Mary F.
Yelp
Four stars for the thoughtful creativity that abounds and for curating authentic produce and inventory to fit into this clean, lovely, well-organized shop. Shopping carts are available and a ramp makes it easy to take your groceries down to the car, but there's a surprise 4 inch drop to the asphalt, so pay attention. The parking lot is, like the store, compact, but there's more parking around the store. I had a tough time finding BM on my first run. If you're going north on 65, take the Armory Road exit, take an immediate right down to Powell, and at the bottom of the ramp, you'll have to come to a full stop. Bangkok Market is right in front of you, across Powell. Left and right. No cars? Dart across Powell. It's that easy. Look for the Ferguson bathroom fixtures company--BM is in the same location.
Baseline: I'm no noob when it comes to Thai food, groceries, or produce. I lived in Thailand and Laos for over a decade and I grew up on a farm right here in Middle Tennessee growing asian herbs and vegetables for the local market. Unless I'm eating with family, I find it almost impossible to find good Thai or Lao food, so I learned to make it myself. I haven't taught myself to be okay with sub par Lao or Thai food yet, so I don't go to a lot of Thai restaurants---it's just despiriting. It's like trying to find that lovely light southern biscuit, but only getting hockey puck faux biscuits. After a while, you stop doing damage to your soul and just let your memories keep you sated. (I'm also a sucker for southern biscuits.)
There are a number of asian grocers in the Murfreesboro and Nashville area--quite a striking number. And, most of them carry what I need to stock my pantry....and more. But, none combines Thai artistry, refinement, and thoughtfulness in the way Bangkok Market does in this petite, unlikely location.
A Thai elephant sculpture stands at the front door and alongside it is a metal vase of green patina inspired by the frog drums of Laos and Vietnam. This set the tone for my shopping experience.
I don't know if the floor layout was making the most of a former tenant's organization or if it was intentional. Whatever the origin, the effect is unusual and charming. The shop is organized into rooms that encircle a modern spic and span kitchen that tells me maybe there are cooking demonstrations to come? One room houses the upright freezers and the chest freezers. Instead of rummaging around in those chest freezers, let the owners help you find what you need. That same room houses the fresh produce: a nice, tight selection of herbs and vegetables, Thai basil, ka-yaeng (for black bamboo soup), bittermelon, eggplants (black and green), etc. Today, the ka-naa or Chinese broccoli was spectacular. Fat, firm stems and dark green leaves.
Another room houses the noodles, a varied selection spanning clear mung bean vermicelli noodles (for kaeng jut) to rice stick noodles for Thai noodle soup (gwaey theow or pho), and rice wrappers for fresh spring rolls and some free copies of recipes you can take a long. This room is anchored by an ancient hand powered flour mill. The stone was smooth from hundreds of hands handling the mill and struck me as poignant. Maybe the overcast weather was getting to me.
There is a sitting area with a t.v., hung with the flag of the former Royal Lao Kingdom--the Sang Sam Hua--the white three-headed elephant, along with movie videos, Thai language books, cook books, etc.
The curry pastes, sauces, teas, and coffees all have their place in this cutest of grocery stores. The front window is lined with a lovely selection of noodle bowls, small clay pots and rice bowls.
I've read several reviews about smells of asian grocery stores and how BM does't have it. If we're talking about the rank skanky smell of off fish that you get at K&S on Nolensville Road, that's definitely not what you'll find here. BM is redolent of an American floral scent. BM also avoids fresh fish, poultry, etc. I get it. In America, we don't expect to smell our foods in our grocery stores, which is actually pretty weird if you think about it. In Thailand and Laos, the food you get is generally minimally processed and fresh. You'll smell everything, from the coriander/cilantro, basil, to the freshly plucked poultry. That's what you'll experience in France, too. No way do you walk into a fromagerie and not get knocked over by the heady smell of a thousand cheeses. The smells of every country's cuisine are part of that country's textures for me. Having lived in Thailand, my nose searched for those familiar food odors and found them in the stacks of rice sacks, the jasmine scented soaps, the sulfury whiffs of garlic and onion and the aggressively sweet and oniony smell of the giant jack fruits straddling the wooden produce bins. It was all here, but fighting with the synthetic floral scent in the air.
