Thai Food: Finding Ingredients in Japan

thomas — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:43:04 +0000

I’m not a great cook, but I do enjoy cooking. Thai food is among my favorite varieties of food, so when I do get around to cooking often I will make Thai food. But oh no, where am I to find lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galanga, coconut cream and little Thai peppers in Japan? The local grocery store doesn’t have them. If I’m lucky an import store might stock them, but chances are they won’t have everything I need. I wish there was a place to order Thai ingredients (especially hard-to-find produce) online so that it will be delivered to my house. Oh wait, there is!

Thai Food In Japan

This list isn’t heavily researched. I haven’t made purchases from all of these stores, so I can’t compare them as far as service goes. But it should give you a starting point. If you want to find Thai ingredients in Japan, here are some options you can try (in random order):

Allied Thai: I found this label on packages at the local import store and went to check out their site. They have a big selection and everything is broken up nicely into categories so it’s easy to navigate. The products tend to be on the pricey side. I advice you price check with some of the other sites listed. http://www.allied-thai.co.jp/shop/index.html
Asia Superstore: Big selection and plenty of (low quality) pictures. If you don’t know the Japanese/Thai name of the ingredient you are looking for, a picture can be most helpful. Also pretty cheap. You can get your Thai produce here! http://www.asia-superstore.com/00contents/03.html
Thai Market Store: Selection is not that big, but cheaper than Allied Thai. They have plenty of recipes on the site, which might be useful to you for both cooking and Japanese study. http://www.thai-market.co.jp/SHOP/69591/list.html
Isara Store: Big selection, cheap and beautiful pictures of the food. They also put their sales up at the top! 120 yen for a can of coconut milk is pretty good! 168 yen nampla. Are you kidding me? This might be the best out of the bunch. http://www.isarastore.com/
Asia Foods Ltd: No pictures, but prices are reasonable and it has an easy interface. http://www1.neweb.ne.jp/wa/asiafoods/orderform.htm

You can also try Kaldi

Thai Restaurants In Japan

If you don’t feel like cooking you can always dine in. Search for Thai restaurants here:

Do you know of any other places to grab Thai ingredients in Japan? How about some other variety of food? I’d love to make a series of similar posts on how to find Mexican food, Indian food, Swedish food, etc. Post your favorite import food links in the comments!

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Thai Food: Finding Ingredients in Japan

Thai Food In Japan

Thai Restaurants In Japan