Formally known as Han Au Reum, H-Mart, is my go-to market for Asian food stuff. Technically H-Mart is Korean-owned, market, variety store and with stores sprinkled throughout the country (US). The store in my neck of the woods is off Cheltenham Avenue, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.
As far as Asian markets go, H-Mart is by far one of the cleanest in terms of overall presentation. The store I use is not real large by American standards, but it is big enough for my needs.
Their fresh produce section, saves me a visit to Chinatown in the city to get certain kinds of vegetables like, Taiwanese Bok Choy or Watercress. I also get my Shiitake mushrooms here, but the big bonus is the prices at H-mart are very the best for asian food stuff like sauces.
If you like to choose from a huge variety of sesame oils, soy, BBQ, Hoisin, Oyster, Tonkatsu, teriyaki, Kalbi, or other sauces, the aisle here are well stocked. They also carry a nice selection of asian style snacks (no crack seed), like shrimp chips, Iso peanuts and mochi. There's a nice selection of fresh noodles for your lo mein, udon or clear rice noodles, along with wonton wrappers.
Needless to say, the there's a long refrigerator full of fresh made kim chee and other Korean pickled specialties. There's always a good supply of marinated short ribs, beef rib eye, spicy pork and spicy chicken on hand, and if you show up later in the day, these items will often be marked down for quick sale.
There's a fairly good fresh seafood section, although not huge, the mongers are happy to clean or filet your red snapper selection. They maintain a nice clean selection of daily catches, including crabs and other shell fish, scallops, oysters and so on. I like their shrimp selection and go there for the 16-20 tiger shrimp, usually around $6 a pound, unpeeled. They also have a sushi department that prepares fresh daily trays of quality sushi and sashimi selections. Or, if you prefer, you can buy cuts of sushi grade fish to slice and prepare yourself.
Of course no Asian market would be worth it's salt if it didn't have a large selection of dry noodles soups and rice. At H-Mart, you can pretty much whatever type of Asian noodle you like from buck wheat sobas and udons to egg noodles, rice noodles and vermicelli.
It's always interesting to browse the frozen food section and see all the variety of foods available including Kamaboko, crab legs, shrimp, abalone or prepared foods like shumai, dumblings even selection of bao's.
You can also get a rice cooker or table top barbeque grill for your Kalbi or Bulgogi. I got a nice set of stainless steel chop sticks along with other great kitchen gadgets. A selection of pots, stoneware, tea sets and tableware rounds out the small home and kitchen section.
Sure there are other Asian markets around, and there's always Chinatown, but with H-Mart, you can pretty much cover the bases in one convenient stop.
H-Mart
7820 Old York Road
Elkins Park, PA 19027
215.782.1801
www.hmart.com
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