Down Compton Street in Clerkenwell there’s a small, traditional hardware store called Embassy Electrical Supplies. In one corner, next to the sockets and four ways, stand two shelving units filled with bottles of olive oil, jars of preserves and
Down Compton Street in Clerkenwell there’s a small, traditional hardware store called Embassy Electrical Supplies. In one corner, next to the sockets and four ways, stand two shelving units filled with bottles of olive oil, jars of preserves and dried herbs. “I’ve been an electrician all my life,” Mehmet Murat—Mem, aka Mr Olive Oil—the owner, tells us. “It’s no strange thing to sell olive oil in your own shop. In Cyprus, if I owned the olive groves and I was also the village mechanic, you'd naturally ask me to put some oil aside for you after the pressing.”
Mem, who grew up in London, has run Embassy since 1978. In 2002 he inherited his parents’ olive grove in Cyprus. “This was actually different plots of land that my father bought over time in Louroujina, the village where I was born,” he explains. “My parents planted the trees themselves in 1950.” His father used to sell the oil to Italy, where it would be mixed with a variety of oils before getting re-packaged as Italian for the international market. This is still common practice; single estate olive oil is rare.
Having enjoyed the unmixed oil from his parents’ grove all his life, Mem decided to start importing it directly to London. Soon after the first 100 litres hit the shelves, he got a write-up in New York Magazine declaring his as “England’s best olive oil.” A couple of years ago he bought another grove in Turkey. “Because of the citrus taste, I prefer the Turkish oil for fish and chicken dishes,” he tells us. “The Cypriot oil is more robust, it leaves a buttery taste in your mouth that’s great for pasta. But I would gladly put either into a bowl with some wild oregano and dip some crusty bread in.”
Mem also harvests wild herbs such as sage and oregano, and wild caper shoots, which have quickly become our favourite addition to green salads and butter-based pasta sauces. The business is still family-run. “We pick the olives when they’re green and just turning purple,” he says. “Then we take them to the mill to be pressed within 24 hours. I bottle every single container myself. You’re buying it in London in the same manner you would in Cyprus or Turkey.”
Ananda and Neil visited Dri Dri on Monday, 17 January at 2:00pm. For more about Mem and his single estate olive oils see here and Embassy Electrical Supplies, 76 Compton Street City of London EC1V 0BN.
Text by Ananda Pellerin
Ananda Pellerin is a London-based writer and editor of Wheel Me Out. Neil Wissink is a visual artist also based in London.
