Thai Groceries in TO

[KevV]

My wife has commanded me to make more Thai food, and so I've been outfitting our kitchen. We live downtown-ish and so I've made the rounds on Spadina, where I've found fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, ghalangal - lots of the basics. In fact you could probably find almost everything you'd need there. But I was wondering if anyone knew of any specifically Thai or Thai-run grocers? I'm sure they'd be good to visit and might have a greater range. Khob khun krab.

[creativeingredients]

KevV:

I am also looking for good Thai ingredients. Where did you find the kaffir lime leaves, ghalangal etc.? I live in mid-town Toronto.

Thx.

[rgruby]

I'm not Kev, but the larger grocery stores in Chinatown often have that stuff. Try Tai Kong on the west side of Spadina just north of Dundas.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[KevV]

creativeingredients - I found the leaves, ghalangal, etc, in the 1st big store I went into. It's on the east side, just north of Dundas.

Ruby - Thanks. Didn't look in Tai Kong, though I was of course on Spadina.

So are there any real 'Thai' shops?

[rgruby]

This week's Now mentions Vientiane, located at 2 Bradstock, at Weston Rd.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

PS - if any downtowners with cars are considering a road trip to check it out and would like some company, I'd love to join you.

[KevV]

I didn't read the bit in Now, so thanks for that. (Although, with a name like Vientiane wouldn't it actually be Laotian?)

But Laos... Thailand... close enough, I'm sure - except for the physical distance of the shop, as the location is pretty far out. (I checked on TorontoMaps.) Jeez, if you're going to head there from downtown it's almost as though you might as well stop at the airport too and board a flight to Bangkok!

rgruby - I forget if you live in the west end, but I found a little convience/grocery shop in Parkdale run by a Vietnamese woman and she stocks some Thai stuff (I got shrimp paste there, raw peanuts...) along with Vietnamese (obviously) and Chinese. It's the north side of QueenW, between BrockAve and the train underpass - called Bahn something or other, I think.

Ps - And I'm also carless (and proud) so, sorry, no rides to the outskirts from me.

[tyatt]

Hi all.

I've been in search of a good thai grocers for ages since my exposure to thai food. The problem is that there is not many thai here that's why it is hard to find thai grocers.

My search was all over the country to as far as Vancouver and Montreal. To my surprise, I could find thai tea / coffee in Vancouver and kaffir limes (not the leaves, but the actual limes) in Montreal. I was already very happy then.

Then I moved to Toronto and was trying to find a good source for thai ingredients. I was disappointed that I couldn't find any good brands of fish sauce, shrimp paste etc since most Asian grocers are owned by Chinese. It's true that you can find *some* stuff in Vietnamnese restaurants but it's just not the same.

Until I read some forum which pointed me to Vietianne. I believe the owners are 100% Thai and their store has a thai name as well. So I made a trip there (yeah it's really nowhere near to downtown and quite far from where I live [Richmond Hill]). I would say from then on, whenever I crave for thai ingredients I *always * make a trip there!

What can you find there? Tons of thai ingredients! Best brands of coconut milk (cheaper than most places too), shrimp paste, fish sauce, thai tea / coffee, thai shrimp ships. Also is the array of rare fresh vegetables such as thai pea eggplants, sadao leaves, neem leaves, kaffir limes, grachai, tumeric, galanga etc etc.

I would recommand this grocer to anyone who is really into Thai cooking. If you are starting to cook thai, I think visit to Vietnamnese grocers would suffice. But if you need rare and more exotic ingredients, Vientianne is the place to go!

Happy cooking and shopping!

[Jake]

Welcome, Tyatt. Thanks for the info. Look forward to your posts in the forum.

[Worldly]

There are a lot of these ingredients in Chinatown East - Broadview & Gerrard. I've found lime leaves, galangal, morning glory, palm sugar, etc. Not every store has every thing, and not everyone will answer you in English, but that's half the fun.

I live right around the corner and have ended up carting things into the office for a couple of other "fans" who can't find stuff.

Even having been in Thailand, and done a cooking class there, I'm often at a loss for what any one thing might be. It's worse because I think they only get some things in season. Oh well, another route for those who care to try.