Missoula’s New Market Brings Middle Eastern Flavors

Missoula’s choices for international market shopping have made some changes.

In case you missed it the Samar International Food Market, in the Paxson Plaza has closed their doors for good. They focused mainly on Asian food. They also offered desserts that they imported from a bakery in Seattle. According to their Facebook page, they are still accepting some orders online.

Samar Market Closes Its Doors

We would shop there occasionally for some items we couldn’t find at our local grocery store. We were disappointed to see it closed down.

Over the last year, a new international market has opened. The Dama Rose International Market has opened their location at 715 Kensington Suite 11.

Dama Rose specializes in Middle Eastern groceries and supplies. They are the only shop in Missoula to focus on these groceries.

What You’ll Find at Dama Rose

If you wanted to try some of the viral Dubai chocolate, that has pistachio paste, this store has the real deal. We tried one of the smaller bars, it was expensive, but it was very good.

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If you are looking for Arabic, or Indian food. Missoula has a few choices. For some very good Indian food you should check out Jay's Stop in East Missoula or Masala on Main Street. For Arabic food, Ragheef Arabic Flatbread & More, and Kamoon Arabian Cuisine are some good choices at 1016 West Broadway.

A few years ago, I bought my wife an Indian cookbook. There are always some spices or ingredients that you can’t find at local grocery stores in Missoula. We ended up having to substitute a lot of the ingredients. Dama Rose has a lot to choose from.

I spoke with Refaat, a worker at the store, and he was very helpful in explaining what they offer. He also was nice enough to give us each a treat of Turkish Delight when we checked out for free.

Chris Wolfe

They have a variety of rice, tea, frozen meat, like lamb, for traditional recipes. They have the most popular sodas and drinks from the Middle East. They offer snacks and sweet treats from the region. They also have a few Japanese treats and snacks.

Why Dama Rose Stands Out

Dama Rose has traditional recipes pinned to one of their walls. They encourage people to take a photo of the recipes and then they can help you find the ingredients to make it yourself.

We took pictures of a few of the recipes that we will be trying to make soon.