Ali Baba International Food Market • San Antonio, TX
Jack and Jill love to shop at Ali Baba Food Market in San Antonio. Going to Ali Baba’s is just like a magic carpet ride to that legendary cavern of riches. Ali Baba is not large in dimension, but overflowing with an amazing, well organized variety of foods–from the Middle East, Mediterranean lands, Turkey, Persia, India, Pakistan, North Africa and Eastern Europe. If we’re looking for special ingredients, this is the first place in San Antonio we’ll look. They also have a selection of music and DVD’s.
Ali’s is owned by Ashraf Abu. He co-manages with his brother Sami, and both can be found smiling in the store on most days. The Abu brothers hail from Ramallah, a Palestinian city in the Central West-Bank, approximately 6 miles (10 kms) north of Jerusalem.
The store is clean, extremely well stocked, and has great customer service. It’s an adventure to browse through the aisles looking at foods you have never heard of, never tasted, even never knew existed. You can ask and get courteous help for anything that puzzles you, or the name of an ingredient for a specific recipe. It is a great place to go to find something totally different, without paying the airfare to travel to the Middle East or other exotic location. A wonderful return to the days before mega markets Ali Baba’s has a much slower pace, smaller shopping carts, and friendly and helpful people. No doubt the wide mixture of food and cultures in such a small place adds to the exotic feeling. Jack totally recommends Ali Baba to anybody who has a hankering for Indian or Arabic dishes. Think of quality rice, papads in many varieties, curry mixes, naan, roti, ghee, spices, sev batata puri, soya chunks, and coconut. Many are packaged and prepared so you only have to add something, cook and stir, and many are available in bulk quantities for that festival or large party.
As you browse the aisles and shelves, you will see a wide variety of green and black teas from the farthest ends of the earth including Almazah from Ceylon, whole beans, many kinds of olive oil, bulgar, mercimeh, whole wheat, sausages, ten pound sacks of rice, tuna, falafal, hummus, acacia blossom honey, preserves, licorice gum, chocolate covered gingerbread with plum filling from Poland, genuine baba ghanouj, pickled vegetables, pickled mushrooms, alpejskie, Napolitanke, and pickled peppers.
They bake fresh pita breads daily (10:00AM) on a monster pita baking machine, imported from the Middle East. Be there early to get the fresh baked pitas, because they go quick. You can buy either wheat or white – both are awesome. Buy two bags so you can have one fresh and then toss the other in the freezer. When you want a pita, just throw one in the microwave for 30 secs and it will come out warm and soft like just-baked.
Frozen items are located to the left as you enter the store. There are a lot of frozen items to check out. The yogurts are amazing and check out the frozen beef kabab, Bulgarian Kashkaval sheep’s milk cheese, Valbreso French sheep’s milk cheese, and Feta cheese from Egypt. Don’t miss the yogurt drinks, carob, hibiscus or pomegranate juice, non-alcoholic malt saziza, all natural honey cookies, several shelves of various chocolates and ouzo flavored candy. Here you will also find the Turkish Delight selection, walnut gata, baklava, and many different kinds of biscuit treats and desserts.
Tucked in the back of the store is a certified Halal butchery specializing in lamb, goat, chicken and beef. You can order what you want, and it’s cut and packed in front of you. There is always a fresh packed selection in the refrigerated display case.
Near the butcher, you can find a good selection of bulk foods: walnuts, almonds, pistachios, dates, apricots, raisins, mulberries, shirazi figs and much more. They carry a small selection of fresh produce and a great selection of bulk Greek olives, black, green and kalamata.
Ali Baba International Food Market is a wonderful place to visit in San Antonio. You will be so glad you did!
Ali Baba International Food Market
9397 Wurzbach
San Antonio, TX 78240
Phone: 210-691-1111
