Hello, I’m doing some cooking over the Christmas period and would like to make the recipes as I would in my home country. But in my experience, Tokyo has a pretty bad herb selections, especially with fresh herbs. I just wanted to ask whether anyone knew of any good herb shops, specifically for tarragon if possible, and hopefully more in person in Meguro or the Shibuya area. (If there’s no fresh tarragon (as the season is bad tbf, dried is also good).
Thank you in advance.
Kinokuniya International is my go-to for herbs outside of basil/oregano/thyme/oregno/dill/parsley
Central Square Life and/or the adjacent Meidi-ya also typically have a couple of things outside the usual suspects; I even specifically bought fresh tarragon there just a few days ago, but I would say less reliable selection than Kinokuniya
I also swear there used to be a big Bio-ral store on Meguro-dōri, but I can’t seem to find it on google maps. Not sure if it got rebranded into this Life, or if I’m misremembering, but Bio-ral in general also often has some more uncommon fresh herbs
Thank you so much, they had it and that’s now my go to fresh herb shop.
Based on Google Street View history, that LIFE location was a gas station until 2016, then a parking lot until 2020 when the construction of the current building began. It must have been another location, but it does appear they are all gone.
It's possible that it got rebranded since Life owns Bio-Ral.
Yea, that was my thought as well. The Life in Ebisu I linked above also has a section which is Bio, but they don’t really sell much fresh stuff, ironically. But this place that I thought was along Meguro-dōri seemed to be like a flagship store size, and since there are still other bio-ral locations, I thought it was odd they’d rebrand a flagship size store 🤔
"TOKYO SPICE HOUSE" in Nakano has all kinds of spices. They have taragon as well. https://spicehouse.official.ec/items/27854863
TOKYO SPICE HOUSE NAKANO STORE
Address: 5-45-2 Chuo Nakano-ku Tokyo
Business Hours: 12PM-6PM (Closed Saturdays & Sundays)
Station: JR Nakano Station (South Exit) - 8min walk
HP: https://spicehouse.official.ec/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tokyospicehouse1/
Pop-up Store at Aoyama Farmers Market: https://farmersmarkets.jp/
Date: 12/6, 12/7, 12/13, 12/14, 12/20, 12/21, 12/27
Have you looked on ポケットマルシェ?https://poke-m.com/
Rakuten is a good source for rare food ingredients as well
https://item.rakuten.co.jp/yorunoyaoyasan/s120-1210-09-000/?ultra_crid=s120-1210-09-000&scid=af_sp_etc&sc2id=af_113_0_10001868&gbraid=0AAAAADoVjpgc-wdYTLsDUnAQBHCT1K_bw&ifd=57&icm_agid=&iasid=wem_icbs_&icm_acid=255-776-8501&icm_cid=23227633601&gclid=CjwKCAiA3fnJBhAgEiwAyqmY5bWcot32ooXTz2dO5zSnG0_sESMZspKUUnx1qY6F9dnS6tMPKW38MRoCNLoQAvD_BwE
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3QLzEQRvwv82YAn59
Nissin has tarragon in a small blister. They also have parsley, mint and basil in bigger boxes for less than the price of 2 blisters.
Amazon (the meat guy) is your best friend but i promise you a lot of herb and spice shops are out there just find the pockets where there’s a lot of foreigners (Chinese, Vietnamese and Sri Lankans) there’s usually a import store nearby I’m sorry I gotta gatekeep and be vague but enjoy the quest my friend
Why do you need to gatekeep an import store? It's not like it's got limited seating or something.
The products run out very fast as it is but I already said the meat guy is a good option too