easy to find indian , malaysian ,chinese, malay, thai spices etc

As a Malaysian I wonder how easy it is to find indian, chinese, thai, etc spices for us to cook at home? not into western food or other bland food tastes.
-@kdorge-expat

Welcome to the forum.

I would think if you live in a bigger city you can buy all but failing that then Shopee or Lazada sell herbs and spices.

Good luck.

Cheers, Steve.

Hi, I think you need to visit France, Italy or Greece lol, then you can call the food "bland"!

If the raw materials are of a very high standard, then subtle flavours work best. I know we're spoiled that way.

As to sourcing herbs and spices, I lived in Tagaytay, and, like a lot of places, it was just whatever the supermarkets had in store on any given day. It would be very unusual if you could buy all the ingredients for a curry (for example) in a single day. And coriander (cilantro?) is just not available as are fresh spice/herb options. Save up the powdered ones.

@tammas2000 Some of us have lived in Europe and still  prefer Indian, Thai, Vietnamese flavors 😅

Well, I'm in the UK, so our national dish is Indian! We have some of the best Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi restaurants and I personally eat them regularly and can cook them too. I hate lemon grass though

Thai is less to my liking, but British Chinese - mostly Hong Kong Chinese - is nice too. But no way is French food "bland" lol. It's the best cuisine IMO with subtle flavours, oh, and they do a decent wine accompaniment.

I've never eaten Malaysian food, though I've had Indonesian a few times, but, to me, that was bland

kdorge- it appears SEA countries share many similar spices. I googled it. Thailand still share quite a bit of same spices but they have more different spices compared to the Philippines. Thailand is farther away from the Philippines. The spices between these countries are likely the same but they call it differently. I wondered if you have travelled to the Philippines yet, which is quite easy for a Malaysian.

On Chinese spices, the Philippines has the oldest Chinatown in the world. There are Chinese communities in Manila the store signs are in Chinese. No doubt you will find, at the least, the basic Chinese spices.

@kdorge-expat

I live in the city of Bath here in the UK. A gastronomic delight with a number of Michelin star restaurants. I'm a self confessed foodie and probably have my Belgian ancestry to thank for that. I prefer western food but then thats what I was brought up on. Asian food has much to offer. Sometimes though spices can smother the delicate flavours of certain dishes.

I took a Malaysian (take another airline in future) flight from KLIA ( godforbidden airport out in the boondocks) to Manila a few years back. Had no choice as Philippine Airlines or Cebu Pacific at the time did not fly that route so was stung on price. Was served a Malaysian Lamb Rendang dish which to this day I'm still chewing on. Oh and just so you know the air stewardess serving the drinks asked me what I would like. San Miguel beer please. 'We only stock Heineken' . Fine I shall have a can. She poured out half the can into a plastic cup and gave me the cup but kept the can. I said in a rather loud voice so other passengers could hear. Your airline screwed me for £200 quid for a scheduled flight the least you can do is give me a whole can of beer. She gave me an embarrassed look and handed the can back. My neighbour had a good chuckle.

By the way there is not one Malaysian restaurant in the city of Bath. Why do you think that is?

@tammas2000

so it would seem that spices for the varied malaysian cuisines are not easily available in speciality shops. as bad as Australia - worse actually as there are 'asian suburbs one could go to in sydney and melbourne. seems more like the bush in queensland where one may have to trave 150km to get to towoomba.

we are malaysian and used to malaysian foods. thank you for the useful answer. thinking of migrating back to malaysia or the phllipines. it seems the cost of living might be less than malaysia? but we have roots there. also the religious and cultural freedoms in both are important for those with humanistic ideals.

@tammas2000 Malaysian food is just a catch all for indian, malay/indonesian, chinese, thai, viet and jap food which proliferate there and in singapore. I see that there may not be the shops to eat at which malaysia / KL have in spades at cheap prices for all budgets. a big factor in retirement. thank you

@Jackson4 thank you. malaysia is basically curries except for the chinese herbs. it would seem that the philippines are less spicy than Malaysia. hard to adapt. we live in australia but are exploring options.

Sorry Kdorge  but I never had problems buying asian herbs, spices and delights from many Asian stores on the Sunshine Coast in Q/L Australia, Research and research well instead of complaining or simply go back and live in Malaysia if you want specific food. 

You sir have canned the Philippines as well as Australia and to me it sounds like you never looked as plenty of Malaysian  ingredients in both countries, Have you ever been to the Philippines?

As another member said Manila has the oldest China town outside the name sake.

We buy Thai and Vietnamese delights 6 hours drive from Manila in our local markets and suoermarkets and as said there are plenty of online distributors that will keep you happy both in the Philippines and Australia, perhaps get out a lot more? Explore?

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Because Filipino cuisine is very different from Thai or Indian cuisine there are many herbs and spices that are hard to come by on a regular basis, fresh coriander for instance, because I love to cook Indian curries, I would aloo like to find a regular supply of many of the common Indian spices.

Grow them, easy.

Cheers, teve.

@FindlayMacD Apparently there is an Indian store near the Indian Hindu temple in Cebu that has everything you could ever want but they are not very good at mail order.

@bigpearl Very hard to grow coriander where I live, believe me, I've tried.

Boots on the ground, very hard to find decent  beef here. hard to grow decent let alone buy. Herbs are easy where I am, plant in the right spot.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl We live west of Towoomba 150km or 200km to Brisbane. I know the coast has stores. thank you. Just exploring options about the Philippines and food/spices is an important criterion. Just trying to ask about things which can help me make a decision between the two places. thank you.

@bigpearl We live west of Towoomba 150km or 200km to Brisbane. I know the coast has stores. thank you. Just exploring options about the Philippines and food/spices is an important criterion. Just trying to ask about things which can help me make a decision between the two places. thank you.
-@kdorge-expat

Only you can make that decision, where you settle is what you get. I'm originally from the Sunshine Coast hinterland and we had many Asian stores selling fresh and processed food, here 6 hours north of Manila we simply order online what we can't buy locally and no problems.

Here I gave up on buying a decent rib eye fillet as they are garbage, simply do without as I chose to live here with my Filipino better half and honestly the food here is better than bland Aussie cooking, that's why Asian stores and restaurants are so popular there.

Good Luck.

Cheers, Steve.

***

Back on topic to the OP I'm sure you can get most of what you need if you are in a larger city and google can be your best friend.

Cheers, Steve.

Hello everyone,

Please be informed that I have removed some off-topic and quite borderline comments from this thread.

All the best

Bhavna

Kdorge - you said you lived in Australia. I would guess you'll find more of the spices you were looking for in the Manila and other big cities. No doubt you'll find them all in KL. Unfortunately, I am not sure members can name the stores where you can find them. Would these spices make or break your decision where to retire?