Just Hungry

Name of store: Chong’s Oriental Market
Address: 701 Locust St, Columbia, MO
Phone number: (573) 443-1977
Website if available
General comments about the size of store, selection, etc.
It is a smallish store but they have a great variety of items… some fresh veggies, lots of canned items, refrigerated section, frozen section. People are very friendly. They have some cooking utensils too. I was able to pick up a Benriner mandolin slicer cheaper than I’d seen it online!

Northern Ireland is poorly served in terms of Japanese or Asian grocery stores, with two noteable exceptions, although these are Belfast-based. Both of these service all Asian cuisines (Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc).

• Name of store
  Asian Supermarket

  • Address
    189 Ormeau Road Belfast, Northern Ireland

  • Phone number
    028 9032 6396

  • General comments about the size of store, selection, etc.
    A barn of a place, designed mainly for the restaurant trade, and pan-Asian in nature, but a reliable source of nanami togarishi, nori, etc. Best to go in with a list as it’s not a place for browsing, more of a warehouse, good prices, long established.

• Name of store
  Lee Foods

  • Address
    96 Donegall Pass Belfast, Northern Ireland

  • Phone number
    028 9023 4222

  • General comments about the size of store, selection, etc.
    This is a new supermarket, attractively laid out in a renovated building in what might be termed Belfast’s Chinatown. More suited to browsing, it is also pan-Asian, with a good range of noodles, Japanese seasoning, etc. It’s the only place I have managed to get konnyaku, and I will admit to clearing their shelves of shichimi togarashi.

Oto’s Marketplace
4990 Freeport Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95822
Phone: 916-424-2398
FAX: 916-424-5015
http://otosmarketplace.com

It’s well-known in the area for fresh fish, sushi, bentos, and a selection of Japanese candy. Small produce area, and some housewares. Parking lot is small and employees are friendly.

Mitsuwa Marketplace
665 Paularino Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 557-6699
www.mitsuwa.com
* Hours:
Mon-Sun 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
More like a mini shopping mall, with a food court, bookstore, gift store, and a modern well stocked grocery store with fresh fish, meat, produce and most everything.
my favorite so far

Marukai Market
2975 Harbor Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone:(714) 751-8433
www.marukai.com/
* Hours:
Mon-Sat 9:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Sun 9:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
I think there is an annual membership fee
I have never been inside this store.

Tomato Japanese Grocery
7124 Pechtre Indstrl Blvd
Norcross, GA 30071

2086 Cobb Parkway
Smyrna, GA 30080

Its a bit hard to find because its inside the sush yokoi restaurant! When you go into the restaurant it splits into two and on the left is Tomato. They are a small market but exclusively Japanese. I’ve found some unique items that are not at your local H Mart! They also have a membership program where you pay 10 dollars a year and get 5% off all your purchases. Brush up on your Japanese though as the staff all communicates in Japanese, but will help you in English of course.

99 Ranch Market
5150 Buford Highway, Doraville, GA 30340

Here are the addresses for the Hmarts
2550 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth, GA 30096
6335 Hwy 85, Riverdale, GA 30274
10820 Abbotts Bridge Road, Johns Creek, GA
One more is being built on Peachtree Industrial Blvd currently.

Hoa Binh Seafood Market
4897 Buford Highway, Chamblee, GA 3034

México City, México.

División del Norte #2515 esq. Londres
Col. del Carmen, Coyoacán, México.
(55) 5688 2981 / (55) 5688 4298 / (55) 5604 9642 / (55) 5605 4990

www.superoriental.com

It’s a medium sized store, but as far as I could tell, carries everything needed for Japanese, Chinese and probably Korean cooking except fresh vegetables. They do carry both brand names as well as smaller packages done by the company (So if one is hesitant to buy a 30 dlls. bag of bonito flakes, for example, there’s a smaller, 4 dlls bag too, or even smaller ones) They also sell cooking equipment and, although they didn’t had any last time I went, bento boxes. The attention is amazingly good and they also have cooking classes on the weekends.

Address-1412 79th Street Cswy
North Bay Village, Miami Beach FL 33141

Phone number-(305) 861-0143

Website if available- http://japanese-market.com

General comments about the size of store:
A large selection of Japanese materials from frozen foods to cooking materials. (off subject- They also sell shampoos, candy, books, and videos. All in Japanese.)They are very reasonably priced (25 Gyoza skins for $1.48) and are have a sushi counter which is happy to teach you how to make the sushi.

Korean Market

8590 Pelham Rd # 21
Greenville, SC 29615
(864) 284-9191

It’s a smallish store that has some fresh refrigerated ingredients. The rest is essentials, snacks, kitchen/tableware, and movies. They are very reasonably priced, but most of the labels are in Korean, so you may have to ask the cashier for help.

Japanese Food Store Tanpopo

8590 Pelham Rd # 7
Greenville, SC 29615
(864) 288-2755

It’s a very small store attached to a sushi bar. It has the essentials, plus some snacks, movies, and a small refrigerated section. They are also very reasonably priced. The shelves also have labels with English descriptions and price plus the Japanese characters, so you can pick something up and compare the label to ensure you’re buying the right thing.
Very cool.

I’d like to open a Japanese grocery in my city…about 150mi from Chicago. How? Anyone know a wholesaler that will set up / stock the store? Any advice would be appreciated…thanks! Papyrus…

Philadelphia is pretty well known for Chinatown. While there are no outright stores down there that scream “We sell bento supplies!”, by hunting around it’s possible to pick up a ongiri mold here, a lunch box there.
I found the green plastic leaves at the Assi Supermarket outside Philadelphia, on Welsh Road. The supermarket has a great variety of foods, fresh, frozen, and prepared and a third of the building has mini-stores, selling cosmetics and health supplies, clothing and other odds and ends. It also has a food court of Korean and sushi.
H Mart on Rte. 611 is more of a supermarket inside a mini-mall, though the small stores are more mall-like. It also has a food court, Korean and sushi.
Personally, I’d rather go to those two stores, because everything has an English alternative label and they are super clean…

Trust me, ‘Maruyu Mart’ is the best Japanese grocery in the whole of Sydney, AUS. Located:283-285 Clarence Street (basement level). Telephone: 02-9267-0888. Website: For map refer to,
http://www.patochan.com.au/2005/sydney/index_sydney.htm

Love hanging out here - best prices in Sydney, abundant variety, helpful staff, stamp-card system leading to discount - sincerely like stepping into a Tokyo grocery store! Upstairs is attached a Japanese $2 shop and travel agent - just as great. Closes a little after 7pm ‘cept on Sundays, 5pm.

* Fresh Asia
* 9b Cannon Park Centre, Lynchgate Rd, Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7EH
* 024 7669 0969
.
Fresh Asia focuses on Chinese, Korean and Japanese ingredients (I think there might be some Thai too, but when the script on the packet isn't Roman, I find it hard to tell!)

There is a small selection of fresh stuff - mooli/daikon, fresh tofu - but the main strength is rice (wow! how many kinds of rice?), staples/dry goods, and frozen food. The selection of Japanese food was pretty good, I thought - I did get over-enthusiastic and buy way too much! (I put pictures up on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24810486@N04/sets/72157612654239557/) I think they stock all the basics, and they do have stuff that I would regard as speciality: cooked eel (frozen) and natto.

This shop is much better for Japanese foods than the East West oriental grocery that used to be in the centre of town (but I still wish that hadn't closed down!).

I imagine the shop gets a lot of custom from Warwick University's overseas students, it being right next to the campus.

This comment has been moved here.

The Japanese grocery store, Kotobukiya near Boston, has closed as of 5/10/09.

Mori Mori Grocery is a store in kamloops BC on Landsdowne right next to (and owned by) Sanbiki Resturant. Their address is:

1250 5th Avenue
Kamloops, BC
V2C3P8
Canada

Phone Number: 250-377-3270

This store contains a wide variety of Japanese and some Korean foods. It has dry goods, frozen sea foods and other meats, rice, Ramune (I love ramune!), Miso, cooking sake, mirin etc.

Japanese grocery in Valencia, Spain

Name: Japon.es

Adress: Avenida Reino Valencia 52, bajo izquierda

Phone: +34 963733028

No web that I know

There're almost all the basics in the shop. It's not really big, but you can find rice, sauces, umeboshi (I couldn't find them anywhere else),nori, mirin....etc, etc. They also have rice cookers and yukata. It's a bit expensive, but almost the only genuine japanese grocery store near valencia that I know...And the woman there's very very friendly and can help you a lot if you ask her what you're looking for or what you want to cook! (She gently explained me a few years ago how to make onigiris without a rice cooker :) )

Hope it helps!

Name: Oriental Food & Arts
Address:
1020 Ave Ashford
Santurce San Juan PR
Tel.: 787-722-0788
Comments: It has an amazing selection of Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, you name it) food that's not available around here. Great for anyone who's remotely into trying out the cuisine styles and affordable prices.

The best place I found in Indy was:

Saraga International Grocery
3605 Commercial Drive
Indianapolis, IN

They are also opening a new location on the southside in a strip mall at Madison Avenue and Stop 11 Road.

Oriental Pantry
(203) 865-2849
486 Orange Street
New Haven, CT 06511

This long-time resident of New Haven is run by a nice Korean woman from Pusan. She makes futomaki, shumai, homemade kimchi, and bi bim bop fresh daily and will also make the Korean version of soba noodles seasonally. Plus there's tea and coffee. This shop carries almost everything you could need for Japanese cuisine, including all the spices, rice, sauces, oils, cooking implements, kampyo, fresh vegetables, Pocky, mochi, etc. She also stocks Thai, Korean, and Indian ingredients. Plus there is a very nice gift section and a place to eat.
Read reviews here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/oriental-pantry-grocery-and-gifts-new-haven

Oriental Supermarket
(919) 489-5116
3738 Chapel Hill Blvd Ste D
Durham, NC 27707
Open every day except Sunday

This Korean market can be tricky to find; it's off 15-501 Business on the service road near Kurama and Sitar restaurants, in a large parking lot. The sign is entirely in Korean but the lady who manages it speaks English. There's a great selection of frozen foods, huge bags of rice, fresh shiitake and eringe mushrooms, daifuku mochi, Oi Ocha, Japanese sauces, oils, and vinegars, nori, kabocha, noodles, plus some Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese goods. There are also cooking implements and gifts. My one complaint is that their soba noodles are really wimpy and tasteless. But they are extremely helpful and friendly and their prices are okay.

Awesome site and sister site (justBento).
There are a number of shops in Auckland, NZ for japanese staples.

One little trader that I have found for a number of great things is "Japanese: Lifestyle goods designed in Japan" located at 75 Dominion Road, Mt Eden, Auckland.
Ph 64 9 6388038
website www.japanlife.co.nz - however the website does not show that they also sell some basic foods (rice, sake, mirin, bonito flakes, dashi stock, etc).

I will add more shops as I remember to get the details.

East West Imports
203 West Myrtle Street
Fort Collins, CO 80521-2837
(970) 493-0808
http://www.eastwestimportsllc.com/

East West Imports, since 1969, has offered the best of East Asia to Northern Colorado including gifts of all kinds, kimonos, and cooking ingredients. Originally founded by Choko Oshima to offer a broader cultural experience of the East in the West, EWI continues to offer classes in cooking, calligraphy, tea ceremony, origami, and Japanese language. In the shop you will find everything from rare antiques to books to paper lanterns in all sizes, shapes, and colors and much, much more.

Nishi's Japan Store
Address：Schaffhauserstrasse 120, 8057 Zürich
Tel:044 363 1163
FAX：044 362 3892
E-mail：info [at] nishishop [dot] ch

Opening hours
Monday - Friday ： 9:00 - 18:30
Saturday ： 9:00 - 16:00

You can also order online food and wares.

Site:www.nishishop.ch

Japan Sage Market
1515 South Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
(801)484-4122
They have a modest selection of pantry items, frozen foods, fresh vegetables and dishes. They also have a collection of anime and manga.
At New Year's you can order a dinner for take out. They also offer bento boxes and some other freshly made meals.
The staff is really friendly I love going there for mochi!

Our grocery store is definitely not a Japanese or Asian market but aside from quality food and produce, we do offer fresh sushi and other Japanese and Asian products.

Detroit Grocery Store

With that said, the metro Detroit area does have plenty of extremely quality markets and stores dedicated solely to Japanese and/or Asian foods.

For example One World Market, which is located in Novi, Michigan (about 25 minutes outside of Detroit) has one of the best selections we've seen.

There's a very large Middle Eastern community in the Detroit and Metro Detroit Areas...specifically Dearborn, Michigan. Although the culture is very different from Japanese, you still can find some really cool and interesting things.

Hope that helps!

Ebisuya Japanese Market

65 Riverside Ave
Medford, MA 02155

(781) 391-0012

http://ebisuyamarket.com/

* Nice market Now that the Porter's Kotobuki is gone, this is probably one of the best Japanese focused Market in greater Boston. (* comment from Yelp)

J-Mart
309 Aragona Blvd, Suite 111
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
(757) 201-3520

The store is very small, they carry some frozen seafood, frozen thin sliced pork, as well as frozen thin sliced beef. The selection is not very large they carry an assortment of canned coffees, a decent selection of junk food, a nice selection of ramen and yakisoba noodles. As well as rices. The sauce selection is really what makes this place stand out. Other Asian markets in my area have a larger selection of Asian seasonings, spices and sauces, but none have as much Japanese as J-Mart. Worst thing is no selection of fresh vegetables. Friendly, courteous and helpful staff. They also have a nice selection of Japanese videos, I can't comment more as I am not fluent in nor can I read Japanese.

For veg goto
Asian Supermarket
200 N Great Neck Rd
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
(757) 498-1222

This store has everything from durian fruit to live eels, lobster, and crab with a decent selection of fresh fish. The vegetable selection there is what really sets this store apart. From jalapenos to fresh peanuts, they have it all. Bok choy, fresh dill and cilantro, bean sprouts, tofu, jellyfish, it's as close to Asia as you can get in my neck of the woods without going. Their prices are also very competitive with local name brand stores. In fact my wife and I (both Caucasian American) have chosen to support the store by doing all our weekly shopping there.

With that said, the metro Detroit area does have plenty of extremely quality markets and stores dedicated solely to Japanese and/or Asian foods.

linklicious

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Hi, this is my first time i have visited here. I found many interesting stuffs, thanks for sharing and keep up the good work. A couple of weeks ago I found two bento boxes hidden in the last aisle, but the basics for cute decorating aren’t sold there. There’s an entirely huge aisle of candy and sweets and Ramune of every flavor possible. cell phone spy

This blog is very educational.Thanks for the good work. radyo dinle

Interesting idea. If I find a store in Belgium, I'll be sure to come by and post it as I'm currently looking for Japanese shops :) -Geld lenen