South China Seas Trading Company

Cute, clean shop with awesome service and a great selection of exotic ingredients from all over the world.
Came here in hopes of finding a few hard-​to-​source chiles for an enchilada sauce; left with two bags full of amazing imports. Mexican cheeses, fresh and dried chiles, corn tortillas, hot sauce, tomatillos — this place is paradise.
Even better, the woman behind the till (owner perhaps?) was super knowledgeable and loaded us up with some extra freebies of produce she couldn’t sell. We will be back!

Wonderful store. Coconut milk without additives, strange, exotic ingredients that are hard to find. They can be a little expensive.

I am a big fan of South China Seas at Granville Island and I actually went all the way to this location from the west side to see what they had to offer. I found this shop in an unlikely place in the middle of a housing neighbourhood near Commercial Drive. The shop is quite small to my surprise but that’s probably because I didn’t see the kitchen.
It’s well stocked with uncommon spices and herbs such as fresh galangal and fresh green peppercorns and other rare ingredients. They also sell paella kits, mortar and pestle, cookbooks and more. However, I find the selections very similar to the Granville location and there’s really no incentive for me to travel all the way to Victoria Drive. But if you live in the east side, this is great place for people to get a hold of ingredients they’ve never tried before without having to squeeze their car into the already crowded Granville Island. Pop some galangal into soups or use coconut water in your stew. Life is indeed too short for boring food.

The second location of the very successful Gran Island location is much smaller but still packs a great selection of shelf items BUT a smaller selection of refrigerated items, The great news is the fact its on the East side of town is so nice easy to visit. I recently stop here in need of some special hard to find Thai curry paste and all the fixens. It also offers a large selection of Mexican condiments etc. and a huge wall of Asian cook books. Just a couple blocks of the corner of 1^st & commercial dr.

Awesome location and very cool woman manning the shop. She was a wealth of information. I would give this place 5 stars if they follow through with the cooking classes… something we desperately need! Foodies and community go well together, especially with a top notch spice/​herb resource such as this place.

I already reviewed the original South China Seas Trading Co at Granville Island. (
) This second location means I can get my spice fix a few steps from Commercial Drive, right across from Victoria Park.
The second location is just like the first, but more spacious — and if I’m not wrong with a wider selection of refrigerated goods, dry goods and cookbooks. There’s definitely more room to browse, especially for cookbooks, which have their own display (I noticed the Alinea cookbook was prominently displayed!) It is a little quieter on Victoria Drive and there is more parking nearby, which should please people who don’t like the hustle and bustle of the Granville Island Public Market, or who just want to pick up a few things for dinner closer to home.

Like their store on Granville Island, this place has lots of stuff for foodies. As well as more unusual Thai, Indian, Japanese and Chinese ingredients, they also stock a nice small collection of Latin American foods, including fresh queso, masa, and hot sauces, as well as fresh chili peppers.