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Monday, January 31, 2011

Review: Online Sources for Thai Groceries

Depending on where you live you might not have access to fresh Thai ingredients at your local market or at a nearby Asian market. When ingredients aren't available locally and you want home cooked Thai food, your best source is online (or yourself if you have access to an herb garden).

I wanted to see if the quality of produce ordered online was comparable, better, or worse than what I'm able to find in local markets. I ordered fresh ingredients from three of the online shops I identified in Friday's Grocery: Thai Basics - Where to Shop post. I'd only ordered from one of these companies, Grocery Thai, previously. Also, I have no affiliation with any of the stores and did not tell them I was going to be reviewing their customer service and product quality.

For my test sample, I chose ingredients that are common to many recipes: Thai Basil, Kaffir Lime Leaves, and Galangal. All three stores have different prices and shipping costs as well as different product offerings. All three shipments arrived by my Friday January 28th deadline.


Based on the quality of ingredients I've found locally, I would buy online again in the future. The Kaffir Lime Leaves, Thai Basil Leaves, and Thai chiles were fresher than what I typically find in the markets. The lemongrass was about the same quality that I find at Whole Foods or Golden Produce so no need to buy it online.
  • TastePadThai.com: At $32.11, they have the best price for fresh produce. Of the three vendors, they were the only one not to provide shipping confirmation. They included complimentary fresh lemongrass and Thai chiles with the order.
  • ImportFood.com: $56.85. They processed the order very quickly, less than a business day turnaround (I submitted my order on Sunday,  and it was packed and on its way on Monday). With the exception of the lemongrass and limes, they had the freshest produce. Based on the larger sizes, I'd recommend combining orders with friends to reduce costs.
  • Grocery Thai: $63.29. They had the second best price for fresh produce. They also processed the order very quickly, less than a business day turnaround (I submitted my order on Sunday, and it was packed and on its way on Monday). For the difference in produce price between TastePadThai.com, I'd purchase fresh ingredients from TastePadThai.com over Grocery Thai. The deciding factor on which one would come down to the sundries I needed.
Grocery Thai
  • They offer Kaffir Lime Leaves (1.5 oz for $4.50), Galangal (4 oz for $3.99), and Sweet Basil Leaves - Ho ra pha (4 oz for $3.99) in small portions.
  • They also offer both dried Galangal and Kaffir Lime Leaves. They also offer pickled Galangal. I wasn't able to figure out where in the catalog these products were located. I found them by searching for the specific ingredient ("dried Galanga," "pickled Galanga," "dried Kaffir").
  • Their fresh produce prices do not include shipping.
SpriteKat investigates the fresh galanga and Kaffir Lime Leaves.
  • Everything was packed very carefully to avoid crushing or breakage.
  • There were no brown spots on either the Thai Basil Leaves or the Kaffir Lime Leaves. Be sure to unpack the fresh ingredients as soon as you get them. The Thai Basil Leaves are shipped with a moist towel around the stems to keep them fresh.
  • I would definitely buy fresh ingredients from here again.
ImportFood.com
  • Their descriptions are very detailed and include links to recipes.
  • They offer Galangal in 1 pound ($17.95 with shipping) and 2 pound ($25.95 with shipping) quantities - a little more than most home cooks need. I ordered the Fresh Thai Produce Kit instead of ordering the Galangal individually. They also offer Kaffir Lime Leaves ($14.95 for 1.5 oz with shipping and $21.95 for 3 oz with shipping) and Thai Basil Leaves ($15.95 for 14 oz with shipping).
  • They ship fresh produce on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday via US Priority Mail (2 to 3 day delivery). If you need a specific delivery date, they recommend that you call them at 1-888-618-THAI.
  • Their fresh produce prices includes shipping.
  • They do not offer PayPal as a payment option.
  • With the exception of the lemongrass and limes, all of the ingredients were the freshest I'd seen outside of my visit to Thailand.
  • I'd recommend buying the larger sizes and sharing with friends to reduce the overall costs. 
TastePadThai.com
As I was comparing fresh ingredients, I only purchased Maesri curry pastes from this store. The deciding factor on where to buy the pastes was price, $0.89 for each can versus 2 cans for $2.49 or $2.90.
  • They offer Kaffir Lime Leaves in various sizes (2 oz for $3.50; 4 oz for $7.00; 1/2 lb for $14; 1 lb for $28) and Galangal (1/2 lb for $3.95) and Thai Basil Leaves - Bai Horapa (1/2 lb for $2.95) in small portions.
  • They also offer dried Galangal.
  • Their fresh produce prices do not include shipping.
  • For the new year, they were offering customers 20% off online purchases (coupon code sm119).
  • There were no brown spots on either the Thai Basil Leaves or the Kaffir Lime Leaves.
  • There was no browning on the lemongrass.
  • I would definitely buy fresh ingredients from here again.

1 comment:

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    ReplyDelete

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