There are a number of similar names for this small, but mighty, establishment floating around on…read morethe internet: Ninth Avenue International Foods, Ninth Avenue International Market, International Grocery & International Food, Ninth Avenue International Grocery, or just what's written on the sign: International Grocery. Whatever the actual name, it seems that this Mediterranean specialty store has been open since 1947, run first by the Smitsis Family, and then the Karamouzis (including brothers Sotiris, Dinos, and Panayiotis). The Karamouzis moved it a few doors north to its present location in 1983. The neighborhood around the store has evolved a great deal over the years, but inside, old world charm persists. Everywhere you look there are bulk bins, barrels, and sacks brimming with: - Spices: all the staples needed for Mediterranean, Indian and North African cuisines, including za'atar, dried tamarind, cloves, allspice, rock salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, red pepper, black mustard seed, etc... - Dried fruits: pineapple, apricots, raisins, figs, diced orange peel, dates, etc... - Dried nuts: cashews, macadamias, almonds in every form, walnuts, pistachios, etc.. - Grains, beans, lentils, and flours - Coffee I love that International Grocery has stuck with bins and barrels for all these years. Bulk bins were the norm when the store first opened and are so much more environmentally friendly than the ubiquitous single use plastic packaging we see nowadays. Environmentally conscious folks are increasingly coming around to appreciate bulk bins and I wouldn't be surprised if they became the hot "new" trend in coming years. If you stick with something for long enough, it comes back into fashion, right? The wonders don't end with all those glorious bins, however. Far from it. Improbably, all of the following (and more) also neatly fit into a store the size of a suburbanite's two-car garage: - Olives -- about 10-15 kinds by my last count, but I've seen even more varieties at times. I love my crisp, green Castelvetranos and black Kalamatas; the Progeny loves her pimento-stuffed Manzanillas. - Antipasti (mushrooms, artichokes, giardiniera, gigantes plaki) and preserved lemon peel - Feta (Bulgarian, Greek) and other cheeses - Tzatziki and other spreads - A variety of fresh and packaged pastries (baklava, kourabiedes, koulourakia) and halvas - Olive oils, pomegranate molasses, carob molasses - Pita breads and pasta - Rose water - Amardeen (an apricot leather used to make a Syrian drink of the same name) Prices are quite fair and the owners + staff are kind, generous, gentle and gracious. When my 10-year old privately expressed interest in the orange peel to me, one of the owners overheard and offered her some to try. They didn't look at all askance when she delightedly opened various bins to sniff the beautiful aromas within. (I did teach her to waft the smells to her nose by hand a la chemistry lab, instead of sticking her head into each bin.) As much as I detest the areas around Port Authority -- it's one of the dirtiest, smelliest parts of NYC -- I do go out of my way for International Grocery and will for as long as we're both around.

Absolutely love this place! First found it when looking for some spices I'd never heard of before…read morefor a Palestinian dessert. International Grocery had these and many other spices, grains, nuts, flours, everything you can think of, from multiple cuisines from many cultures around the Mediterranean. They also have fresh halvah, and delicious spanakopita, freshly made! I got into the habit of buying several generous servings-- one for now, several for my freezer. What a great find!

Tashkent has become a place we visit every time we are in New York. The variety of food there is…read morecrazy, and the quality and freshness are some of the best I have seen in supermarkets. The efficiency of the staff is amazing too. You see those lines for the cashiers and think you are going to be there forever, but it really only takes a couple of minutes. Try their croissants. I do not want to give them any ideas about pricing lol, but you would literally expect them to cost three times as much. I promise you! The second thing you try is syrniki with nutella! Also, the shawarma there is an 8.4 out of 10. Highly recommend. This is actually my second highest score for shawarma in the US, by the way..

This supermarket is a very busy, neighborhood gem! It's 100 % Halal…read more What I appreciate the most about TashKent is they sell hard to find imports from the Balkans, Russia, and Eastern European regional items. I primarily love the kefirs, kombucha's, and specialty bakery. The hot bar buffet is insane! Filled with every kind of food with over 200 items. They even had morkovcha (carrot kimchi), various dumplings, and I they have hand carved shawarma for those that like meat. The prices are fair, typical to any other grocery store location in Manhattan. The service is great. It is one of my favorite specialty markets. Tip: The store gets very crowded during peak times, especially after work hours.

This market is amazing - we had to take a train to another borough to get here, but it was well…read moreworth the trip. My bf is Turkish, so he was so excited to check it out because there aren't really any markets here in the city that have Turkish goods. Instantly when I stepped inside, I felt so intrigued with the different options of Turkish goods here. Since I don't know too much about Turkish food, I just held the shopping basket and let my bf do all the shopping. I must say, everything he put in that basket looked DELICIOUS. I just wish we had this market closer to where we live! I'm writing this review weeks after my trip, and I can conclude that everything that we had purchased in the photo was amazing and I will be definitely coming back very soon to restock!

Always great customer service, and we always find what we need. Prices are good and always able to…read morebuy our European snacks! They have different types of frozen Burek. Granted fresh ones always taste way better but this is the second best thing when you get that crave.

Love coming to Ten Ichi! They have the most amazing finds and I LOVE Ramune. They have all…read moredifferent types. So good. The shop is well organized by product making it such a cute little shop you can't help but want to shop in. Stopped in for a smorgasbord of foods. Today's haul consisted of BIG shrimp shumai. Chicken Teriyaki with white rice, Pork belly, various sushi rolls, mochi, sushi sandwiches, curry and cheese rice balls. So good. So delicious. Very flavorful and most importantly super fresh. We got a strawberry sando, which was light and fluffy and the strawberries were perfectly ripened and sweet. Highly recommend everything! The staff are all super friendly and accommodating. You have questions, they have answers. Card and cash accepted!

Stopped by on a Tuesday night since I was in the area. It's not a huge Japanese market, but they…read morehad a decent selection of Japanese snacks, groceries and prepared foods. There were actually quite a few people coming in while I was there, and I think part of the reason was their 50% off deal on perishable items that were going to expire the next day. They had little things like sushi and other prepared foods marked down, which is honestly a pretty good deal if you happen to be in the area after 8pm. I like that they offer discounts on items that are close to their sell by date instead of letting everything go to waste.

Tashkent is an excellent place to do food shopping. The produce is consistently fresh,…read morehigh-quality, but still cheaper than the nearby supermarket chains. I won't get my onions, bell peppers, or cucumbers anywhere else, and their satsuma mandarins are also a great find. The meat selection is excellent as well and very fresh. The hot food bar is always worth a stop. Their plov (beef or lamb) is a great deal at $9.99/lb, and the meat is unbelievably tender and flavorful. It often runs out later in the day. The samsa are massive, flaky, and come stuffed with pumpkin, beef, lamb, or chicken. The manti and bilyash are also fantastic. You really can't go wrong with any of the prepared foods. They also carry a wide variety of Central Asian and Eastern European groceries, including seasonings, teas, sweets, pickled vegetables, honey, and more. The bread selection is another highlight, with fresh Uzbek non or lepeshka. The space itself is pretty small and cramped, so it feels more like a quick "grab what you need and go" kind of store rather than a place to casually browse. A line of only a few people can stretch to the back, but the cashiers do a great job keeping things moving. Tashkent also recently opened a location in Manhattan that I checked out, and it's a larger space with even more selection.

This supermarket is open, even when it snows. I've been buying the basic vegetables and chicken and…read morebeef chunks. There's a butcher and case full of different cuts of protein. It offers hot and cold buffet, as well as packaged soups and salads. A variety of cakes and cookies on display as well as packaged cookies and candy per pound. Not all signs are in English and minimal use of English on items. I finally bought a piece of cake/roll. Employee told me it's pistachio cake but I'm not getting that flavor. Just tastes like a moist vanilla cake with yummy cream filling and some berries.

The hot bar section is one of the best values in the area for lunch or dinner. For ~$10, you can…read moreget two sides with either rice and noodles and a soft drink (or soup of the day if you don't like soda)! They rotate the sides occasionally so you can try new things with each visit. I usually get the shrimp and the eggplant as my sides with noodles - highly recommend the shrimp, I think it's one of their best items there. It's more authentic and healthier than Panda Express down the street and you get a lot more variety. The dry pot section is also pretty good depending on their protein selection for the day, but the value is with the hot bar section.

Thanks to Yelp I found Koufuku! I was looking for a place to grab a quick lunch in the area and was…read morevery pleased with the offerings at Koufuku! The lunch options were plentiful and what a deal- you get rice or noodles (or both!), and two entree choices plus a drink or soup for under $11. The staff were so helpful and offered their recommendations. I ended up getting a plate with fried rice and stir fried noodles with veggies plus mushroom chicken with other delicious vegetables and also spare ribs in a sweet sauce. Everything was phenomenally fresh and delicious. I would love to go back.

I love the hot bar/boxed food at this supermarket!! The servers are fast and generous. It's such a…read moregood deal for the amount of food they give you. The boxed meal set comes with a choice of soda or soup - definitely try the bone broth soup, it's so good! There is a seating area in the grocery store near the doors if you opt to eat in.

Convenient Asian super market with one of the best lunch deals in the area!…read more In general the store has the basic stuff you need (Asian condiments, rice, ramen, snacks). There's also home goods stuff downstairs. Not a lot of produce, sometimes doesn't even have some of the basics (green onions). Prices are a bit higher than they should be but still reasonable for the area. Coffee/bakery shop inside called Progreso, although it was closed when I went the other day. Boxed lunch where you can pick a carb (chow mein, rice noodles, rice) + 2 or 3 sides. Most of the same dishes everyday but some do change. They really pack the box! Build your own dry pot (price based on weight). 30% off sushi after 7pm

This is our go to Turkish store in NYC. They have a very…read moresmall store space wise but amazing variety of products!!! Seriously! You can find real Turkish brands for cheese of many types, yogurt, ayran, sucuk, spices, pasta and grains, bread, canned products and even frozen goods like manti or lahmacun. We just love them! And the prices are cheaper compared to online store Tulumba, which also sells Turkish products. You can find also traditional sweets like Baklava, lokum or helva here. They seem to be fresh (the baklava with pistachio is amazing! and had many compliments from my friends!) and we have been shopping over a year from here with no problems of expiration (except one tomato paste that has gone bad..) they also have a small meat preparation corner which I believe is halal, and has variety of beef like chopsticks etc... for those who are interested. Overall, I will highly recommend this shop for those who are looking for a traditional Turkish grocery shop or just people who want to taste Turkish cuisine aka Mediterranean - Middle Eastern combo.

Best Turkish supermarket in western Queens. OH, THE ONLY…read moreTURKISH SUPERMARKET IN WESTERN QUEENS? Okay, slightly kidding since it's the size of two bodegas, and Sunny grocery on 43rd (a block away) is also a Turkish grocer, and it carries slightly different things. One of the fun things about visiting a foreign city like Istanbul is to go native and visit corner produce stands, grocers (Şok or Migros) or hypermarkets (like Carrefour). What I will do is look at the items, and based on some researched numbers, get an idea for how things are. For example, in Nov 2023 a 500g bag of Caykur Altinbas classic tea is 95 TL. A six pack Pasabahce tea glass set (çay bardak) is 99 while ones from Sahil is 27 at Şok. A bottle of full fat Ayran is 12, a subway ride is about 15 and a breakfast set is about 200. The monthly minimum wage is about 23000, and average rent for a dinky apartment in Zeytinburu is about 16000 TL. The current exchange rate is about 30 TL to 1 USD with an 80% inflation, so you need to hustle to survive on Istanbul money, but as a tourist, you can make out like gangbusters if you stick to domestic products and shop around. So what does that have to do with shopping at Turkiyem? Well, certain useful items are oddly inexpensive due to lower relative pricing in Turkiye, but you just have to think outside the box. For example? The pasabahce 6 pack tea plate for 8 bucks (I think they were like 75 TL)...can you use it as an olive/nut plate for parties? Yes - better than Ikea in most cases. What about the big 500g bag of Caykur loose earl grey for 4.75? Yep. What about that 3.50 jar of Tomato paste? High quality and much cheaper than Concertina, stick it in an ice tray, freeze and ziplock bag it up. The olive bar here? Cheaper than Parrot foods and just as decent. Same goes for Turkish Olive oil - same or higher quality than Italian without the markup. Of course, not everything is well priced. That 2 lb bag of Reis red lentils (Turkish brand, Kazakh lentils) is 6 bucks. Go to Patel Brothers in JH and it's 5 bucks for a 4 lb bag of Canadian lentils, which tastes the same in Turkish lentil soup). Arborio rice too difficult to find? Use Baldo (it's a Turkish hybrid for making Pilaf), but don't pay 6 bucks for a 2 lb Reis bag here - go to Mediterranean Foods in Astoria and look for the Krinos brand, which is often around 5. But what is this place really good for? Well, it's a good one stop shop for Turkish items but minus a few things. For example, if you want Tulumba (Turkish honey glazed churro nuggets), that's Sunny on 43rd, and the good stuff is at A&D Turkish market in Bay Ridge. Want great Baklava? Antepli in Bay Ridge. If you want single serving Kahramaras style Dondurma (Turkish ice cream) which is freaking delicious served with Turkish tea and baklava? Grand Bazaar in Cliffside park. In terms of Turkish markets It's not nearly as big as Istanbul Food Pazaar in Clifton (NJ) or Portokali Market in Sheepshead Bay, or even Nizaam in Cliffside Park, but you know what? If you want pre-packaged Moda Dondurma sliced up and ready to go in Queens? Check the freezer here. Want a crapload of dried mint at a reasonable price but without the stems, or Aleppo peppers for lentil soup without paying the absurd markups at Sahadi's? Pul Biber, check the spice aisle. Hell, they even got multiple varieties of dried peppers hanging on the ceiling and more spices and teas than you know what to do with. It's just as much fun to browse as Parrot Foods on Sunnyside, and you can chat with the Butcher and get tips on cooking. Yeah, some places are cheaper or have more stuff, but often, they win out on convenience. If I have a Zipcar for the weekend and don't mind driving to NJ, I'll head to the big Turkish markets and maybe get something really Turkish, like Beyran soup from Gaziantep on the other side of the Hudson. Otherwise I drop by here for small culinary reminders of Istanbul. So yeah, stop by. I do that once a month. Oh yeah, can someone tell the owner to install a few price validators? They don't mark most of their items so the pricing is always an educated guess. Considering that it's all in their system, might as well have something that tell the customers how much they are...

Small grocery place with Asian food and goodies with kind staff. Super close to the station too!read more

Cute and convenient neighborhood grocery store, but prices for produce can be a bit exorbitant. I…read moresaw a dozen eggs here listed for $13.99! I got a bento box to go and the quality was just alright. The chicken was cooked fine, but the sauce that came with it had a very goopy texture (think uncooked egg whites, but more gelatinous). The veggies in the bento were also all slightly wilted and a bit sad, but zapping everything in the microwave at work helped a bit.

I remembered my father and I coming here once in the past when the place was small. The place now…read moreis wider and newer. There were some people shopping. After seeing what it has to offer, I only brought Cup Noodles that were 99 cents each. There were two people working at the checkout. The service here was fast.

G Mart opened recently in Jackson Heights though I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure what the "G"…read morestands for (Good? Gracious? Great?) but it is very convenient if you're getting off the train at the Jackson Heights stop. It looks very much like they took an old warehouse sized space and converted it into a clean looking market. There market has two levels, a primary level where you'll find most of the goods including produce, dry goods and even a small housewares section towards the back. Step up a couple of stairs from the produce section and you'll be in the seafood section. The market was very neat and organized and it looked very clean. All that said, do not expect a ton of selection here. Their brand diversity was fairly limited which is no big surprise given the relatively small space for a supermarket. From what I saw the prices here were average and not particularly expensive or cheap. If you're in the area this is a good spot to grab some groceries. You may not have the widest selection available to you, but it will do in a pinch!