Where Can I Buy Quality American Groceries?

[DegenFarang]

I've taken to starving myself before I go to Villa market. Then I can find at least three things that look edible. Is there anything better in Bangkok? I don't care how much I have to pay, I want good American food. Not take out, groceries. Like bagels, avocados, cheeses, meats, breads, pasta sauces etc. Or something like Trader Joe's which offers prepared dishes and pastas.

[RakJungTorlae]

foodland?

[ukrules]

Tesco sell all of these and more. I use the one at the Fortune Town IT Mall as it's right next to the MRT Phra Ram 9 station.

[DegenFarang]

foodland?

worse than Villa.

Tesco=Wal Mart

Q U A L I T Y...as in Gourmet/Expensive/Tasty/Fresh/Imported. I know all the big chain stuff, I'm hoping there are some specialty shops. Some restaurants have good quality ingredients, surely they must buy it from somewhere.

Edited October 13, 2008 by DegenFarang

[Buzby]

Try the Food hall on the 7th floor at Central World.

[flightcrew1]

Tops Central Market Place at Chidlom or Gourmet Supermarket at Paragon. Gourmet Supermarket has many take away prepared foods and good salad bar and soups.

[bonobo]

I would like to know where I can buy Tater Tots.  These are my prepared food vice, and unless I go to BBQKing, I can't get them here.

I wish Trader Joes would open up a branch here. They happen to be a major customer of mine, but when Iam in the US, I am a huge customer fo theirs.  I am going back for a trade show in November, and I will bring back 40 or 50 kgs of Trader Joe's food with me.

[DB84]

The gourmet supermarket in Emporium have a good selection of good quality (already prepared) food.

They also have ingredients like you mentioned. For Bagels go to Au Bon Pain - they have many branches, in Emporium as well.

[DegenFarang]

Try the Food hall on the 7th floor at Central World.

Yes they have great food. But it is just to sit down and eat, not like a grocery store.

Gourmet Supermarket at Paragon

This sounds perfect. I will check this out immediately.

Thanks!

Edited October 14, 2008 by DegenFarang

[DegenFarang]

The gourmet supermarket in Emporium

Is that the name of it or are you describing a place you don't know the name of?

Also bonobo IIRC they have frozen Tator Tots at Villa on Sukhumvit 11, though you might want to call first so you don't go all the way there to get them and I'm wrong

[bkkjames]

I would think the best place to find it is in America, not Thailand.

Reminds me of one guy I saw sitting in Ozzie BBQ restaurant at Siam bit*hing to the poor waitress, "You don't have Budweiser, why not?!"

Back to the point, the bottom of Siam Paragon has a big selection of imported goods (maybe not that much Yank food?). Foodland Sukhumvit Soi 5 is good, despite what the OP says. Foodland on Silom Patpong Soi 2 is not nearly as good. The Tops at Silom Centre has some frozen imported foods and many imported dry goods.

I found frozen bagels (real ones, boiled) and English muffins at Villa but this seems to vary from branch to branch.

Carrefour and Lotus have imported stuff as well.

[Jingthing]

bagels

One wonders why someone hasn't started a dedicated bagel shop or chain here that does real bagels (no, NOT the American chain that sells bagel shaped breads, Au Bon Pan!) and also sell the toppings for a quick meal. In the US there is so much competition with this, but here it is virgin territory.

I don't find it any more strange or worthy of derision for an American or Canadian to seek good bagels in Thailand than for a Thai to seek good som tum in New York, but the Thai would have better luck.

These Montreal bagels got soul. These are the super authentic boiled bagels, but non-boiled ones can be good too (but purists prefer boiled)

Edited October 14, 2008 by Jingthing

[lifeisrandom]

forget about finding good (non lenders frozen) bagels in thailand

[DegenFarang]

I would think the best place to find it is in America, not Thailand.

Reminds me of one guy I saw sitting in Ozzie BBQ restaurant at Siam bit*hing to the poor waitress, "You don't have Budweiser, why not?!"

yes well food alone is not reason enough to live in america. and while i do enjoy eating thai food i miss quality food from my home country as well. i'm not bitching that they don't have quality food everywhere and widely available. but take a thai person to any foreign city and if there isn't at least one good thai food restaurant and supermarket there they will be a very unhappy camper.

congratulations on being so emmersed in the culture that you eat nothing but pappaya salad and grasshoppers, take a non aircon bus to work, drink sangsom, send money to isaan and do all of your clothes shopping at chatuchak.

Edited October 14, 2008 by DegenFarang

[bkkjames]

I would think the best place to find it is in America, not Thailand.

Reminds me of one guy I saw sitting in Ozzie BBQ restaurant at Siam bit*hing to the poor waitress, "You don't have Budweiser, why not?!"

yes well food alone is not reason enough to live in america. and while i do enjoy eating thai food i miss quality food from my home country as well. i'm not bitching that they don't have quality food everywhere and widely available. but take a thai person to any foreign city and if there isn't at least one good thai food restaurant and supermarket there they will be a very unhappy camper.

congratulations on being so emmersed in the culture that you eat nothing but pappaya salad and grasshoppers, take a non aircon bus to work, drink sangsom, send money to isaan and do all of your clothes shopping at chatuchak.

Boy if I knew it was gonna be this easy to wind you up, I would have joined this thread earlier.

[DegenFarang]

I would think the best place to find it is in America, not Thailand.

Reminds me of one guy I saw sitting in Ozzie BBQ restaurant at Siam bit*hing to the poor waitress, "You don't have Budweiser, why not?!"

yes well food alone is not reason enough to live in america. and while i do enjoy eating thai food i miss quality food from my home country as well. i'm not bitching that they don't have quality food everywhere and widely available. but take a thai person to any foreign city and if there isn't at least one good thai food restaurant and supermarket there they will be a very unhappy camper.

congratulations on being so emmersed in the culture that you eat nothing but pappaya salad and grasshoppers, take a non aircon bus to work, drink sangsom, send money to isaan and do all of your clothes shopping at chatuchak.

Boy if I knew it was gonna be this easy to wind you up, I would have joined this thread earlier.

up to you

[bkkjames]

I would think the best place to find it is in America, not Thailand.

Reminds me of one guy I saw sitting in Ozzie BBQ restaurant at Siam bit*hing to the poor waitress, "You don't have Budweiser, why not?!"

yes well food alone is not reason enough to live in america. and while i do enjoy eating thai food i miss quality food from my home country as well. i'm not bitching that they don't have quality food everywhere and widely available. but take a thai person to any foreign city and if there isn't at least one good thai food restaurant and supermarket there they will be a very unhappy camper.

congratulations on being so emmersed in the culture that you eat nothing but pappaya salad and grasshoppers, take a non aircon bus to work, drink sangsom, send money to isaan and do all of your clothes shopping at chatuchak.

Boy if I knew it was gonna be this easy to wind you up, I would have joined this thread earlier.

up to you

Here is a tissue. Mate, go to the Western Food in Thailand forum on here and search, american food, tator tots or whatever.

[Buzby]

Try the Food hall on the 7th floor at Central World.

Yes they have great food. But it is just to sit down and eat, not like a grocery store.

There is a large supermarket there.

http://www.ozonetv.net/thailand_Best_Buy_S...tral_World.html

Gourmet Supermarket at Paragon

This sounds perfect. I will check this out immediately.

Thanks!

[jfchandler]

The OP asked about a variety of different food things...

And in my experience, the general difference about BKK is here, you gotta go to multiple different places to typically find the staple things that you might have normally purchased in the U.S., whereas there, one trip to Trader Joes and the local supermarket usually would suffice.

For pre-prepared foods, indeed, the food halls at Emporium (Suk Soi 24) or in the lower level of Siam Paragon (Central BTS) are pretty well stocked. The Emporium seems to stock a lot of Japanese and other Asian-influenced pre-cooked dishes, perhaps because of the Japanese neighborhoods nearby.

For fresh bakery things, Tops markets and Carrefour stores seem to do best. Carrefour, at least the one at On Nut, often has avocados as well, though they tend to be rock hard and in need of ripening...

Villa Markets do pretty good in terms of stocking a variety of dry pastas and Italian sauces, as well as olive oils.

Villa usually has a pretty decent fresh butcher section. And after a recent visit, I must say that the fresh butcher section in the Emporium food hall (5th floor) has pretty much anything you could look for meat-wise, for a price.

Bagels seem to be a bit of challenge. There are many Au Bon Pains around town. But some folks don't consider their offerings real bagels. Villa Market has its own version of bagels typically, including cinammon and a few other flavors in four-packs.

I too would love there to be a TJs here in Bangkok, but it's going a bit far afield... I do the same thing...every time I go back to California, I bring back a suitcase full of TJs things that are hard or impossible to come by here...

[jfchandler]

bagels

One wonders why someone hasn't started a dedicated bagel shop or chain here that does real bagels (no, NOT the American chain that sells bagel shaped breads, Au Bon Pan!) and also sell the toppings for a quick meal. In the US there is so much competition with this, but here it is virgin territory.

It's nice to know...there's at least SOME virgin territory left in BKK....

[bkkjames]

The OP asked about a variety of different food things...

And in my experience, the general difference about BKK is here, you gotta go to multiple different places to typically find the staple things that you might have normally purchased in the U.S., whereas there, one trip to Trader Joes and the local supermarket usually would suffice.

For pre-prepared foods, indeed, the food halls at Emporium (Suk Soi 24) or in the lower level of Siam Paragon (Central BTS) are pretty well stocked. The Emporium seems to stock a lot of Japanese and other Asian-influenced pre-cooked dishes, perhaps because of the Japanese neighborhoods nearby.

For fresh bakery things, Tops markets and Carrefour stores seem to do best. Carrefour, at least the one at On Nut, often has avocados as well, though they tend to be rock hard and in need of ripening...

Villa Markets do pretty good in terms of stocking a variety of dry pastas and Italian sauces, as well as olive oils.

Villa usually has a pretty decent fresh butcher section. And after a recent visit, I must say that the fresh butcher section in the Emporium food hall (5th floor) has pretty much anything you could look for meat-wise, for a price.

Bagels seem to be a bit of challenge. There are many Au Bon Pains around town. But some folks don't consider their offerings real bagels. Villa Market has its own version of bagels typically, including cinammon and a few other flavors in four-packs.

I too would love there to be a TJs here in Bangkok, but it's going a bit far afield... I do the same thing...every time I go back to California, I bring back a suitcase full of TJs things that are hard or impossible to come by here...

Hey JFC, I do agree with you on some thing. Some stores have this and other chains have that, a real pain.

[bonobo]

The gourmet supermarket in Emporium

Is that the name of it or are you describing a place you don't know the name of?

Also bonobo IIRC they have frozen Tator Tots at Villa on Sukhumvit 11, though you might want to call first so you don't go all the way there to get them and I'm wrong

Thanks!

[jfchandler]

Hey JFC, I do agree with you on some thing. Some stores have this and other chains have that, a real pain.

Don't forget... we also both agree....Via Vai is tops...

The list is growing....

[jfchandler]

I just came back from grocery shopping at the Villa Market Sukhumvit Soi 11, and WOW, some kind of BIG shipment must have just arrived. Because right now, they seem better and more fully stocked than almost any time I can remember in the past year.

I don't know if all the different Villa's get their new stocks at the same time from a central warehouse, or if it varies by store location. I'd assume they are supplied from a central point in BKK. So it may well be that other Villas are similarly replenished right now.. Anyone have any experience at other locations of late???

In any event, to the OP, among other things, they had a couple of cases of pretty good avocados (Thai version) on display in the produce section... I've been thinking a lot of avocados lately after a friend and his Thai wife here in BKK treated me lately to some homemade guacamole. She fixed it herself under his direction, and it was excellent.

On a side note, I was out to lunch today at La Casa Italian restaurant on Sukhumvit near Soi 12 and had a very good real crab and real avocado salad for lunch for about 250 baht... I asked my Thai companions, "what's the Thai word for avocado?".. and they said..."there isn't" a Thai word for that vegetable... And...as far as I can tell, it's not used anywhere in Thai cooking.

Anyway, back to Villa, right now, they have fresh half gallons of Florida's Natural OJ (not the crappy, sugary stuff offered by Malee and Tipco), all kinds of baking and flours and cereals, canned Rosarita frijoles, and more and more...

As an aside, in the produce section, they also had full-length bundles of fresh aparagus for 22 baht apiece. Usually, they have the packages of the cut tips for a similar price. Today I saw the full length fresh spears.

Needless to say, I blew my food shopping budget for the month...but came home happy.

[DegenFarang]

I took a trip over to the Paragon Gourmet grocery store tonite, on the first level. This is why I love the internet.

What an amazing grocery store! Huge selection. Beautiful girls. A staff member everywhere you look to help you find things (though their english is pretty bad).

I'll be back many times. It is a bit far from my home but well worth it. They had a huge selection of meats and cheeses, prepared pasta dishes, and even chicken nuggets and sushi!

The one thing they did not have was good quality french bread or other rolls to go with the great meats and cheeses, for making sandwiches, but there was a small bread shop just outside that got the job done. They also did not have much in the way of pasta sauces.

Still a great selection of pretty much everything. Oh and did I mention all the gorgeous girls? lol

Thanks to whomever suggested that

[jfchandler]

There's quite a few small independent bakery and bread and pastry shops just outside the Paragon supermarket...apart from the offerings in the market itself. No shortage of selection there.

[phetaroi]

I know this will get a few chuckles and or comments...but how about lactose-free milk? I assume that's not available.

[jfchandler]

Wrong!!! That's not even a difficult one in terms of BKK food shopping...

Villa Markets, and others as well, carry a variety of non-dairy fluid milks...typically in the non-refrig carton packaging.

Probably the most common (almost any major grocery store) is soy milk, which is widely used in Asian countries, because of some Asians' difficulty in digesting lactose.... I'd wager in most Thai markets, you'll probably see as much or more soy milk on the shelves compared to dairy milk.

But in addition, if you check Villa or some other specialty markets, you will find they often stock both rice milk and even oat milk in the same packaging. The ones I see most are PureHarvest brand imported from Australia, which run about 130 baht per 1 litre container.

The one non-dairy milk I've rarely if ever seen here, though it may well be found somewhere in BKK, is some of the nut milks that can be found pretty easily in the U.S., including almond milk, which actually is pretty good on cereal and such.

[Sabum]

Anyone suggesting Tesco and Carrefoure simply hasnt got a clue... sorry but you dont. Paragon is the best, one that wasnt mentioned was the grocery store in Central Chitlom (not the food hall, there is actually a pretty big grocery store), its pretty good but expensive like the rest. Did anyone mention the giant grocery store at Central world on the top flloor? I havent browsed it enough to judge its stock but it looks like Paragon quality. I bought a kick ass fridge and a small 30 litre Japanese oven so have been grocery shopping all the time now hehe, I make a great chilli con carne, roast chicken dinner with stuffing and ham, turkey and pastrami sandwiches loaded with old cheddar and imported tomatoes and pickles..... oh I getting hungry again.

[khun_j]

about the lactos free milk:

"Probably the most common (almost any major grocery store) is soy milk, which is widely used in Asian countries, because of some Asians' difficulty in digesting lactose"

pls be careful, very many of the soy milks have cow milk in them as well, mostly around 5%...read the (thai) ingredients list before having a bad surprise ;/

at least the rice milk "v-fit" ist lactose free.