Spices for SW London? Post Reply

[SpicesSW]

I'm getting more into South East Asian cooking and using a lot of spices like Garam Masala, ground cumin, and others.

I used to buy them from Waitrose, as the price didn't bother me when I was using them less frequently.

However, now that I'm replacing them more often, the cost is becoming more noticeable.

Can anyone recommend a good place to buy these spices in bulk or at a better price?

At risk of profiling I assume Tooting might be a good spot, but I’m not sure where exactly to go?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[chorister]

Try Bulk Foods on Battersea Rise near St John’s Road. You can buy spices etc by weight - they are an excellent local shop well worth supporting. And their fudge is so good and addictive that there should probably be a law banning it!!

[Postnatalcoaching]

Korea Foods in the A3 at New Malden

This is an enormous shop on the opposite side of the flyover near the big Tesco's at New Malden, on the A3. It's not just Korean, they do Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese as well.

They offer everything from fresh noodles to kimchi, fresh and live fish, fresh meat, dim sum/spring rolls/gyozas and a gazillion other intriguing things in the freezers!

They have sauces and spices in both smaller and larger sizes as far as the eye can see (which will ultimately be a lot cheaper than buying them In smaller branded sizes from Waitrose!)

They have fresh fruit and vegetables too, including all sorts of wonderful new things from Southeast Asia, like fresh Galangal, tamarind, Asian chive leaves, Thai bird eye chillies (very hot), bok choy and pretty much everything you could possibly want for Southeast Asian cookery.

They even have a room dedicated to wholesale sizes, so lots of different rice types to try and cookware like woks and bamboo steamers.

I spent a lot of time travelling & working in Malaysia and Thailand, and this is my "go to" place to get great quality authentic ingredients. Granted, it's not on the doorstep if you live in Clapham, but if you go with a car, you can park right outside for free and stock up on everything just once or twice a year.

The staff are really helpful if you're not sure what you're looking for or where to find it, and there are always people shopping there who seem happy to give you pointers about how something might be cooked or used. Have fun.

[Lovecooking]

I've been going for years to the two shops on Tooting High Street, almost opposite Lidl. One is call Patel Brothers and the other one Bhavins food. They are both excellent and I like them both for different things. You will find everything there. All the spices you can imagine (not just for Indian cooking but all Asian recipes). They have some great Asian vegetables too if you want to challenge yourself to cook something different. I buy all our rice, curry leaves, herbs, spices etc there. The staff can also advise how to cook some things and are lovely. The shop in New Malden is good but miles away and they won't sell many spices you will need for Indian cookng. It's great for Korean, Chinese etc. There are also two comparable shops in Elephant & Castle, as good as the one in Malden, one of them possibly even better and much closer. I'm sorry I can't remember the name... I'm sure you can find it if you Google. They also have lots of hard to find Chinese and other Asian veg you would struggle to find elsewhere. As well as brains or testicles if you are brave enough haha.

Ps. Bulk Food on Battersea Rise is a lovely little shop but seriously overpriced, especially for spices.

[SpicesSW]

Thank you for the great suggestions.

[falconmum]

Absolutely accurate suggestions! There is also VB Sons in Mitcham near Tooting Station with a Sri Lankan shop as well next door.
HMart in New Malden is also really good for all South East Asian foods!