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On the surface, ever-growing Redmond may seem to lack culinary character.
Its sparkling-new downtown and central park are surrounded by offshoots of Seattle restaurants (Molly Moon’s, Tavolàta, Rubinstein Bagels) and national chains, and there’s no shortage of big-box grocery stores in the Eastside suburb. Look closely, though, and you’ll find families running independent international markets that taste like home for residents of Redmond, where 42% of people were born outside the United States.
At The British Pantry Ltd., the Redman family stocks beloved Branston pickles and fills a pastry case with fan-favorite sausage rolls. Just a few blocks away sits La Quemada Tienda Mexicana, where Lourdes Santiago Ponce and her son, Alvy Santiago, sell a huge selection of dried chilies and host a community bulletin board. Down the road, Shalimar Grocery owner Anu Gandhi packs her store with parathas, rotis, rice and more.
These independent international grocery stores offer more than sustenance to the city of 76,000 — they are cultural hubs where countless Redmond residents find familiar flavors. Read on to learn more about these family businesses.
Shalimar Grocery
16425 N.E. 80th St., Redmond; 425-881-7487; shalimargroceries.com; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily
When Anu Gandhi first moved to Redmond 25 years ago, she would have to wait until her annual trip home to India to bring her favorite lentils and cookies back to Washington in her suitcase. “There weren’t very many Indian stores,” said Gandhi, owner of Shalimary Grocery.
Today, about 1 in 10 Redmond residents is from India, and the city has four Indian grocery stores — but Shalimar, open in its current location since December 2019, is the only independently owned market.
“Being an independent store, it was hard to survive, but God’s been kind,” Gandhi said.
Shalimar opened in 2011 in a nearby strip mall that has since been demolished. Gandhi said it “came as such a shock” when the property owner said they couldn’t renew the lease. “In Redmond, places are scarce to come by.”
Shalimar settled on Northeast 80th Street, within walking distance from the bustling Downtown Park.
For the past three summers, Gandhi and her staff have set up a big tandoori grill on Saturdays, selling tandoori chicken, samosas and freshly pressed sugar cane juice called ganne ka, a refreshing elixir mixed with ginger and mint. The grill has been put away for the cooler months, but the juicer has been relocated inside, so you can still get ganne ka, pressed to order.
The shop itself is bright and clean. Everything — from the fresh vegetables in the front to the aisles of rice, chutneys and pickles — is neatly organized and displayed with care.
“To me, this is more than a job, it’s more than even a means of earning your living,” Gandhi said with a smile. “I’m almost passionate about it.”
Gandhi earned her MBA in India and worked in finance before taking time off work to raise her two kids. Now both of those kids are grown with careers of their own, and instead of waking in the night to take care of a child, Gandhi said she wakes thinking of things the store needs.
Over the years, she’s been able to source more products from India — not just a generic pickle or two, but specific products from different regions. In addition to imports, Shalimar has a butcher on-site offering fresh cuts of chicken, beef and goat, plus specialty marinades and a large freezer section with prepared meals, desserts and rotis.
Gandhi says people come to Shalimar for the selection of their favorite Indian brands, as well as her attention for detail and efforts to make the store feel like “a home away from home.”
“When I look back, this was not in my wildest dreams that I’d end up running a grocery store,” Gandhi said, “but you run with what life throws at you and I’m really happy.”
— Jackie Varriano
The British Pantry Ltd.
8125 161st Ave. N.E., Redmond; 425-883-7511; thebritishpantryltd.com
Grocery store and restaurant: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday-Sunday
Three Lions Pub: 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Sunday-Thursday; 11:30 a.m.- midnight, Friday-Saturday
The hanging storefront sign at The British Pantry woefully undersells what this hub offers to Redmond expats and homesick Microsoft workers from Europe.
This haunt is the epicenter of British culture on the Eastside, a place where Manchester United fans gather for big matches and where there have been flower memorials for Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II and a celebration of King Charles III’s coronation.
You might even hear someone belting “God Save the King” now and then.
Founded in 1978 by Mavis Redman, this British emporium started with just 900 square feet. When the next-door tenant moved out, the family took over the space, “punched through the walls and put in a walkway,” said Mavis’ daughter, Alvia Redman, who runs the daily operation with her brother Neville.
Over four-plus decades in Redmond Mall, The British Pantry has expanded to house four concepts under one roof: a bar (Three Lions Pub), a restaurant (Neville’s), a teahouse and a market.
The restaurant serves bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie and fish and chips (get the basket of fresh fried potato chips, listed on the menu as “crisps,” for $6).
Around 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. daily, old-timers hang in the 48-seat tearoom for afternoon tea service with finger sandwiches and crumpets.
If you hear cheering, check the other end of the shop, where fans in the pub hoist Samuel Smith ales while glued to Premier League matches.
But The British Pantry’s centerpiece remains the market, where shelves get stocked with 100 different teas, from standby PG Tips to fancy Yorkshire Gold, along with staples and popular imports like Branston pickles, Cadbury chocolate bars and countless marmalades. Most popular is the display case, where Graham Redman, a fifth-generation baker, cranks out 35 different savory and sweet baked goods, from beef-and-kidney pies to currant Eccles cakes.
Regulars will order five to 20 of the shop’s signature sausage rolls.
“We get a lot of expats who miss home,” said Alvia Redman. If they can’t cross the Atlantic for the holidays, they pop in here for British nostalgia,” she said.
— Tan Vinh
La Quemada Tienda Mexicana
16260 Redmond Way, Redmond; 425-883-2212; facebook.com/TiendaLaQuemada/; 9:30 a.m.-10 p.m. daily
Better get to Redmond’s La Quemada Tienda Mexicana on the earlier side on Saturday or Sunday if you’re hoping for the housemade carnitas, barbacoa or tamales — it’s all sold to-go on weekends only, and they often sell out, with lines of fans sometimes crowding into the small market waiting for their share. The smoky, flavorful beef barbacoa comes in impressively big, meaty hunks and shreds, ideal for making tacos or burritos at home; for those, there’s everything else required at La Quemada, including salsas made on premises, such as a pico de gallo with nopales added. Tamales are made with particularly fresh-tasting, crumbly, rich golden masa, with the cheese and pepper version nicely spicy. So far, the in-demand carnitas remain a tantalizing question mark for me, already all gone every time I’ve tried.
The name La Quemada honors the hometown of owner Lourdes “Xóchitl” Santiago Ponce in Jalisco, Mexico, where her family is a founding one, dating back generations. She came to the Pacific Northwest with her two young sons, originally opening her market in Everett in 1998, moving it to Redmond in 2004. “She was a single mother, and she just had all the odds against her,” said son and La Quemada manager Alvaro “Alvy” Santiago. “She didn’t know any English … in our eyes, that’s why she’s done the impossible,” he continued with pride.
Along the way, Ponce met and married Ramon García Perez, who became part of the family and La Quemada, running the butcher counter and perfecting the house recipes with spicing that combines the style of his heritage in Michoacán with that of hers in Jalisco. He died in 2015; “we’ve been healing since,” Santiago said. Nowadays, Juan Guillén, long a family friend, is in charge of La Quemada’s carniceria, where along with the variety of meats and chorizo, popular housemade esquites and chicharrones are found.
Pan dulce, a specialty in the town of La Quemada, is scarce around Redmond, but Ponce located a baker who met her high standards and it’s become yet another thing that the Redmond market is known for. The brightly lit spot is packed full of other favorites — many varieties of dried chilies, lots of bottled hot sauce, all kinds of dried beans, Mexican candy — along with all the sundries of a corner store. For jobs, services and more, there’s a bulletin board, and there’s Western Union for money transfer; the shop provides important community connection on the Eastside and far beyond. Downtown Redmond has grown grander around La Quemada, but the shop stands, small but strong, always family-run.
— Bethany Jean Clement
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