Whole Foods Market

If you have more money than sense, Whole Foods has taken over from Fortnum and Mason as the place to buy your apples.

Yes, I know it's beautifully laid out. Yes I know it's supposed to be in the vanguard of organic food consumption.
But somehow it just seems to try too hard? And the prices are definitely too much.

For example, 250g dorset sheeps cheese is (gulp) £8.49, which you can get in the slightly less grand surroundings of the John Lewis Food Hall (Oxford Street) for I think £6.79.
The draw for me is the fantastic range of US wines - lots of Californian wines which I haven't seen elsewhere in the UK. But even then, a bottle of Zin I bought recently (£8+) was corked and undrinkable, and I didn't have time to take it back and complain. Next time I go in I'll let them know and see what they say.

We've been to the gastro-palace upstairs once, for breakfast. Again, very expensive even for Kensington, though a beautiful space with great tall windows overlooking the High Street. The yoghurt was sweetened and the staff (admittedly in the first couple of weeks) a bit clueless.

To sum up: an expensive curate's egg.