B & V Asian Market

This Lao owned grocery store is small but it has most of the things you need. The prices here are high but at least it’s close to the house. The owners are nice but the price is a lot higher than the other two around elgin.

I love this market!
Great for hard to find southeast Asian ingredients, produce and housewares (BUY A LAO RICE STEAMER, you will not be disappointed!) They even managed to have silkworms in stock for me inside a week when my girlfriend wanted to try them.
Friday is the day to go– they drive in fresh made Lao/​Vietnamese food from the city, and selections include:
BBQ pork and Pâté Bahn Mi (only 3.50!)
Nam– Which is a Lao rice ball filled with unsweetened shaved coconut, green onion, cilantro and mint, pickled pork and little bits of tripe (don’t let that scare you it tastes like a lunch meat ham– super innocuous flavor and the tripe is so clean and mild flavored it would pass for a glass noodle if you didn’t know what it was.) It’s then fried and broken up and served in a lettuce leaf as a wrap. Seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten.
Shrimp spring rolls are also a great choice. If you don’t know what you are looking at just ask, the staff has a decent grasp on English and are happy to tell you what something is or what it could be used for.
If you plan on spending less than $ 10.00 be warned, they do have a credit card minimum– but if you are anything like me you will want to spend at least that much– too good to pass up.

I was looking for some Kaffir Lime Leaves for a recipe and called all over the place to find them and this was the only Asian grocery within 10 miles of my house that I could find that had them in stock.
I made the drive there today and they had a bunch of them, in addition to a lot of other fresh Asian produce and grocery items.

Owned by Thai folks but they stock a variety of S.E. Asian foods. They have mostly specialty foods you may be unable to locate otherwise. Very reasonably priced. They have many vegetables I am unfamiliar with but were fresh. I have been a number of times and gen rally found what I was looking for. I will continue to shop here.

Tiny but very clean and well stocked Asian grocery with Laotian, Chinese and Pilipino groceries, frozen foods and veggies in the back, shelf goods and herbal remedies in front. Among the best Asian groceries in Elgin.

I visited four or five area Asian grocers looking for specialty produce, and BV had it. Not only is their selection the best of the shops I visited, but it’s the cleanest. The produce is always fresh (they’d rather run out of stock than sell substandard produce), and the prices are reasonable.