Indian Groceries, Food & the American Equivalents

By area

SF city. New India Bazar, 1107 Polk St (Nob Hill) — SF’s oldest Indian grocery, 30+ years, an official SF Legacy Business; spices, frozen parathas, fresh produce, and 2-hour local delivery via nibsf.com. The city has a handful of smaller Indian markets, but selection is thin compared to the South Bay — most SF-dwelling members do a big South Bay run monthly and fill gaps at Polk St or via delivery.

South Bay / Fremont — the density. This is where Indian grocery is a solved problem:

Store	Location(s)	Known for
India Cash & Carry	Sunnyvale, Fremont (39175 Farwell Dr), San Mateo	Widest selection, low prices, chaat counter, home delivery
Bharat Bazar	Fremont (3400 Mowry Ave), Sunnyvale, Union City	The Bay’s first Indian grocery; produce, pooja items
Namaste Plaza	Fremont (3269 Walnut Ave)	Spices, fresh greens, online ordering (namastecart.com)
New India Bazar / Apna Bazar / Patel Brothers	Santa Clara, San Jose, Sunnyvale	Apna Bazar is 24x7; Patel Brothers is the national chain

[placeholder — TFF vouched favorites and one-line member notes to be filled]

Delivery. Weee! (sayweee.com) has a full Indian store section with free delivery at low minimums. Quicklly delivers Indian groceries, tiffins, and meal kits Bay-wide, including same-day via Instacart in SF and Oakland. India Cash & Carry and New India Bazar run their own delivery. If you’re in SF without a car, delivery + one monthly Fremont trip covers everything.

The American-equivalent translation table

Jargon (for the American reader over your shoulder): atta = whole-wheat flour for rotis; dahi = yogurt; ghee = clarified butter.

You want	Indian store	American equivalent / substitute
Paneer	Every desi store, fresh	Costco (Royal Mahout; Gopi ~$10 — whole-milk, firm), Whole Foods halloumi in a pinch
Atta	20 lb bags, all stores	Costco carries atta; else “whole wheat flour” is close but coarser — rotis come out denser
Dahi	Desi brands (thicker set)	Whole-milk plain yogurt; Trader Joe’s / Straus European-style is closest to home dahi
Ghee	All stores	Costco: Nanak Desi Ghee (3.5 lb ~$25) or Kirkland Organic Ghee; Trader Joe’s sells small jars
Masalas	MDH/Everest/Shan everywhere	Whole Foods/TJ’s spice aisles cover cumin, turmeric, coriander; blends (garam masala, chhole masala) — go desi store
Basmati / Sona Masoori	All stores	Costco: Royal Basmati and Sona Masoori in bulk
Curry leaves, methi, small brinjal	Desi + some Asian markets	No real substitute — this is what the Fremont run is for

Tiffin and meal-prep services

Jargon: Tiffin = a subscription of home-style Indian meals, delivered daily or weekly.

• Tiffin Bay — Bay-wide homemade tiffin since 2001; ~$12/day with free delivery (as of 2026).
• Akshar Tiffins — veg and Jain tiffin; Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Palo Alto.
• India Food Kitchen — office lunch catering across SF, Peninsula, and South Bay.
• Sulekha lists dozens more (Pranita’s Kitchen, Carry The Curry, UlavacharU for Andhra-style) starting ~$15/person — quality varies; ask the TFF Slack before subscribing. [placeholder — TFF vouched tiffin list]

Restaurants, briefly

Not exhaustive — one line each, member-vouched entries to follow. [placeholder — TFF vouched list to be filled by members]

• SF: Dosa-and-modern-Indian options cluster in the Mission and FiDi.
• Sunnyvale/Santa Clara: the densest Indian restaurant strip in the Bay — regional options (Andhra, Gujarati thali, Chettinad) that SF lacks.
• Fremont: best chaat-to-price ratio, including the counter inside India Cash & Carry.

The Costco strategy for desi households

One membership ($65/yr Gold Star, as of 2026 — needs verification) covers the bulk layer: ghee, basmati/Sona Masoori, atta, paneer, frozen naan/roti, spices (turmeric, cumin), and produce staples (onions, tomatoes, ginger) at prices desi stores can’t match on volume. Then the desi store run is only for what Costco can’t do: masala blends, curry leaves, fresh methi, dals beyond the basics, and snacks. Split a membership run with your co-living house — Costco quantities assume a family of six anyway.

Do this now

• ☐ Do one Fremont/Sunnyvale orientation run: India Cash & Carry + Bharat Bazar + a chaat stop, ~2 hours
• ☐ Install Weee! and Quicklly; test which covers your zip with low minimums
• ☐ Get (or split) a Costco membership; buy the ghee-rice-atta-paneer bulk layer first
• ☐ Trial one tiffin service for a week before subscribing monthly
• ☐ Add your vouched store/tiffin/restaurant to the TFF directory

Nobody tells you

• Costco’s Indian aisle is genuinely good now — mainstream coverage tracks a growing desi lineup (Gopi paneer, Nanak ghee, atta, roti) — so the old “everything from the Indian store” habit overpays for staples.
• Delivery flipped the geography: with Weee!/Quicklly covering SF, living in the city no longer means grocery exile. The Fremont trip becomes monthly and social, not weekly and necessary.
• Desi store produce turns over fast but unevenly — go weekend mornings after restocks. And the freezer aisle (parathas, cut sabzi) is the real weeknight survival kit for founder schedules.

Sources & further reading

• New India Bazar SF — SF’s oldest Indian grocery; Polk St location, 2-hour delivery.
• India Cash & Carry — locations and online ordering.
• Bharat Bazar — the Bay’s first Indian grocery; Fremont and beyond.
• Namaste Plaza online ordering — Fremont store delivery details.
• Weee! Indian store — Indian grocery delivery with free-delivery minimums.
• Quicklly taps Instacart for delivery — Supermarket News — same-day Indian grocery in SF/Oakland.
• Tiffin Bay — ~$12/day homemade tiffin, Bay-wide since 2001.
• The 14 best Indian groceries at Costco — The Kitchn — the Costco desi shopping list, brand by brand.