Asian/Filipino Grocery Shopping

[thekfc]

For those who do not have cable or if the Filipino package is not offered in your area.
http://www.pinoy101tv.blogspot.com/
You have the 3 main Filipino channels - ABSCBN, GMA & TV5. Most of the programs/news are same day broadcast.

The below is to help those who have limited resources in their area, new to the NYC area/do not know where to shop.

When shopping, especially if you have to travel a long distance (or online), you should buy in bulk as most of the goods are canned, dried, packaged, etc,.
 
A few of the places mentioned below also sell fresh & live seafood.

Shopping:
NJ (Jersey City)
Phil- Am (good place to shop, large variety & they do online orders/shipping).
http://www.philamfood.com/

Philippine Bread House - http://www.philippinebreadhouse.com/
Christines's Bake Shop.Casa Victoria.Red Ribbon.
There are many more but these are the ones I have shopped in & their goods are freshly baked.

NYC
Woodside, Queens is the main NYC Filipino community & most of the bigger stores are concentrated on Roosevelt Ave.

Woodside
Krystal's Cafe & Pastry Shop.
Ihawan - http://www.ihawan2.com/
Many more but these are the main two that I shop at - they both have a restaurant as well as a bakery (freshly baked products).

Phil-Am Foods (the one in NJ is bigger & have better selections).
JollibeeJohnny Air Cargo (Their HQ is here in Woodside Queens, we have meet the owner; he is from Taguig same as my wife & she knows his family). There is also Johnny Air Cargo offices in Jersey City & in Manhattan (inside Johnny Air Mart on AVE A).

Chinatown
Mei Li Wah Bakery - They have very good excellent pork buns (steamed & baked). People come from afar & buy them by the boxes.
They are on Bayard St between Elizabeth St & Mott St.

Hong Kong Supermarket - It's a supermarket chain & is owned by former HK actress Veronica Yip & her husband (they live in NY).
They carry goods from China, Japan, South East Asia and have a decent selection of filipino good. I buy Mama Sita as well as Datu Puti & Mang Tomas goods there. You will also find stuff like Ampalaya, Opo, Taro and the likes there.
They are on Hester St between Elizabeth St & Bowery - 2 blocks up from Mei Li Wah Bakery shop.

Kam Man Food - they have store throughout the tri-state area. You can get all your utensils there.

Other NYC/NJ areas
H Mart/Han Ah Reum http://www.hmart.com/company_new/shop_main.asp
Korean owned that carried a large variety of Asian goods. They have a store in Manhattan (Little korea & a few in Flushing).

Asian Food Market
http://asianfoodmarkets.com/index.html

There are many many more - just ask around or explore.

[jm21-2]

Seattle/Tacoma area and surrounding:


H-mart is the best for fresh produce, Korean foods, and beef. They have one shop in Lynnwood and one in Federal Way. I emphasize that they have a really amazing fresh produce section because it is just awesome. Their dried and packaged goods are mostly geared towards Koreans, but a lot of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean cooking share similar ingredients.


Great Wall Mall (grocery store is Ranch 99): technically I think it is in Kent. Near the Sea-Tac airport. They have lots of Chinese and Taiwanese canned/frozen/packaged goods, as well as some Thai and Vietnamese. Smaller store but a ton of products crammed into it. There is a Chinese herb shop and traditional medicine shop there with an excellent selection, as well as a couple good restaurants.


Uwajimaya in downtown Seattle is the original and pretty good, with a large variety of products. Frozen products are geared towards Japanese cuisine.  Their seafood and fresh produce used to be the best, but H-mart has better produce and Great Wall Mall (Ranch 99 Market) has better seafood. If you live in Seattle it's great but if you are closer to Tacoma there are better options and you don't have to deal with traffic or ferries.


Seafood City is in the Southcenter Mall. Parking is a royal PITA some days. Very geared towards Filipino food with a great seafood selection. Not very much as far as other Asian cuisines go.


Lots of small shops and of course the international district (FKA China Town). China Town is a bit run down anymore but still some good shops. Seems like Bellevue is getting a lot of high-end international Chinese restaurants and I suspect more big Asian malls in the near future, but it's too far away for us to go there much.


Portland, OR:


Uwajimaya in Beaverton is good, very similar to the one in Seattle.


Fubonn in Southeast Portland was excellent when I lived there. More geared towards SE Asian cuisines but just a good store overall.


China town is OK but there wasn't a ton there when I lived there. Beaverton has a lot of Koreans and SE Portland has a lot of SE Asians. So lots of small Korean shops in Beaverton, lots of Vietnamese and Thai shops/restaurants in particular in SE Portland, though Chinese too.

[thekfc]

Most of the Taiwanese, Vietnamese & Thai grocery stores are in Chinatown.  They are not spread out but clustered togethered.
I usually do not go into them (except to eat) as I can find everything I need in the bigger supermarkets (HK supermarket, etc).
 
You can find just about anything you want in NYC chinatown - you just have to explore the area. Also familiarize yourself with the different names for product (s) as countries use different names for the same/similar product (s).
 
We know that Ray have everything where he is at and close by too - he could go out & shop in his pajamas. 
 
RA, how is the shopping in your area?

[jm21-2]

Found a couple more places in Seattle worth mentioning...


Hua Hua Market is small but has some great deals on a few items. There's a certain taro ice cream that's the only thing my wife has been able to find that tastes like Taiwanese taro, and after calling up the distributor she found Hua Hua had the best price. We always seem to end up with the same lady at the cash register hauling up 20 boxes of ice cream....felt a ltitle stupid at first but what the hell....also whole filet mignons there sometimes for $4.99 per pound which is crazy...


Every time in China town we stop at honey court which is a great dim sum restaurant and easy on the wallet.


There's a shop across the street from hua hua called someone's seafood market...vietnamese...I think Lam's seafood market? Great selection, good bread at the little bakery there, and very good prices on most things. Lots of live seafood.


We found a couple places that look OK in Tacoma and will be checking them out at some point...maybe this weekend....


Figured I'd keep this thread alive to share some info.

[thekfc]

I found (was directed by a Filipina nurse) to an Asian supermarket in Parkchester section of The Bronx. The place is called Chang Li Supermarket.

I went there today and got my wife Dahon Ng Sili (hot pepper leaves), Dahon Ng Malunggay (horseradish leaves), Dahon Ampalaya (Bitter melon leaves), frozen green jackfruit, Taro leaves, KangKong (water spinach), Chicken Longanisa, bit size franks with cheese and a few other things. The prices are decent, not as cheap as Chinatown but lower than some of the places that I go to in Woodside & NJ.