Thai

Bangkok Center Grocery – 104 Mosco St.

Bangkok Grocery stocks dozens of varieties of curry and fish pastes. 

The owner of this tiny grocery on Mosco Street is from Thailand, and it shows in the store’s authentic offerings. There’s durian paste, mangosteen, coconut juice and shelves of different curry and fish pastes. Bonus points for the bunches of fresh Thai basil. For more mainstream cooks, there’s a shelf devoted to a  familiar favorite, sriracha sauce.

Tan Tin Hung Supermarket at 121 Bowery (between Grand and Hester) is wonderful. They have an enormous variety of Vietnamese products. It’s almost covert — they sell vegetables out front and don’t have signs saying that’s it’s Vietnamese, it looks like any other store. Prices are excellent, for staples and specialties.