Sontepheap Market

Like mostly everything in the bay area, I am not impressed. I stopped by for a banh mi next door (also unimpressed) and decided to wander into this little market. While I noted that they have pickled carrots and daikon, some interesting little eggplant variety, and some prepared Thai food to go, I found a lot of the produce not very fresh. I guess I really needed scallions because I bought some, despite the fact they looked kinda crappy and regretted it when I got back home. The only way those things survived is that I literally made them grow again by throwing it in a jar of water.

I like this place because I was able to find almost all the ingredients for my green papaya salad, the most important of which was the green papaya. Our local Safeway doesn’t seem to stock up on those much. I also found some palm sugar there, which made me happy.
One star off because it took me a while to get the attention of people who were working there. Though, to be fair, once I got their attention, they were rather helpful.

There were a lot of exotic vegetables that I had never before seen and I’m super-​Asian. The people working there were kind enough to explain what items were and how best to cook them. Very accommodating and patient with me and my many questions.
Bought: baby loofah, baby thai eggplant, karela; prepared food: fresh spring rolls (ok), pad thai (yummy), steamed special eggs (interesting), banana leaf-​wrapped steamed rice roll with shredded pork and bean (meh).

Pretty good Thai market. Low prices, decent selection, friendly employees. If you’re looking for S. East Asian spices and food ingredients, you probably will find it here.

Also Known As Mithepheap Market. Found this gem by accident. A small market but sure packed with many vegetables, herbs, exotic fruits and the traditional Khmer, South East Asians spices and plenty of frozen packaged internationally shipped goodness. Needless to say I was in awe of all the merchandise they carry in such a tiny store. From traditional Khmer clothing, pick nick mats and kitchen wares, a widely selections of mortar/​pestle of all sizes. But of course it wouldn’t be a Khmer market with out the soap operas movies/​music/​karaōke DVDs &CDs. My favorite part of all the ready cooked food and an array of Khmer desserts made by the local housewives. If your lucky, might find some fresh fruits for sale from someone’s backyard. Too bad I live so far away. When in the area again, I will surely stop in

Great market, friendly staff and they always have what I need for Thai cooking. This is the place I go first.

Great market tucked away into a little mini-​strip area off of International Blvd. There are lots of produce, herbs, and even some seedlings to choose from. The frozen section is stocked with lots of hard to find items like salted black crabs, water bugs, and pandanus leaves. The dry goods section is also similarly well-​stocked with reasonably priced necessary items for Southeast Asian cooking. Handy rack of snacks near the till.

Great little market with all of the ingredients you need for Southeast Asian cooking. A good selection of fresh herbs — basils, kaffir lime leaves, etc. A half dozen brands of fish sauce. An aisle of assorted noodles. And a friendly staff to help you navigate it all.

Based on Unilocal reviews this is where I made my first post-​thai-​cooking-​class venture into an asian grocery store to find ingredients for pad thai and summer rolls. Mission accomplished! Prices were great and both owners were very helpful. I’ll be back :)

Very narrow aisles, but you can find lots of ingredients for Asian recipes here. Especially, since its a Cambodian grocery store, its convenient to find ingredients for cambodian dishes.

The owners and staff are very helpful and speak English well, as others have mentioned. I was able to find several ingredients I haven’t found anywhere else in Oakland or Berkeley, such as pandan, krachai, and green peppercorns. They do take credit cards now.

This place was my go to shop when I lived in Oakland. The owners are super nice and helpful. They always had what I was looking for when I needed it.

Yes, this place is now called Mithapheap Market, and Yes, its a southeast asian market, but more specifically a Khmer/​Cambodian market. It’s important to distinguish it from a Thai market because you will not find a Thai karaōke dvd or cd there, only Khmer. Its like saying india and pakistan is the same, those are fighting words. But aside from that, the people are friendly, they have a lot of southeast asian ingredients, and they take all forms of payments, including american express.

This market is every bit as good as Kas C. promises, however, please note that its name has changed from Sontepheap to Mithapheap. Otherwise, it’s perfect for finding your Thai cooking staples like kaffir lime leaves, fresh healthy galanga, cilantro, thai basil, and lemongrass as well as tools like the new sticky rice steamer and pestle I was in need of. Eternal thanks to my James Beard award-​winning Thai cooking teacher for continuing to guide my culinary adventures twenty years going!

If you want a Southeast Asian market where the owners and staff speak fluent English and are friendly and helpful to non-​Asians who know little about how to go about cooking Southeast Asian but curious to learn, this is the place to come. There are too many Asian markets, especially large, well-​stocked supermarkets, that are impersonal and lack personnel that can speak English fluently. But be forewarned, it is really close to being a hole-​in-​the-​wall, without fancy aisles, bright lighting or shopping carts on wheels. On the other hand, the upside is you might pick up some recipe ideas and inspiration to get started.
Although I frequent many Asian markets every week to pick up ingredients for my Thai cooking classes (there isn’t one store that carries all the ingredients I need in the freshest form I like them or that stock my favorite brands of different sauces), I come here for the most exotic, hard to find ingredients, particularly herbs and vegetables, such as holy basil, lemon basil, wild pepper leaves (bai chaploo in Thai), moringa (marum) leaves, pea eggplants, culantro, curry leaves, inexpensive baby corn, ivy gourd vines (dtam leung). fresh winged beans (tua poo), fresh cha-​om and much more. The last two I listed are such special and well-​loved Southeast Asian vegetables that I can find regularly during the summer only at this store in the Bay Area.
During the summer, the owner, Sam, drives up to his friend’s farm three to four times each month to gather up these exotic produce and, with cha-​om and winged beans, they are usually gone within a few days after he returns with his precious supply. I am particularly addicted to cha-​om (a kind of edible tropical acacia much loved among Thais, Cambodians, Laotians and Burmese). It’s heavenly cooked with egg and eaten with nam prik (a hot-​and-​sour pungent dipping sauce made with top-​grade fermented shrimp paste). My husband and I also love stir-​frying it with eggs and bean thread noodles — makes a very satisfying lunch for us at least twice a week!
I’ve gotten to know the owners (Sam and Yun) quite well and recommend their store to all my cooking students as THE place to go to pick up the exotic herbs and vegetables which I use in my cooking classes. If I need a large quantity of one of these exotics in an advanced cooking class, I would call Sam and make sure he lets me know as soon as he gets back from the farm. I would rush down there and pick out what I need as he is unloading them from his van.
This store also carries many of the hard-​to-​find brands of sauces and frozen seafood products that I use for my classes and in my own cooking, such as Golden Boy fish sauce (my favorite and my students’ favorite as well), klong koen kapi shrimp paste, salted crab for making green papaya salad, sadao neem flower buds, fresh-​made coarsely ground toasted rice (the Vietnamese-​made finely ground rice just doesn’t do it for many kinds of larb and other N/​E Thai meat salads), and sour fish (pla som) from Thailand — one of my very favorite foods!
In addition, Sontepheap has an interesting collection of home-​made Southeast Asian snacks delivered almost daily to satisfy my craving of something from home (Thailand).
Of course the variety of fresh exotic herbs and vegetables are limited to the warmer months from late spring through mid-​fall when the weather allows such tropical transplants to grow in California. But some herbs do get imported in from Hawaii or Florida during the colder months. So, don’t expect the same exciting variety or freshness depending on what time of year you go. During the colder months, you might want to call first before trekking down there to get something specific.
Because of my «addiction» (albeit a healthy one) to cha-​om, winged beans, holy basil, sour fish and salted crab, even if the store has nothing else, I would give it a 5-​star rating! Many of my cooking students would agree as they have become addicted to them as well.

Sontepheap is a small, hole-​in-​the-​wallish place — I mean, seriously, walking the aisles feels like navigating the slot canyons in Zion National Park — but it’s the best place I have found in Oakland for fresh Thai ingredients as well as the pantry staples (rice, spices, fish sauce, etc). The owners are always friendly too, and often have a recipe suggestion for me. Wish it were a bit more convenient to my house, but it’s a small price to pay (literally, which is also nice) for good grub.

another market catering to the thai, vietnamese, and cambodian hereabouts. located in a cluttered shopping at 14^th ave and international, parking is very hard to find at times here.