We’ve been long-standing fans of the Polish deli tucked away in Ipswich town centre on Upper Brook Street. It’s been our go-to spot for cold-smoked meats, sour pickles, European pastries, and the occasional cheeky cheese-and-mustard hot dog.
The place is packed with all sorts of delicacies you won’t easily find elsewhere in Ipswich – traditional rye and black breads commonly found across Poland, Russia, Estonia and Eastern Europe, perfect alongside a bowl of borscht or loaded with cured meats and mustard. Their shelves are stacked with smoked sausages, kabanos, kielbasa, hams, pâtés, dumplings, fermented vegetables, soups, preserves, cakes, wafers, chocolates and enough pickled goods to survive a small apocalypse.
Their hot dogs are a town favourite, nostalgically fashioned in soft bread, smothered with your choice of sauce.
One thing Eastern European delis do exceptionally well is smoked and cured meats. A lot of traditional Polish meats are naturally smoked over wood rather than artificially flavoured, cured slowly, heavily seasoned with garlic, marjoram, pepper and spices, then air-dried or cold-smoked for deep flavour. The result is richer, saltier, smokier, and far more textured than the sad, sweaty ham packets you find dissolving quietly in British supermarket fridges.
Their shelves are lined with jars of beautifully pickled specimens too: pickled radishes, fermented vegetables, sour pickles, and my personal weakness – the beetroot horseradish that gives sandwiches and salads just that extra kick to the senses.
And yes – about the sour pickles. Traditional Polish ogórki kiszone are usually naturally fermented in salted brine rather than heavily pickled in vinegar like many supermarket pickles. That fermentation gives them that deep sour tang and that slightly cloudy brine.
They also roast whole chickens in the back, receive fresh deliveries of produce weekly, and serve some of the best cold-smoked meats you’ll find anywhere in town.
Cold – smoked meats
Roast chicken
black rye bread
Beetroot Horse Radish
Sour Cream
Sour Pickles
It’s places like Salami Deli that make living here so great. We’ve got all these incredible delicacies and cultures right on our doorstep – flavours and traditions from across the world woven into the fabric of Ipswich. It’s something to be proud of. Our diversity is part of what gives our town its soul.
Places like this matter more than people realise. Polish delis – or polski sklep – aren’t just grocery shops; they’re also cultural anchors for people far from home, while giving the rest of us the chance to experience something new, and comforting through food, conversation and community.
We stopped in to speak with Justine, who’s been running the shop alongside her friends for over a decade, to ask what it’s been running one of the town’s most beloved independent shops over the years and to thank her and the team behind Salami Delight for bringing a little piece of Eastern Europe to Ipswich.
Visit:
Salami Delight
Upper Brook Street, Ipswich
Support the local independent businesses that keep the heart of our town alive.
