Astha Grocery and Gifts — Local services in Town of Ledgeview

I feel like Astha is the best specialty food store you could ask for. They have a great variety, both of South and even East Asian ingredients! I’ve recently been trying to cut out a majority of meat from my diet, and Astha has been a holy grail for finding various lentils, beans, peas, etc. to ensure I’m still getting the protein I need. I haven’t tried their prepared foods yet, but that’s next on my agenda!

The couple who owns the store is fabulous, and always so helpful. Last time I was in and was buying ingredients to make dal makhani, the lady (I’m sorry, but I don’t know her name!) spent several minutes giving me great advice on how to prepare the dish. I really appreciated her direction, and I’m so excited to try making it! I have a feeling it’s going to come out better now than it would have without her advice :)

I’ll definitely continue coming to Astha, and I’d recommend them to everyone looking for special ingredients that are otherwise...

I just had a truly wonderful visit here today. I only needed some basmati and was warmly greeted by the owner, Peter. Both he and his store are jewels! Though ostensibly Indian, do NOT mistake this place for "just another Asian/Indian grocery." While small, it's bright, clean, neat and packed with an eclectic mix of goods (even some pasta and olive oil). Peter lived and worked in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and New York, and besides English, he speaks Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese (8 languages total), and was happy to show me some of his Japanese goods -- e.g. natto (!), frozen renkon, an oden set, kamaboko, Bulldog tonkatsu sauce, assorted candies and snacks, even daifuku! He's enthusiastic about carrying anything you want, just let him know, he wants to have products from all Asian cultures available. Of course, I left with more than just some basmati, and plan on visiting as...

My wife and I shopped at Astha for the first time today. I was interested in learning how to make real Indian Chai tea for the first time. The owner, Prakash, came from behind the counter and asked for my shopping list and grabbed a basket and started shopping for me. LOL. After finding all of the ingredients and some others he recommended, he gave me thorough instructions for making the Chai and for storing the spices. He then asked my wife what ailments, if any, she has and upon finding that she has arthritis in her knee, Prakash’s wife came out and showed us the Tumeric and talked to us, in depth, about health and good foods and how to use the spice to improve her knee. They were both delightful and we will be coming back after I master Chai and start to learn how to make authentic...