"While not a destination for its interior design, Kalustyan's will blow you away with it's wall-to-wall selection of hard-to-find spices and ingredients. From Asian to Indian to Middle Eastern to African— ethnic restaurants around the country order their spices from here. If your local grocery store is giving you blank stares when you ask them for sumac, it's time to try Kalustyan's." - Marcelo Cardoso
"A New York specialty spice shop (with an online presence) offering a wide range of spices, dried citrus peels, herbs, and other aromatics—perfect for sourcing ingredients to make DIY items like homemade amaro or bespoke spice mixes for goodie bags." - Nat Belkov
"Kalustyan’s is where you go to let your culinary freak flag fly. Did you need some curry powder? Would twenty different kinds suffice? Though it’s primarily a market, we’d be real jerks for not mentioning the café upstairs. An octogenarian (look, we found another old person in Murray Hill!) will probably make your meal but know that on the other end of it is all kinds of Mediterranean goodness." - simona sudit
"The specialty grocer's house brand is described as a "gloriously unsweetened house brand of pistachio paste" that is "less crunchy but still pleasantly sandy-textured," and the writer says she "enjoy[s] adding [it] to my oatmeal on occasion." It offers a purer, less sweet pistachio flavor that can be used as a straightforward, pantry-ready boost to breakfasts and baked goods." - Anna Hezel
"If you’re someone who makes do with Fairway by going all Professor Snape on the spice aisle, then Kalustyan’s will be your new favorite market in Manhattan. This specialty grocery store near Madison Square Park sells a massive array of Indian and Middle Eastern herbs and spices. Their selection is so deep in categories ranging from breads and sauces, to desserts and teas, that exploring any one in particular feels like the real-life version of an infinite scroll." - hannah albertine, nikko duren