If you’re in Bangkok for any length of time as some point you’ll find yourself longing for good Western food. Sure, Thai food is great but, unless you’re Thai, it’s not usually something you want to eat at every meal. Yes, restaurants here serve Western food, and yes there are millions of McDonald’s, Pizza Huts, KFCs, Burger Kings and other American chain restaurants. But if you really just want to grab a couple of things at a local supermarket and cook them up at home, things can get more difficult.
Don’t worry though, there are some great stores in Bangkok that sell Western food and here are some of them.
Villa Supermarket. Villa is the King of all supermarkets in Bangkok; at least it is for the Western expat who’s desperate for food that reminds him of home. Villa sells everything from American stuff like Lay’s potato chips, Doritos, Oreos, instant mashed potatoes, frozen burritos, Budweiser beer, Lenders bagels, and Nestlé’s cookie dough, to British favorites like pork pies, mince pies, mushy peas, and imported British sausages.
They also have a good wine and beer selection, nice bread and baked goods and, at the main one on Sukhumvit, lots of British and American newspapers to choose from. There are seven locations in Bangkok, so you should be able to find one near you unless you live out in the boonies. The best and largest is at 33 Sukhumvit almost opposite The Emporium mall.
Gourmet Market, Siam Paragon. This is in Siam Paragon, the new big mall right next to Siam the main sky train station. In the basement, there is a huge supermarket that sells a lot of Western products, including British, American, Australian, Spanish, and German as well as a large Japanese and Korean section. I often buy jars of American pasta sauce there, as well as imported pies, great German chocolate, Spanish olives, boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese, marshmallows, Kellogg’s cereals, Pop Tarts and lots more.
They are higher priced than most other supermarkets, but have an excellent selection of things.
Central Supermarket, Chidlom. This is Central’s flagship store and so, of course, has the best supermarket. It’s way at the back of the department store and down a long corridor, but has an enormous selection of imported things. What I love about this supermarket is they often get new Western things added to the lines they carry, so you’re not always stuck buying the same American cookies. They have a great pasta selection, good imported cheeses, huge cookie and cake selection, Heinz and Gerber baby products, and a lot of packaged powdered sauce mixes.
I recently even discovered 4-cheese instant mashed potatoes and was in seventh heaven.
Central Food Hall. At the recently renovated Central World Plaza at Chidlom sky train is Central Food Hall. Primed to be one of the best in Bangkok, this one is expensive but has almost everything. I even found homemade mince pies at Christmas, good gravy mixes, organic pastas, organic chocolate and Cheerios. They also have a fabulous wine cellar too. Again on the pricey side, but worth it if you really must have that much loved food from home.
All of these supermarkets are open seven days a week and most will also deliver. Ask at their information counters. Other supermarkets like Tesco Lotus, Carrefour, Foodland and Big C also do sell some Western foods, although the selection is much smaller than at these main ones.
