Sahara Market is a Jewel of the East Bay

Dublin Boulevard — the city’s main thoroughfare — is replete with restaurants catering to American taste buds. There’s an , a , an , a and, lest we forget, a .

So what can people do to add some spice and adventure to their daily routine? They can head over to , a veritable oasis of Middle Eastern cuisine.

Sahara Market, established in 2008, stocks mostly Afghan food, along with products from other parts of the Middle East and Europe, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. Customers can buy fresh produce, packaged items, baked goods, meat and an array of prepared dishes.

“There was a great need for this type of store in the area,” said Moe Yousofi, co-owner of Sahara.

He and fellow owner Soliman Safi moved to the United States from Afghanistan more than 20 years ago. But Yousofi said finding food from his home country was challenging.

“It was difficult to find our food in Dublin,” he said. “Before we opened our store, customers had to drive to Fremont to buy what we now sell.”

Sahara fills the gap and Dublin’s burgeoning Afghan population clamors for goods in the store that taste like home. But Sahara is not just for the Afghan customer — people of many ethnicities shop there.

“Lately, we’ve seen really good business from all over,” sad Fayed Haschemi, store manager. “Customers are coming from places like Pleasanton and Piedmont. We have products that nobody else has."

The shelves at Sahara Market are packed with dry foods from the Middle East such as basmati rice, spices, jasmine tea, organic raisins, nuts, and 10 varieties of beans. The butchery carries fresh halal meat, including kabobs, organic chicken and, for the adventurous, goat meat, an Afghan staple. Those in search of freshly baked naan bread (Afghani flat bread) are in luck -- Sahara bakes its own seven days a week.

If you’re in search of an expertly prepared bolani (a vegetable-stuffed flatbread), chicken shawarma or lamb kabob, head over to the in-store restaurant. It just might convert you from that McDonald’s Big Mac.

“What we have is unique,” said Haschemi. “You won’t see this anywhere else.”