Indo Pak Curry Spices

This is my new «happy place.» For years I’ve been looking for a store in my neighborhood where I can get friendly service, sample exotic foods, and get my lottery tickets all in the same place.
When you walk into this cozy little shop there’ll be a warm smile greeting you from owner Iqbal or his son. While you peruse the shelves packed tight with Indian spices, chutneys, snacks and sweets, Indian soaps or India’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? blare from the TV mounted high on the wall. If you don’t speak Hindi don’t panic, the shows are bilingual.
Each time I stop in I try to pick up something I haven’t tried before. At the rate I’m going it’ll be 10 – 15 years before I try everything in the store. Every visit is like a journey to the east. If you’re on a budget like me, it’s a good way to jazz up a staycation. Show your friends and family what a world connoisseur you are, and pick up some frozen samosas, chana, several different varieties of paratha, nan breads, paneers, (and a bunch of other foods I can’t spell), and get yo’ Indian on at home. You’ll be the hit of the party!
My shopping usually takes me through a round of ‘Who Wants.’ By then they’ve typically used a lifeline and been eliminated. While I wait for my lottery tickets to print I’m usually munching on a piping hot $ 1 samosa or $ 2 chicken paratha (plus one for the road).
Haven’t won any big money to date, yet I always leave Indo’s feeling like a slumdog millionaire.