One of the Asian groceries that carry a broad collection of products from most Asian brands. A reliable place to find mostly what I need.

The other day we were driving home and making our way through the South End when we came upon yet another Asian grocery store. It was closed at the time, so we went back yesterday. All I can say is...WOW! Huge! Impressive! First off...it's on two floors. The first, where you enter is filled with huge bags of rice, over sized ceramic planters and a bazillion bamboo steamers in every size imaginable. Upstairs, well let's just say you could get lots for hours. It took me a half an hour to just check out all the beautiful blue & white traditional Chinese plates and serving dishes, the woks and other Asian cooking paraphernalia. I expected rows and rows ...and then more rows and rows of Chinese, Korean (and to my joy, Japanese) bottles and bags of sauces, spices, noodles, candies...the usual, but in much larger and more varied quantities than the other Asian markets I've visited in Halifax. What I didn't expect was fresh - you heard me - fresh bok choy, plump lemongrass, napa cabbage, kai lan and persimmons, among other fresh Asian vegetables. There were fridges and freezers filled with sticky buns, other Dim Sum dumplings, Chinese pepperoni (I love it) other Asian cured pork. The staff was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. So all those interesting and intriguing packages - like dried lily leaves, were explained, and how and when to use them. I didn't realize, until I was two blocks from home in the North End that this is the retail arm of of Ca Hoa Enterprises, importers and distributors of Asian fare. I pass their trucks every day and never gave it a thought. Things are different now though! read more

Ca Hoa Grocery - the outside of the building - Grocery Near Me - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Don't be fooled by its appearance, Ca Hoa Grocery has an amazing selection of Asian imported ingredients and food. It's intimidating, though! It's hard to know where to look first. The store is run by a very friendly older couple who are always hanging around the cash register. There are usually some other people (possibly also in the family?) stocking items and such as well, so it's not hard to find someone to talk to if you have questions. My biggest complaint about Ca Hoa is that it's in desperate need of a renovation. It looks old and and run down. It doesn't give me the best confidence about the food I'm buying (though I've never had an issue - just makes me a bit nervous). My husband loves to buy kimchi from here, though I usually bee-line right for the candy. What can I say...my sweet tooth always wins out! read more

Whenever I have the need for a bottle of fish sauce, a package of szechuan peppercorns, tapioca pearls, tea, or a special soy sauce... I stop in here. While it is true that you must pay close attention to the labels before buying (like many stores), Ca Hoa Grocery carries many products that you can't easily get elsewhere in mainland Halifax. It is also the largest such store that I can think of in the area, with two floors and 4 rooms. Each area is separated into a specific section carrying everything from bags of rice to ceramic bowls to frozen chickens. Products often rotate around so that my eye always catches a new bottle of *something* that I just HAVE to have in my kitchen (maybe that's how I ended up with three varieties of fish sauce, soy sauce, and rice vinegar each...) Tricky, tricky, tricky. read more

For Halifax standard, I guess I would say its fairly reasonably stocked up Asian grocery. It has all kind of stuff including fresh produce (e.g. frozen fish, fish balls, tau foo, etc) and vegetables (bok choy, kailan, etc). For the Asian community in Halifax who are looking to buy any items for their own Asian menu, all I can say is this - since the owners are of South East Asian heritage (Vietnamese Chinese for that matter), thus they do stock up food that are from those region, that being from countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines (even find some Indian based ingredients but I would prefer an Indian grocery for that). A word of advice though, be careful when you ask for advice on what fresh vege to buy. Or watch out for expired goods. Buying in bulk (e.g. the packet noodles) is always a good idea. You can get a discount on that. read more

Best and longest running Asian grocery in town! This is pretty much a staple to the community now.

I have been going to this store on an off for about 15 years maybe longer. The staff are very nice. One of the older ladies was vey surprised when I had bought my ingredients to make some kimchi there, along with rice flour and salted duck eggs. She was like do you eat this, I was like all the time, we then got into a conversation on how I make things, and other stuff I eat, to my surprise she was able to get me chickens feet. I had not been able to get these anywhere. Then she asked me if I had a girlfriend, and when I told her yes but she really does not like this kinda food she offered to set me up lol. The only advice I have is if you can not find it ask, the store is packed, and as one person had said do check the dates on items as you will find expired things, but with a store with this much in it I am not surprised that it would happen read more

If you've never been to an Asian grocery store, this would be a good baptism by fire kind of experience, for sure. I lived in Korea Town and China Town in Toronto so I'm used to these places. It has tons of stuff but it's organized terribly and you just walk around and hope for the best. They also have a lot of decent stuff for vegetarians, like the infamous, "dehydrated chicken product", as well as weird tofu and some pretty cool sauces that have no ingredients in English. I took an ex-girlfriend here once after she had smoked a bit of weed and she had nightmares about the place for weeks but she was lame and naturally I dumped her. Oh yeah, they have a nice, ultra unorganized selection of super cool/weird cooking stuff. read more

If you like cooking, this place is a must see just for the cookware. Also great for students looking to buy items like bowls and plates for a good price but nice quality. Lots of little goodies to be found. Great selection of prepared and unprepared foods. Imported snacks and beverages. Try something new here every visit. read more

This place is packed to the brim with cool food and REAL woks. The fridges look like they've been through a couple natural disasters and it doesn't appear to be a clean place. The staff don't say much but at least they are nice when you give them money. I rated this 3 stars because its not clean BUT there's so much cool food. read more

Anyone else love buying food in huge bags? Not always reasonable, but always economical! As well as amusing, for some reason. This place feels like a candy store to me, with so many fun things to poke through. Ruth D. does a great job explaining what they've got inside. I, too, was surprised by the fresh food selection; it's not what I've come to expect from Halifax's few Asian markets. Finding lemongrass can sometimes be difficult, so this place is great to know about. Also a great place to come for sushi mats, bean curd products, bamboo steamers and other Asian food odds and ends that you are searching for! read more

I really like this place. You just can't beat their selection of pan-asian goodies. A word of warning, though: Check the expiration dates on everything you buy. There's a lot of stuff on the shelves whose best-before dates are in the past. read more

I usually visit this Asian store biweekly. Ca-Hoa is owned by Vietnamese-Chinese family, they are nice and very accommodating. I would buy a lot here and spend $70-100. This is my go to place if I want to fill my pantry with Asian food. I can say that they are not as cheap as Atlantic Superstore but this is the only place I can have my food like it is back home. I have two complains for this store, first it is not clean and properly maintained. Second is the owners are opening late, they open past 10:30 AM. I waited for them to open the store past 11AM. read more

Why are they still in business? The place is disgusting. HIRE someone to clean up. I rather drive the extra few miles to Tian Phat in Bedford to get my Asian groceries read more

Been years since I stopped in. It is like the place is frozen in time still looks and smells the same as it did in 1998. I really should shop here more often. It is the kind of place I end up when a recipe calls for a what never heard of that kind of item. Yesterday it was lime leaves. Sure enough they had it frozen or dried and for only 2.50 for a huge bag. Prices have not gone up that much either in the last 15 years. read more

As a student and ethnically Chinese, I am so grateful for Ruth D.'s thorough review. Thanks. Ca Hoa does have to best price and wide selection compared to the other Asian stores I visited. Moreover I have seen chefs, Asian and non-Asian customers placing/receiving special order for fresh pastries and specialty dumplings. The owner is very willing to help. As for the expiration date comment from Henry S.... while there are a couple of expired best-before dates products, due to the large selection, the majority of the products with date on them are actually the production date, sometimes the dates are written in Chinese. read more

I've been here a number of times to buy some Asian ingredients for cooking and I'm always impressed with the variety of items available. There's a good selection of fresh vegs, frozen food, and packaged items. However, the store is very disorganized- you'll find cardboard boxes in aisles and on shelves that may or may not belong in the area you're in. The products on shelves seem to be placed in general "themes" but there sometimes isn't any real rhyme or reason to why something is placed where it is. Fortunately, once you've been there a few times, you get a general idea of where things can be found. The store itself is a little rough, meaning that a good general cleaning is definitely needed. Also, a word of warning: check the expiration dates on everything you buy. There's a tendency to see items past their best before date still on the shelves (which is a little concerning). The fresh vegs, however, are always in good shape. It's a decent grocery store once you get a hang of the layout and you keep an eye out for the expired goods. read more

a very good Chinese shop for in Halifax！No only the traditional Chinese food，but also the Japanese and Korean style food in the shop.I like it. read more