My New Favorite Samosas in Philly Come From A Grocery Store


While walking in University City I passed by the International Foods and Spices Grocery Store and hoped I could stock up on some fun grocery items.  The store mainly specializes in Indian and Pakistani food products (canned, frozen, dried, etc). I ended up leaving with 4 bags of groceries and lunch.

I did some damage down the aisles here. I picked up things like eggplant relish, masala cup of noodles, curry mixes, roti, and daal. It wasn’t until I got to check out that I realized they make food too.

Under a heat lamp were a bunch of samosas. I asked for one, not thinking much about it. I have eaten too many mediocre samosas to count. Imagine my surprise when mid bite I realized that this did not resemble the lame-mosas I have indifferently consumed. The outside was actually crisp and flaky, rather than dried up and greasy. Inside was a mush of potatoes and peas, that was somewhat spicy, which is my preference in samosas, though someone else might like them super spicy. And to make it even better, they cost 80 freakin cents. I should have gotten more than one.

A small steam table is also up front by the register with some curries, vegetables, and meat kebobs.

I had my medium size container filled up for about $4. The red part is the chicken curry and the yellow is veggie, I got a bit of rice at the bottom of the container. I probably should have gotten one item because the two got a bit mixed up and it was hard to taste what was what. I liked both of them, but they were not quite as inspiring as the samosa.

I found out that someone makes all this food above the grocery store. Go get your samosas here!

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

  • Amazing homemade 80cent samosas
  • You can pick up fun ethnic groceries

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

  • The curries aren’t as memorable as the samosas

International Foods and Spices, 4203 Walnut St (btw 42nd and 43rd  St), 215 222-4480

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