Unusual Korean grocery store with "premium" products. . .I saw them unpack boxes that were packed…read morein ice, some stuff here I'd never seen before in other Korean stores, things suitable for gift giving. A woman possibly the owner was very friendly though she mostly spoke Korean. They had some Korean cosmetics and I got some for half off. The store is tiny but the items are well displayed.

Growing up in the early 80s, there were only a few small Korean grocery stores around here. Over…read moretime, I see big markets like Hankook Market, Kyo Po Market, Mega Mart, and H Mart and it's been amazing to see the change. But, I really miss those old mom/pop grocery stores there was such warmth and heart in those places. Wooltari, though a smaller grocery store, is on a different level. They carry high quality food, most of which comes directly from S.Korea either frozen or dried to preserve its freshness. Seafood, variety of rice cakes, ready to eat meals, excellent sesame oil, handmade dumplings, seasoning marinades, crab, and many organic items. I tried their frozen persimmon shake a bit pricey, but I loved it. I think the guy working there is the owner, and he's incredibly pleasant. If you have any questions about Korean food, he'll kindly answer them all. I highly recommend it definitely check it out.

Mega is clearly far and away the best Asian market in the Bay area... having said that, I do have…read moresome complaints but will give it the 5 stars it deserves. Let's start with the good, or I should say best. The sashimi here is the best of any Asian market bar none. You could even say better than some Sushi restaurants (I won't name them). Even some of the newer Asian markets like T&T have disgusting sashimi... to the point you can taste the ice bc they hadn't fully defrosted it. The only nit I have is bruh... stop putting the frickin plastic sauce packets right on top of the fish. Why? Why would you do that? Stop it. Come on. Why in the actual F would you do that? Ok, I know this sounds more like complaints but I do really like Mega Mart to be clear. 2 other issues: #1. Dude... what're you guys doing with the panchan? When did you start adding so much sugar and sugaring the F out of the panchan. This is not how it should be. Old Korean grandmas are literally turning in their graves with this sacrilege. Maybe panchan sales are falling, but you can be damn sure I will never buy this again with the amount of sugar you guys add. Like why? Why 50% sugar... seriously, this panchan candy bar nonsense makes no sense! #2. What happened to organic natto? Like bruh. You only had 1 brand left that was organic. Sure I could go to Nijiya and have a choice of 2, but I'm disappointed you guys stopped carrying the only organic natto you had.

The store is clean and well organized and the checkout woman is so friendly! She greets everyone…read moreand is super kind. I dropped by for my usual mushroom run and decided to peruse the aisles. I was excited to see that they now have a "Vegan Vegetable Mandu" offering in the hot food section. I had to grab both options to test them out : Unlimeat Kimchi Mandoo and Unlimeat Vegetable Mandoo. Each package has 8 pieces and a packet of shoyu. After trying both, the kimchi version won me over a bit more. The other option is lighter in flavor, and I'm a fan of bold and spicy food. Adding the shoyu helps, but I could easily eat all the kimchi ones alone. I'm not sure I'd get them often, but I like having an option in the grab and go section for when I'm short on time and hungry. They also added some Pulmone vegan-friendly microwave dumplings to the frozen section, so I got those too. I noticed some plant-based bulgogi kimbap in the frozen section, but I decided to skip them because I'm iffy about the textures of frozen kimbap. I love when grocery stores have vegan-friendly options! I hope this means they'll start adding more vegan-friendly options in the grab and go hot food section. A tofu and veggie rice bowl would be nice!

Tokyo Central had a surprisingly wide selection of Japanese snacks, specialty items, and premade…read moremeals. The produce section was not as extensive as those at other Asian markets, but it was still adequate. However, the store carried many unique candies and snacks that I have not seen elsewhere. Notably, sakura flavored products were especially common during my visit. There were two large sections dedicated to premade meals, including rice bowls, hand rolls, onigiri, and sushi. The rolls seemed overly heavy on the rice, with relatively little fish filling. The prices also felt somewhat high for the portion sizes. However, the store offers a 20 percent discount on sushi and bento boxes daily after 6 PM. I ordered the nigiri combination, which included salmon, tuna, and scallop. The scallop was plump, and the tuna was sliced thickly. The salmon was slightly thin but still rich and fatty. Overall, the fish quality was good. The sushi rice was above average, with a distinct vinegar flavor despite being refrigerated. The total cost for the eight pieces was close to restaurant pricing, though the convenience factor partly justified it. I would rate this market a 3.5 out of 5 but rounded up for the good sushi rice. I would recommend shopping elsewhere for produce, but this is a good place for snacks and premade meals, especially after 6 PM.

Tokyo Central as replaced the former Marukai Market in Cupertino. I didn't realize it initially but…read morethe iconic Don Quixote chain in Japan is the parent company, which explains why their private label Jonetz products are featured in the store. The store is clean and popular, with all sorts of Japanese items. There's Andersen bakery items, food to-go, big variety of Japanese soft drinks, and a rotation of weekly features with goods from different parts of Japan. Great location with very good adjacent stores like Izumi Matcha, Daiso, Curry Hyuga, Hui Lau Shan dessert, etc.

Staff is kind and helpful, parking can be busy/rough during peak hours but there's a lot of nearby…read moreparking. Lots of cute blind box stuff, apparel and other cute trinkets. They have Ichiban Kuji lottery system at the front! which is dope asf, I'm not sure if their other locations have it. But I would love to see more from various shows/fandoms if possible! not just shonen shows! Would highly recommend stopping by to gamble/get gifts for people. I haven't tried the food from this location yet but it looked yummy!

So glad Fugetsu opened their second location! They have a ton of options for grab and go Japanese…read moretake out and in this economy, the prices here are fair for the portions they give. There's a lot of snacks, merch, and lots of goods to explore. You name it and it's there.. sushi, bento, onigiri, drinks, or snacks. I'm interested if they'll be adding more things because it's a big space. I do wish there was some sit down benches around this area, but no matter. It's a good way to get a few takeout meals for the week! The team is the same as the Fugetsu marketplace near Mitsuwa. Good quality food here. It's brand new and has a fresh look! Tip: it's hard to find parking spots here. I parked in the residential areas and walked.

Beef No' Guy here…read more For today I'll be the Hokkaido Fair Man. Folks it is still not too late to check it out. http://www.yelp.com/events/san-jose-hokkaido-food-fair-mitsuwa-supermarket runs from 9/18 to 9/21 Low tech cel phone pix http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vvguHpTixlM3xztWDybefw?select=bxwgG7b_cC-oH1Os-_QpRQ But is it worth the trip if you are coming from as far up as SF? That depends how hungry for a slice of Hokkaido you are. This Hokkaido Fair is arguably much smaller than the ones at Costa Mesa and Torrance which hosted Sumire's miso buttercorn ramen and another vendor's. $an Jo$e only got $antoka, FYI, so if you love shio ramen you are in luck. $antoka Ramen temporarily takes up shop in Mitsuwa's Daikichi Sushi booth (that has a full blown kitchen in the back), where they sell sushi and bento boxes to go, adjacent to Miyabe Tei. For $7.99 + tax (ca$h only), you get a ticket to redeem one bowl of freshly piping hot ramen. Quickie slam bam thanks doods and mam's review: $ANTOKA RAMEN (Kanji is Fire Head Mountain, like a volcano) Men - good yellow and not too thin slightly curly al dente slurpy noodles that were a bit on the hard side. Net reports say the noodles are imported from Japan. Toppings - one thin but large piece of cha shu, followed by two small blocks. Nice flavored porkgasm. - Not sure why they put the fishcake in there, but it was not needed. - Several long slices of menma (bamboo shoot) that was decent but I've had better. - Several strips of nicely cooked kikurage (woodear funghi or mushroom) - freshly cut up negi (scallions) that elevated the experience - the grape sized looking chesnut was UMEBOSHI! WOOOOOOOOOOOF it kicked my ass. Tasty but interesting addition to the ramen. Broth - fatty but flavorful, thick, and well textured. Shio-Tonkotsu? Definitely a highlight. Overall? 3.75 stars. Fan$ who are $ick of overhyped $anta Ramen (aka $aint Nizzle) will enjoy thi$ bowl that is a ta$te of Southern Cal Japanese ramen and probably better than most of the top 10 in the SF Bay Area. My biggest gripe? They used disposeable bowls. Creeps me out that the uber hot broth and ramen contents will cause chemical reactions to break down the material of the bowl. It is like drinking hot coffee from a styrofoam vs ceramic cup. C'mon $antoka, please use CERAMIC bowls and REAL wooden spoons otherwise it's high end food court ramen. When inquired with the cashier, she was unable to tell me whether Santoka plans to open in the SF Bay Area, but they have a location in hmmm Chicago, and New Jersey as well as Southern Cal. Either way, if you are sick of the SF Bay Area ramen scene, head to Mitsuwa SJ this weekend to see why Southern Cal has it good. Other than that, there was a Hokkaido Seafood booth that sold mini bento boxes of crab meat, crab legs, ikura, and uni over sushi rice. Kanikosen Bento (crab and ikura) - $15.90 + tax King crab gokai bento box (leg meat and ikura) - $19.90 + tax Sanshoku Bento box (all three minus crab leg) - $17.90 Skip the uni, it tasted meaty and dry. Uni is supposed to be smooth and silky. Imagine having female gonads and tasting male gonads instead (uni that is). Ugggh....Hokkaido uni fans will be very disappointed. (Update: Thanks Randy F for spotting that the folks were DEFROSTING the uni, squid, crab etc). However the Hokkaido ikura was "bomb a$$ yo", where you can taste the natural flavor (unlike overly salty salt marinated ikura from farmed generic salmon fish bait offering clumped together that looks like George Costanza's shrinkage at your local pseudo sushi joint). Next to the seafood bento booth were two booths of deep fried stuff (croquettes). In the back of the right corner of the supermarket is the rest of the fair, ranging from fresh seafood/whole fish from Hokkaido, refrigerated desserts/cream puffs/caramel candy from the city of Otaru, a booth that sells assorted snackeries from shiokara to marinated fish. The only fresh dessert snack made on the premise is Ishikari Ohaga, a ball of flavored rice (could be sticky rice, but uber small grains), wrapped with dark delicious looking red bean paste all over (hence the shape of a stone, or ishi). Also spotted: Fish booth: Big whole piece of kinmedai (alfosino) Karei (flounder) Surume squid Pike Mackeral Marinated seafood booth ($13.99 to $49.99 /lb): Ika Shiokara Koika Tobiran Karashi Mentaiko Asari Jyan Ikasashi Wasabi Ika Jyan Kara Ikasashi Matsumaezuke Hotate Wasabi Miso Ika Shiokara Kazunoko Matumaezuke Amakuchi Tarako Hokkai Tako Wasabi Yubari Melon Jelly - $7.99 Hokkaido Eco friendly red beans Hidaka Seaweed (Konbu) - $10.99 Hokkaido Vinegar (3 kinds) Seafood bento booth: Ika Meshi Bento Box - $5.90 (two pieces of grilled squid over rice) Go go go! Hokkaido Fair Man - Miso Hawny For $antoka $hio Ramen and Hokkaido Ikura, Me Luv You LONG time! Well until the end of $unday. :-(

I had heard about these festivals at Mitsuwa before, but I always missed them because I was too…read morebusy. So this year after getting several reminders about it in the Chow website, I made an extra effort to not miss it. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vvguHpTixlM3xztWDybefw?select=09ldJd8T-yEYWWuaQkGFrw I got to try the shio ramen with pork broth ($7.99) from the Santoka booth, located to the left as you enter the store. It was good. CASH only. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vvguHpTixlM3xztWDybefw?select=e2YlIJU0nf1H5n85h7634w Once you enter on the right side of the market, it's like in any supermarket, you pick up anything you want to buy and then take your basket to the register when you're ready to pay. Credit cards accepted. My favorite items were the croquettes (what can I say, it's fried food): http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vvguHpTixlM3xztWDybefw?select=xojt96xqBBAnMuFfqW-dNw - corn, vegetable, priced at 3 for $4 (or $1.50 each) - fish cake, fish cake with crab, with scallops, with shrimp, etc. all @$2.50 each They also had a tiny version with squid, 20 for ~$5. I didn't think that those were worth it, so I skipped them. The croquettes were so good that I had to get 2 orders, but more about this later. I bought the king crab sushi combo for $15.90 - 3 slices of maki roll and 4 slices of oshi sushi (pressed sushi). Expensive, Costco sells king crab @$15/lb. Ishikari Ohagi, 2 kinds, sold in packs of 2 for $4. This is sweet glutinous rice balls wrapped in sweet red bean paste, one smooth & one coarse. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vvguHpTixlM3xztWDybefw?select=27RnbWcag8j5TcHPTGwrkw They had a display of seafood from Hokkaido for sale that included hairy crab, king crab, squid, clams, snapper, flounder, mackerel, fish roe, etc. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vvguHpTixlM3xztWDybefw?select=8u4tAzWFxo_lNF9q4rPk2g Marinated seafood from Yamacho Hasegawa. This was really great! I got to sample all of them. They were all good, but I liked the ones with wasabi better (it wasn't too spicy). http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/vvguHpTixlM3xztWDybefw?select=hgqtOomy6xvPhHhBLytX-Q I also bought some of their specialty sweets and grocery items, including their melon jelly. There was no Kare Pan (curry bread) here, but you can always head to the Clover Bakery & Cafe located next door along with other retail stores, to buy some Kare Pan, sandwiches, assorted breads and pastries. Apparently some customers bought an empty box of the frozen cream puffs from Hokkaido, so the employees were opening and checking all the boxes. They found about 8 empty boxes. I think that they gave some free samples earlier, but someone mistakenly put those empty boxes in the freezer. Later I decided to go back to the croquettes booth section, and one silly security guard was following me around thinking that I was not going to pay for the food I picked up. I kindly asked the serving lady to make me another order of the croquettes because I had already eaten everything, and I showed her my basket with empty containers. The security guard laughed and then left me alone. At the checkout register the bagging lady was chuckling because I was paying for empty containers (I had already devoured half of what I was buying).

My friend has been talking about this place for a while. I finally stopped by to buy yuba (fresh…read moretofu skin) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ha7zOLIhvjU?si=kHP0vGPjL8Y5VLah. This is a small Taiwanese grocery store founded by 3 moms where you can get frozen or refrigerated quitems not in regular Asian markets. My friend says Penghu fish is hard to get in Taiwan. We are lucky to get it here. They also have fresh Chinese vegetables, tofu and work with local restaurants to deliver to shop for pick up. You need to join their line group and order there. Everything is in Chinese but Line can translate notes. If you order $20, you get $1 coupon for frozen bakery items you can toast. I got this small chocolate puff with $3 coupon. It was good.

I've somehow run into two Taiwanese markets back to back. Between the post office and Starbucks is…read morethis tiny corner market that specializes in a lot of frozen foods and dry goods from Taiwan. I had previously been to one that specializes in vegetarian and organic produce from the island. Having never been I didn't realize there was such specific niches that made it to CA . Since I was on the way to errands i did t get to linger but they have a lot of things In not familiar with. It would like to try and cook with.

Joyheart is a part of a Taiwanese buddhism organization. (There are many.) They used to…read moreimport/resell "clean" things -- vegetarian, pollution free, etc. -- for the members; similar to halal or kosher labelling, but not formal. For popular demand, they opened to the public, then moved to this location a few year back. Most things here are "buddhism compliant", if your restrictions are strict, ask for the exactness. Recently, they started to offer "wheel pie" 車輪餅. It's a popular Japanese/Taiwanese snack. Basically a pancake-like batter to form the shell made a mold, then fill with whatever. This nostalgic snack were well made: crisp shell (toast oven reheat well) and fillings delicious and at the right ratio. Pick your own flavors among about a dozen.

Who knew there was a grocer, cooking school, events space and other stuff in what looks like an…read moreold tech office building? A friend of a friend told us about this place and we came to find a ton of mainly Taiwanese goods. Since the island is famous for tea we picked ups few of their organic only selections. The employees are super helpful and explained a lot of the goods to us. Need to comeback and explore more of their services

Love it here. I purchased some cherries $4.19 per pound and it was super fresh, plumped, and…read moredeliciously sweet. This small grocery store located in Vietnam Town San Jose is very convenient for grab and go. It's not a full blown grocery store, but it certainly has tasty snacks and small items to pick from. Clean and organized too. Snacks and beverages are all good. Fruity ice cream/unique flavors and fruity jelly drinks are all good. Selections are excellent with good variety. Cashier and owner are friendly people and helpful. Small businesses like this one holds good value to the community. It's a great addition to Vietnam Town. No doubt. I also purchased a very fresh good looking Mexican yellow papaya $1.49 per pound each and fresh peeled Thai jackfruits $6.50 per container. So sweet and so fresh! Wow Fruits & More for sure. It's not cheap for fresh fruits here, but everything tasted very sweet and good. There's also a $0.25 per bag fee if you need a bag. The paper bag that I got was tall and huge. Small packaged snacks and sando/sandwiches are definitely worth it here. Cute animal shaped dessert cakes and steak shaped frozen desserts too. Overall, the place is worth future visits again. Casual and small spot. Accepts credit cards. Must love.

Wow is all I can really say. Came during closing and the staff was still really nice and helpful…read more The gentleman that helped me was great. The store was really nice and clean. I came in for some Jackfruit and O M G they were sooo amazing and sweet. A little on the smaller side but still so delicious.