Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Depite the fact that I've lived in nyc for 7 years I never quite nailed down great places for specialty ingredients. I just got a copy of vegan eats world for christmas and I'm dying to make everything! So tell me, what are your favorite places to buy asian, indian, carribean, middle eastern, etc ingredients? In Brooklyn and Queens especially!

They're in Manhattan, but I get almost everything here: http://kalustyans.com/

Dual (pronounced and sometimes spelled Dowel) on First Ave and 6th in Manhattan. Indian specialty. Lots of spices, obscure herbs, and international items. Cheap tahini. Everything is pretty affordable. Good beer selection too.

Tokyo Mart on Mulberry just south of Canal in Chinatown is pretty well stocked with pan-asian items and reasonably priced.

In Brooklyn you must know about Sahadi's?

For Asian stuff, I like Hong Kong Supermarket on Hester St. in Manhattan (it's huge and cheap by NYC standards!) May Wah (a market specialising in mock meats) is also near there. Depending on where you live, a trip to Flushing or Brooklyn Chinatown might be more convenient though? In Flushing there are a bunch of H-Marts (they specialize in Korean fare) and in Brooklyn Chinatown there are a whole bunch of Chinese markets... the biggest one I've been in is Fei Long on 8th Avenue, but I haven't tried all of them.

in manhattan, i second kalustyans. totally worth the trip but be prepared to open your wallet.
in queens (jackson heights), apna bazar and patel bros are my go tos

I say yes to Dual (or Duwel) on 1st Ave, Hong Kong Supermarket in Chinatown and Kalyustan's - although with Kalyustan's they have SO much stuff but some of it I've found to be of questionable freshness.

in Queens, there's a few big Chinese supermarkets in the Elmhurst area - I know Great Wall is the name of one of them. And for awesome Latin stuffs, there's the Food Bazaar chain in Ridgewood (Brooklyn/queens border) although some of those stores are better than others.

but what I'm looking for nowadays is to get my hands on some fresh noodles for Thai stuff, specifically for pad see yew! I've never seen those nice fat puffy noodles anywhere, even dried. My online searching has lead me to some listings for stores in Woodside, but I'm also gonna check out a place called Bangkok Grocery in Chinatown.

There are also tons of indian places in jackson heights and the trade fair in jackson heights has tons of stuff, too

I know the Hong Kong Supermarket in Elmhurst, but it totally intimidates me. Nothing is labelled in English and I am too scared of asking for help (the other customers are tough looking little old ladies). Also, I would have no clue if what I am buying is a good version or a bad version of that product...