African
African Caribbean Market
This small store is jam-packed with staples for West African dishes: yams, gari (cassava powder), plantains, palm oil, foufou mix, egusi (ground seeds) and dried sorrel. The frozen section has goat meat, salted fish, and okra, and there’s jerk sauce and soursop tea imported from Jamaica. Ask if they have suya (skewered beef seasoned with peanuts and peppers) available that day for a quick snack.
4811 El Cajon Boulevard, City Heights
Awash
The beloved Ethiopian restaurant also has a small grocery store connected to it. Find berbere spice mix, seasoning for shiro (chickpea stew), clarified butter, whole bean coffee and beers from Ethiopia, and teff to make injera (Ethiopian flatbread). No time to make injera yourself? They bake it daily.
2884 El Cajon Boulevard, North Park
East Asian
Mitsuwa Marketplace
Find everything from togarashi and furikake (chili pepper powder and seaweed seasoning) to hot bento meals, instant ramen, ponzu and soy sauces, and an extensive inventory of sake at this Japanese grocer.
Kearny Mesa
Zion Market
Aside from Korean pantry staples like gochujang (chili pepper paste), rice vinegar, dried seaweed, and dried anchovies, the produce section is vast: sesame leaves, daikon (radishes), napa cabbage, dragonfruit, fresh shiitake mushrooms, young coconuts, and even banana blossoms.
Kearny Mesa
99 Ranch Market
It’s mainly Chinese and Taiwanese, but has ingredients from all over Asia. In addition to black bean sauce, tea eggs, water chestnuts, gai lan (Chinese broccoli) lots of frozen dim sum dumplings, and hot pot seasoning, you can find ingredients for Thai, Japanese, and Korean dishes, and every type of noodle from the continent you could possibly need.
Chula Vista, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa
H Mart
Like Zion Market, this Korean grocer carries all the staples and has an extensive seafood section (tanks with live abalone, geoduck, Alaskan king crab), lots of ready-to-grill meats like bulgogi and kalbi, and a section filled with kimchi and banchan (side dishes).
Kearny Mesa, Mira Mesa
Marukai Market
The Japanese supermarket carries maitake and matsutake mushrooms, matcha, quail eggs, miso paste, fresh seaweed salads, an impressive assortment of sashimi, and whole fish flown in from Japan. They also have a section devoted to foods, coffee, and snacks from Hawai‘i.
Kearny Mesa
South and Southeast Asian
Miramar Cash & Carry
This large store stocks ingredients and food from across India. Find fresh chutney, dosa batter, paneer (cheese), and an array of flatbreads like naan, paratha, and roti in the refrigerated section. There’s tons of spices (garam masala, mustard seed, fenugreek, whole cinnamon), jars of ghee and tamarind, and a produce section selling everything from desi eggplant to banana leaves.
Miramar
Askar Cash ’N’ Carry
In addition to Indian cooking staples, the shelves are stocked with ready-to-eat dals (lentil stews) and curries, tikka masala and vindaloo sauces, and pickled vegetable and garlic pastes. The produce section has turai and kerala (gourds) cut up and ready to cook, raw sugarcane, and fresh curry leaves.
9520 Black Mountain Road, Miramar
Seafood City
The chain specializes in all things for Filipino cuisine: banana ketchup, pancit (noodles), taro leaves, green papayas, ube (purple yams), frozen lumpia (and lumpia wrappers if you want to make your own). True to the store’s name, there’s a large assortment of seafood, especially whole tilapia, and live blue and rock crabs.
Chula Vista, Miramar, and National City
World Foods Supermarket
The Little Saigon store is stocked with boba pearls, pandan leaves, fresh bamboo shoots, ngo gai (culantro), fried fish cake balls and meatballs, pickled lemons, fish sauce, and several chili sauces on top of Sriracha. The frozen section has a large inventory of vegetarian mock meats (even mock shrimp), and at the seafood counter you can have a whole fish prepped and cleaned however you like it.
5245 El Cajon Boulevard, City Heights
Middle Eastern/Central Asian
Mid-East Market
The family-owned store has been in City Heights for years and is famous for its halal butcher shop and meat raised on a small farm in Poway. It’s also stocked with harissa, olive oils, rose and orange blossom waters, housemade hummus, and every dried spice or spice mix you could possibly need, like za’atar and Arab Seven Spices.
4595 El Cajon Boulevard, City Heights
Balboa International Market
Balboa’s inventory spans the hemisphere, from Persian to Turkish, Russian, and Eastern European foods and ingredients: yellow dates, Persian chives, dried limes, blocks of fresh feta, pickled fish and vegetables, teas, eggplant caviar, and candies. Don’t miss the in-house bakery, where they make Persian flatbreads like barbari and sangak, a four-foot-long sourdough.
Clairemont
Guide to San Diego’s International Markets
