Rose International Market
I just made my usual stop at Rose International Market and thought it would be a nice place to blog about. It’s a small funky Persian grocery store on Castro Street. If you haven’t been there before, you should check them out. It is a popular destination for lunch. The ordering process is a bit cumbersome, but just follow everyone in front of you if you haven’t been there before. Go inside the store to order and pay for your food at the cash register. Wait a few minutes, then go outside the store, to the back of the building to pick-up your food. It seemed odd to me to stand in line in the back of the parking lot, but everyone else seemed to think it was the norm, so I just went with the flow. There are tables and chairs along the front of the building. The kabobs are fabulous.
I usually go there to do a bit of grocery shopping. I photographed the 3 items that I always purchase: yogurt drink, baklava, and Persian cucumbers. The yogurt drink is salty and tangy and like no other yogurt drink that I have ever had. The particular baklava that I buy (Diamond Bakery) is made in Fremont and always extremely fresh. I like that it’s made locally. And the Persian cucumbers aren’t usually at other grocery stores. I like that you don’t have to peel them and they don’t have that waxy stuff on the outside of them. They’re just the perfect, clean, crunchy little cucumber.
I have experimented with different Tandoori mixes from this store. One product is usually very different from the next. So far, I’ve discovered one that was too hot for human consumption, in my opinion, and another that wasn’t hot at all. I’m still trying to figure out how to make the perfect Chicken Tandoori. And Rose International always has hummus and fresh pocket bread which can be turned into the perfect little midnight snack.
This market has been in Mountain View for 26 years and they’re family owned. It’s true that I don’t know what many of the different products are, but I’m not afraid to ask and I’m always open to buying something and taking it home to investigate how to use it. Google is a big help in my kitchen! Other customers are usually pretty helpful as well. If I see someone purchasing something that I’m interested in, I’ll just ask them how they prepare it.
That’s what makes Mountain View so interesting—diversity. Everyone knows that we have every imaginable kind of restaurant, but we also have lots of little neighborhood markets that are just waiting to be discovered.
Hi Debbie, Yes, it’s on the other side of El Camino, over near Peets Coffee.
Where is it on Castro? Close to Villa or towards El Camino? I’d love to check it out. I’ve been to the place that’s over El Camino across from the bank and by the burned down building. But that’s the only one I can think of?