A few days ago I gave a rough breakdown on the many markets on 7th Street.  I didn’t mean to leave out an important highlight on South 7th: the Friendly Market, a market with truly unusual food products.  The sign has hints as to why this market’s food finds are so unusual.  Specializing in products primarily from Nepal, and Burma, surely this market has things you haven’t seen before.  In terms of Burmese products, you can find an assortment of ingredients to make your own pickled tea (lahpet thohk—see here for a post with a recipe) and pickled ginger salads.  You can find the various nuts that are common to Burma and South Asia.  You can find instant mixes for making the national dish mohinga, a noodle and fish soup.

The Burmese offerings are considerable, and there is a surprising selection of offerings from Nepal as well.  There are a number of unique spices I found here that I have never seen before in the states:

Jimbu, a dried grass-like allium used in Nepali pickles and chutneys:

Jimbu, a very rare spice in the US

Timur, a cousin of the Sichuan pepper (huajiao), aka Himalayan pepper.  Check out interesting introduction to this spice via experiencing Masterchef India.  This has a stronger aroma than Sichuan pepper.  More on this spice in a later post.  For now, here is from me:

a close up of the elusive timur spice.  Whoa that is strong smelling stuff

In addition to this variety of rare items, there are many South Asian products and foods from Thailand.  The market is very clean and neat, and it’s the kind of place you can return to, and still find something new.  Friendly Market can be found at 2135 S 7th St.