When you think of Bangkok, you think street food or boats filled with fruits and vegetables at a floating market. You wouldn’t think of a shiny, air-conditioned supermarket fully stocked with premium and imported produce from around the world. But then again, you wouldn’t be wandering through Metropolitan Bangkok looking for a supermarket to do store checks on your vacation.
Fortunately for you, as a native Bangkokian, when I visited home last November, I had all the time in the world to stroll through some of the best high-end supermarkets in the city.
First of all, think of Bangkok as Manhattan, an international city packed with people from all over the world. Thai and foreign residents stream in and out of high rises every day, some of which are linked to monorail system (BTS--Bangkok Mass Transit System) that runs through the city.
To live and/or work within walking distance of a BTS station is definitely a luxury, and the housing and malls around the area reflect it. But no matter how high-end the malls are, they always have a supermarket (which we call “super”) and a food court or food hall, and they always seem to exist together.
We can probably attribute that to the traditional open air market where you can go from stall to stall, alternating eating and shopping as you go.
Moving that market experience into an air-conditioned building does not change the way we shop all that much.
Grocerants are also not a new concept to us in Thailand. Many supers have food stalls with no seating leading into the market so you can get snacks on your way in or out of the market, like how you could walk around an open air market and graze through the food carts. Some supers do have actual grocerants, and some also exist as a part of the food hall.
Eating around the super is a tradition, but dining inside the super is a new concept. Some locations like the Central Food Hall in Central Chidlom doesn’t have room to put a grocerant in the perimeter, so they moved it inside. The new counter service offers everything from American grill food, raw seafood and sushi, to tapas and pasta.
Now that you have been led to the super by all the food stalls, it’s time to say hello to the star of the Thai super: the produce department. We wouldn’t be an agriculture country if we didn’t lead with produce!
And lead we do. We go big and bountiful. Fruit display you can barely see over, brimming with both local items and fancy imports.
At least one sales associate stands at each island to tell you about the products they’re featuring, to give you samples, and to help you pick the best produce to take home, right then and there.
Depending on where the malls are located, the product mix can be completely different. The Gourmet Markets at the Emquartier and the Emporium malls target overall international expats while Central Food Hall at Central Chidlom is more focused on American and British expats working at their respective embassies nearby.
Most “Western” produce is imported from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, which makes perfect sense as they are the closest “cold” climate to us. I was surprised to find some American brands including Earthbound Farms, Tanimura & Antle, and Driscoll’s Berries.
The Central Food Hall at Central World mall, a block away from the Chidlom location and situated between 2 BTS stations, is about halfway between the premium supers and the traditional open air market. It’s more down to earth as it is a city center where locals, office workers, and international tourists shop. Produce offerings are more local products than imports.
Pricings swing widely from location to location. Central Food Hall Chidlom is probably the most premium of all the markets I visited. It’s a long-established location right down the street from embassy row and a tourist hub. The Gourmet Markets is more reasonably priced as they also have to serve office workers, so they’re a little more affordable.
The lesson here is that the further away you are from a BTS, the better pricing for your produce!
Our family housekeeper often grumbles about how much things cost at these markets, and prefers to go out of the metro area to the old open air market. You know, where everyday people shop. She begrudgingly shops at Central World or the organic market Lemon Farm next door to our condo if she’s short on time.
For example, the premium Monthong Durian at the Chidlom is about US$47 per kilo, $8 per kilo at Central World, and my housekeeper could probably get the price down lower than $5 a kilo at an open air market.
It’s also fun to start comparing prices between Thailand and US on certain items. Gala apples and Haas avocado from New Zealand is almost $2 per fruit.
Cauliflower from Australia is $7/lb and fennel nearly $9. Local young coconut is sold with a label and plastic wrap for $2 in the super, but there’s a pick-up truck filled with fresh young coconut in a large ice chest, and the seller will hack it open for you for about 50 cents.
Outside of these mall dwelling supers, there are a few other chains around the city. Tesco-Lotus is more like the Walmart of the East where you can buy everything plus groceries.
With locations nowhere near any BTS station, Thailand’s first international supers, Villa Market, offers the same products as what you would find at Central Food Halls and Gourmet Markets, but at a much more reasonable price.
And then there are also the little Lemon Farm markets, offering local organic groceries with a cafe built in to serve healthy fare, like a mini Whole Foods.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to do store checks away from the BTS routes. My family was completely perplexed when I told them I wanted to go to a super outside the city core.
“You mean like a Tesco-Lotus, or the old open air market? They’re like a mile away! And you’re going to need a cab. And maybe the housekeeper should go with you.” Apparently, for true metro Bangkokians like my family, if it’s more than 5-minute walk from the BTS, it’s a trek into the uncharted territory. (Mind you, it’s like 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 99% humidity, so walking a mile can be a little uncomfortable.)
So, yep. It’s kind of like telling native Manhattanites they have to get to Brooklyn.
Oakley Boren is the trade show and communications manager at Frieda’s Specialty Produce, based in Los Alamitos, California. This Thai native lives to eat and loves to cook.
Credits:
Produce by Pamela Riemenschneider. Story and photos by Oakley Boren.