Grocery: Thai Basics - Where to Shop

One thing that makes cooking Thai food tricky is the search for ingredients - from fresh herbs to pre-made curry pastes. For a listing of what's typically in my Thai pantry along with an ingredient breakdown for each sauce and curry paste, see my Ingredients: What's in Thai Cooking post.

Bay Area Resources

• Duc Loi Supermarket, 2200 Mission (at 18th), San Francisco, CA 94110. 8am - 8pm daily. They regularly stock Mae Ploy curry pastes. They have Thai Basil and chiles. Occasionally they have fresh Kaffir lime leaves available as well.
• Golden Produce, 172 Church, San Francisco, CA 94114. 9am - 8pm daily. They stock Mae Ploy curry pastes and occasionally Tom Yum paste. They have Thai chiles.
• Hwa Lei Market, 2970 16th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. They regularly stock Tom Yum paste and other Thai ingredients including Golden Mountain Sauce and Tipparos Fish Sauce.
• W & H Wholesale Produce & Food, 78 4th St (between Fallon St & Oak St), Oakland, CA 94607. When purchasing ingredients for Syzygryd Base Camp's Thai meals, Whelpley introduced me to this wholesaler. They regularly stock Thai ingredients and they are open to the public - you don't need a business license to purchase items there. Their hours are somewhat variable, even during the week. 

A word of caution: places in SF (Golden Produce and Duc Loi Supermarket) that had my preferred vegetarian ingredients in February 2009 came up empty in August 2009 (luckily our personal pantry was well stocked and a friend has their own Kaffir Lime tree). I'll be visiting Duc Loi Supermarket and Hwa Lei Market in the Mission on Sunday and will post an update on what's available currently.

If you're absolutely depending on an ingredient, be sure you have it on hand or have multiple local sources you can visit (Michael Babcock of Thai Food and Travel suggests a few other Bay Area Asian Markets and includes a directory). To make creating a menu easier when you don't have all the ingredients and substitutions are unavailable, visit Thai Table for a recipe finder that allows you to specify what Thai ingredients you have on hand.

Online Resources

If you're looking for convenience and one stop shopping, look online if you must have a particular item. Online sources for hard-to-find ingredients:

• GroceryThai.com - has fresh Kaffir Lime leaves, Thai Basil leaves, and Galangal. They also offer both pickled and dried Galangal. They have dried Kaffir Lime leaves and Thai Basil as well. They're the only source I've found for Vegetarian Tom Yum. (They offer some of the Maesri curry pastes at 2 cans for $2.90 and some of my preferred Thai sauces - Tiparos Fish Sauce, Golden Mountain Sauce, Healthy Boy Mushroom Sauce, Mae Krua Oyster Sauce, Dragonfly Black Thick Soy Sauce, and Dragonfly Black Sweet Soy Sauce.)
• ImportFood.com - has fresh Kaffir Lime leaves, Thai Basil leaves, and Galangal. They also offer dried Galangal and Thai Basil. (They carry most of the Maseri curry pastes at 2 cans for $2.49.)
• myThaiMart.com - has fresh Kaffir Lime leaves, Thai Basil leaves, and Galangal. (They offer all of the Maesri curry pastes at $1.59 per can and carry all of my preferred Thai sauces. Their prices are more expensive than other places, check elsewhere first.)
• TastePadThai.com - has fresh Kaffir Lime leaves, Thai Basil leaves, and Galangal. They offer all of the Maesri curry pastes at $0.89 per can, which is the best price I've found.
• TempleofThai.com - has fresh Kaffir Lime leaves, Thai Basil leaves, and Galangal. they have dried Galangal and Kaffir Lime leaves. (They carry some of the Maseri curry pastes at $1.59 to $1.89 per can and all of my preferred Thai sauces - Tiparos Fish Sauce, Dragonfly Black Soy Sauce, Golden Mountain Sauce, etc.)

Next Monday I'll be posting a review and comparison of fresh ingredients from three of these online sources.