staples from my homeland

for a while, park to shop on 30th and payne was the only asian grocery store i knew about where i could purchase items to meet my occasional indonesian food cravings.  it had indomie noodles, bakso, inexpensive lemongrass, nori furikake seasoning, even frozen pandan leaves (which i have yet to use but purchased anyway).

but it didn't have everything.  it had my kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) but not in the brand i prefer (cap bango has a much better flavor than the abc brand...even my husband will agree and he's not indonesian).  they didn't have my chocolates sprinkles (this is actually a dutch thing that had made its way into the indonesian food culture), though thanks to my mommy she brought some back after her last visit to jakarta.  and they didn't have palm sugar, which is used as a little sweet treat for me in some indonesian dishes.

last september i mentioned something about discovering a new asian grocery store around the same neighborhood as park to shop.  we didn't get a chance to really look around at that time and finally made a trip back last week to really check things out.

i am so glad we did because asia food company has an indonesian aisle!  okay, it's only half an aisle.  actually, it's probably only a quarter of an aisle since it's really only half of one side of a whole aisle.  but it's exciting to me nonetheless.

and the best part is that they sell the items which we weren't able to get before, and more!

 they even have jasmine tea, which is so delicious and makes me feel like i'm back in jakarta.

i was also impressed with their little bakery/eatery section.  i think all the items are made there and reading the menu made my mouth water (side note: you have to pay separately, and in cash, for all items sold in this section).  we didn't order a full meal there, but did pick up some cakwe to use for our bubur ayam dinner. 

though i'm sure i'll continue to shop at park to shop, asia food company will certainly be another place to get my asian food fixes!