Zelda B.
Yelp
I was craving good genuine Indian food. I also needed a few spices. What I love about Indian stores is that you can get large quantities of good quality spices for about 1/4 of the price that you would pay for a small quantity at an American grocery store. When it comes to Indian cooking supplies this place does not disappoint. They have anything and everything you can imagine for cooking good quality Indian food. The shop even has a produce section of items that you will need for Indian cooking.
The store has a wide variety of Indian cosmetics, Incense, cleaning supplies and hygiene supplies.
I do suggest that you know what you want before you go into the store. The staff was not very warm or helpful.
I asked a few questions in my quest to find tandoori spices, raw Garam masala spices and flour for a good Bahji. I really didn't feel that the very short answers that I received sufficed.
The owner of the store referred to the chef in the back. The owner did not know how a few basic Indian dishes were to be prepared Or what spices I might need for those simple dishes. He couldn't even point me in the right direction on the shelves.
When the chef came out of the back, I felt a vibe that he did not want to be explaining anything to this amateur cook before him. He gave me some very short nonanswers and went back into his kitchen.
The store has a large frozen section wrapping around the side and back with frozen samosas, Pecora's , curries, Vindaloo, sweets, ice cream's , take home dinners.
For the most part the prices are about what you would pay at a restaurant for the same exact thing. But I will say the frozen entrees we picked up to take home we're good.
But I strongly suggest you avoid their ice cream. The textures and the flavors everything about it was wrong. Like really wrong. We purchased 3 half pints of the cardamom, mango, and A third I can't really remember right now they were all very bizarre and I would never buy them again. And trust me when I say that good quality Indian ice cream is better than certain nighttime activities with a partner for alone
We tried out the stores vegetarian deli. I ordered a plate. It had basmati rice, a curry, Channa Bhatura and yoghurt. The meal also came with a freshly made naan. I added a few samosas and spinach bajhi?
I really wanted to enjoy the meal. I found that a few of the items were so heavily spiced that it overwhelmed my palate and I really wasn't able to taste The other elements on the plate. The dough surrounding the very spicy Samosa filling was very thick and dry it had no seasoning. I was hoping for a light flaky wheat dough. Overall on a scale I will give them a meal about a 3.
I have to say that I do find this store a bit intimidating I shop in Indian stores all the time. I really didn't have a welcoming experience here.
We ordered a half a pound of Indian sweets from behind the counter to go. the price was nine dollars. And sweets were OK they were not the best that I have ever had. They were passable. Some seemed like they were stale.
I looked at the receipt for the excursion at home. I discovered that I had been charged at the beginning of the receipt for the box of the deli sweets and at the end of the receipt for the same box of sweets. We had only ordered one half pound.
The next time I was in town I attempted to talk to somebody on the staff about this I had the receipt with me and that conversation basically went nowhere. We were not refunded or offered a solution to the challenge so the good lesson for me if I shop here again is to double check the receipts before I leave the store.
There were some really really good things about this shop and then there were some memorable things. What works and what does not work for future shops. The best thing is the deals that you can get on spices and pulses.