steele with a smile.
The businesswoman and food lover has just opened her second deli in Suffolk – despite telling herself when she was pregnant in late 2020, she’d try to wind down her workload a bit.
Michelle founded the award-winning Earsham Street Deli in Bungay in 2007, aged just 22, building up a solid customer base of local folk who appreciate the region’s produce just as much as she does.
And she says she was quite happily milling along, when Snape Maltings threw her a curveball in November 2020. “They wanted to get fresh food back on the premises. They’d tried a few things themselves over the years and, because of Covid, were looking at doing things differently – they wanted me involved. It was very flattering to be asked...but I was five months pregnant at the time.
“I told them I couldn’t do anything until 2022.”
They say good things come to those who wait, and indeed Snape Maltings has waited, with Michelle opening doors to her new venture, in the same building as the art gallery, pop-up shop, salon and (soon) new café, this week.
“I’m really calm about it all,” she says of the opening. “I’ve found a good team over here, and my team in Bungay have been amazing. I feel excited about this new location. When I first looked around I got such a buzz – and it’s so lovely to see the vision come to life, and to start welcoming people in.”
Earsham Street Delicatessen at Snape is about three quarters the size of the Bungay store, but filled with all the usual customer favourites, from treats, to picky bits for lunch (ideal for picnics on the grounds), and the wherewithal for making a meal or stocking the pantry – from pasta and rice, to beans, flours, oils and tins of tomatoes.
“I love proper good food,” says Michelle. “And I love retail. That old, Mr Selfridges-style merchandising. We sell products from the very best of Suffolk, Norfolk and beyond – loads of local produce – but we also have the best of things from further afield, whether that’s artisan cheese or a piece of cake, or a loaf of bread.”
Central to both delis is the counter. At Snape this brims with over 40 types of cheese (including locals such as Baron Bigod, St Jude and St Helena), 12 varieties of olives, cured meats, salamis and more.
Sandwiches should soon be available but, for the time being, visitors can grab lunches of handmade quiche, daily made sausage rolls and other bits and pieces.
“I like to think we’ll be somewhere customers can come to grab a bite to eat then and there, or where they can find something to take home after a long day out...taking the stress off cooking.
“We’ve introduced two local gourmet ready-meal ranges in our freezers – Farmyard Frozen, and The Pink Tiffin.”
Farmyard Frozen (launched during lockdown by the family behind Farmyard in Norwich, and The Dial House in Reepham), makes restaurant-quality starters, main courses, side dishes and desserts, which can be simply cooked from frozen at home.
The range includes a Baron Bigod tartiflette, pull-your-own pork, beef wellington, wild mushroom, truffle and stilton mac and cheese, and the much-loved chocolate bar pud – a 70% dark chocolate ganache with miso caramel and caramelised peanuts.
Sandip Bhogal’s Pink Tiffin dishes reflect his Indian heritage. Using family recipes and local ingredients, he crafts complex-tasting meals, such as a Bungay butter chicken (with Fen Farm butter), and a collection of side dishes, snacks and homemade pickles.
Favourites in-store for Michelle, include locally-roasted Rumour Coffee, and a range of new black garlic products from the people behind Marsh Pig – Black Allium. “The black garlic paste is incredible with a piece of cheese,” she says.
“We’ve got amazing chocolate bars from Brick chocolate. Those come in really creative flavours like Tahini and Sour Cherry 60% dark, Salted Peanut Butter 40% milk, and Sweet Popcorn, Salted Pretzel and Raisins in 70% dark.
“B Chocolates’ honey and sea salted caramels are one of those staples you can’t live without once you’ve tried them.
“And people are loving the Harris & James gelato we have in stock. That really got us through the heatwave.
“We’ve got so many things to see and buy, like Harvey & Co bread, delivered throughout the week. In Bungay quite a lot of people use us as their local shop, so I’m hoping those in and close to Snape will feel the same and come in to say ‘hi’!”
The deli is open 10am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am to 4.30pm on Sundays, with a view to hopefully extend opening hours later on.
It will be open throughout the upcoming Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival (September 24 and 25) for you to browse too.
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