LEWISTON – People with a hankering for quail eggs or anchovy fish snacks once had to go to Portland to satisfy their cravings for these Asian delicacies.

But since Nov. 1, they only need to head to the Sunrise Asian Market on Main Street, Lewiston-Auburn’s sole Asian food retailer.

“We opened the market to service the Asian restaurants in the area, but we do retail also,” said Lori Nakhen, who started the business with her husband, Uthai, a Thai native.

The small store, nestled in a former laundromat, offers an array of ingredients for Asian cooking such as spring roll wraps, tempura flour, pad Thai noodles, tamarind juice. The 6-pound cans of bamboo shoots and 25-pound sacks of jasmine rice attest to their restaurant supply side.

But the market offers something else. Uthai, who worked for upscale hotels in Thailand where he learned to cook, is happy to share his passion for Asian cooking with customers. Next to the cash register is a recipe box, with clearly written instructions for classic dishes such as Pad Thai, Red Curry, Tom Yum soup and Drunken Noodles. The couple will make copies, then help customers select the proper ingredients and walk them through the cooking process to make their own dishes at home.

“It’s Uthai’s way of giving back to the community,” Lori said.

A Lewiston native, she learned to speak some Thai and Laotian as a teenager in the 1970s when she made friends with recent immigrants. Today one of them, Nutan Lord, is like a second mother to her.

“I tried to fix her up with my three sons, but she said no,” said Lord, who was shopping at the store Wednesday. “Then I tried with my nephew. She still said no. She went and found her own man.”

Uthai and Lori met through mutual friends and married in October. Less than a month later, they launched the market, which is open seven days a week.

“Yes, this will test a marriage,” said Lori, with a wry smile. “We did all the work ourselves.”

But they are both excited by the prospect of growing the business. For now, it only supplies Asian food ingredients, but one day they might offer cooking classes, or even open their own restaurant. Uthai is skilled in preparing Thai fare, as well as sushi and Indian dishes (he spent two years working there).

“We will see how this goes first,” Lori said.

The food is delivered from a Connecticut distributor, which imports directly from Thailand. In addition to the dry goods, the market also offers some frozen fare such as processed fish balls. The couple hopes to offer fresh produce and herbs soon, and will special order anything if a customer has a specific request.

That is, if they can’t be satisfied with the green curry dried sardines or kalama (rice) candy already in stock.

“The candy has the texture of Twizzlers,” said Lori as she looked at the emerald green nuggets. “Well, they might take a little getting used to …”