SMALL HIDDEN GEM! I wasn't expecting much, but wow they have everything you need here, and they fit it in such a small shop! My favorite parts are the aisle full of alllllll the sauces, and the wide selection of drinks ranging from canned boba to bottles of ramune soda. I was happy to finally find some hot sesame oil here in Asheville. The only downside is that it doesn't have the large selection of fresh meat and produce like other large Asian supermarkets I am used to back in larger cities. I'll definitely be back when I need some more Asian food items. read more

It's been a few years since I have shopped at Lee's Asian Market, but today I went back to look for some Vietnamese ingredients for some upcoming Lunar New Year's food. The stores isn't large, but it's pretty well stocked. I have been to the larger Asian market, YZ, and I think Lee's Asian Market has a smaller overall stock of things, but what it does have, you'll get several brands. For example, I needed Pandan extract. At YZ, I could only find the McKormick's Buco Pandan flavoring. At Lee's there were 3 brands of Pandan flavoring, including the Pandan flavored paste I was looking for, which is also sold by Amazon for about $6, at Lee's it was only $1.50 or so. The owner, a nice Chinese woman speaks English pretty well and is very friendly. That's somewhat rare in Asian markets. She walked me over to the steamer area and gave me some advice on using the bamboo cone, which is what I ended up buying. She also helped me find the frozen Pandan leafs. She is super sweet and nice, which I appreciated. I also found some fresh sticky rice and sweet banana cakes near the register. They had two square Banh Tet (Vietnamese new year cakes with mung bean and pork) as well. I haven't seen fresh cakes like that at the other Asian stores, so Lee's gets bonus points for this! read more

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Perfect, cute little market with most things you'll want. Sweet little couple that owns it too with great service and advice.

This place is a real hidden gem; sooo many options for ramen, snacks and for the small size of the store, it has a great deal of hard to find ingredients and frozen foods as well (praise the lord, they've helped satisfy my Tteokbboki craving). I'll be frequenting this place all the time now! So glad I found it! read more

I remember when they first opened several years back. At the time, they barely had anything! But the folks who run it are very sweet people, so I've always wished them success. Fast forward to present time, and now their tiny market has a pretty decent variety of offerings. It's cluttered, due to space, but always clean and organized. They restock fresh produce quite often, and their bean sprouts are some of the best around. Cool little place to peek your head in and maybe walk out with a bag of goodies. Just don't expect it to be a one stop shop for that 7 course meal for 20 guests that you were thinking of cooking that night. Ain't gonna happen. Support local mom and pop shops! read more

Always fun surprises with their inventory! Love the owner. She is helpful and full of knowledge.

I got my red envelopes for POCKET MONEY gift giving here. I love the variety of foods and the tofu and veggies for groceries. We are vegetarian so lots of fun new choices of veggies to experiment with. Very convenient location next to the Post office. Very nice cashiers and staff. Yummy almond cookies. read more

LOVE this place! There's always a new snack or drink to try and my favorites are usually in stock. The store staff are always friendly and helpful. Enjoy coming here and purchasing items quite often. read more

My wife and I were interested in learning to make our own bubble tea. The lady working was very helpful on showing us all that we needed to achieve this and gave us instructions on how to make a good cup of bubble tea. There was A LOT of stuff packed into a small store but if you ask for help they knew right where everything was. read more

Lee's Asian Market - Grocery Near Me - Asheville, North Carolina

Prices are a little high IMHO. The Chinese Broccoli I bought for over $5.00 for the bunch was riddle with Insect holes, leaves had insects on them also, the leaves turned yellow after one day. I will drive to Knoxville to get better quality and cleaner produce. Other Staples are here, not a repeat to me to come back and shop here read more

Mr. & Mrs. Lee are very nice and welcoming! If you need help finding anything in this oriental store then they will do their best to help. They speak fairly good enough English. I love going to this store to help support their local business! read more

We have a few Asian markets to choose from here in Asheville, and they respectively each have their own perks. Lee's is a little out of the way for me, considering where I live, but it's always worth the trip. One of my favorite things about this market is Mr. Lee himself. Extremely personable, always jovial and helpful. Super kind-hearted; my children always look forward to seeing Mr. Lee. There's a lot of goodness going on in this store. Kitchen ware (like dishes) and cooking gadgets. Exceptional selection of fresh Asian produce. Basically, an entire side of an aisle devoted to instant ramen (I'm a huge fan) with an abundance of flavors and brands to choose from. And of course candy and snacks. Great hours and plenty of parking. I highly recommend Lee's Asian Market. read more

Small store that surprisingly offers a lot of your essential needs for Asian cooking. Good selection of sauces, snacks, some produce, frozen goods, kimchi...etc. The owner lady is friendly and helpful. Store is kept very clean. Highly recommend! read more

Good stock of various items. Needs a bit more fresh produce selections. Cramped interior.

Very knowledgeable owner. Very small store but good selection. Will sell stuff in bulk if requested. read more

Lee's Asian Market - Store front - Grocery Near Me - Asheville, North Carolina

What a great place! I love going into markets that have items I've never seen so I can learn about them. There's also fun produce! We got a yellow dragon fruit and a yellow passion fruit! We usually see other colors, so that is fun. They also carry the Kiwi brand knives which are cheap, light weight, and easy to use. Very good for women. Lots of fun items to choose from and easy to shop some items in bulk. Oh, and there is lottery! We found this cool Okinawa pancake sauce and were inspired to make Japanese pancakes or Okonomiyaki :) read more

As a chef, I look for the best of the best to cook with. This Asian grocery store has it all. Mrs. Lee is a wealth of information if you are just starting your adventure into Asian cooking, start here. She is patient and willing to help you find the ingredients you need. There is an assortment of fresh vegetables and herbs and all the other essentials in cooking any kind of Asian food. Stop by and make your next meal for your family to enjoy. read more

Great selection of Asian products reasonably priced. Aisles are a little crowded but you can maneuver thru it. Owners are friendly and helpful. read more

Lee's Asian Market is the largest and best stocked Asian market in all of Asheville. Each time I've gone I've been too excited to even take a picture of the place. My hands get too full too quickly. Sure, I could use a basket, but I really have to try to limit the amount of things that I buy here. Carrying a basket would be an invitation to buy even more stuff. What do I get here that's so awesome? Well there's a ton... There's awesome snacks and cookies in exotic flavors like mangosteen and durian. There's strange dried mushrooms, I especially like to pick up tree fungus here. Sounds totally weird but is seriously awesome in soups. There's tons of cooking supplies, utensils, and kitchen gizmos here as well. The staff here is also charming, friendly and inviting. The biggest hindrance this place has facing it is its location. It's located directly next to Baan Thai and Wild Ginger Vietnamese, which is great, however that's the exact OPPOSITE end of Asheville for me. Coming here is like a pilgrimage for exotic food. Worth it? Yes. Something I'm willing to do on a daily basis? Negative. read more

Amazing store, prices are good, and Mr and Mrs Lee are very plesent and knowledgeable. I will always use these guys for my sushi supplies :) I found it interesting the also sold lottery tickets. haha! read more

I went here for the first time today after seeing great reviews. I have a list of things I usually pick up at asian markets, some of which I'd recently run out of and needed to restock. I found most of what I needed, but nothing at a lower price than what I pay at the store near my house, and some things weren't sold there. I wasn't able to find the cut dried seaweed that I use in soups, my favorite treat Ice cream fish (Samanco), and they only had one flavor of rice seasoning (kim chi flavored). The more stores that offer hard to find ingredients, the better, so I don't want to totally bash the place. I'm sure it's great for anyone who lives south of town and doesn't want to drive into "the city". In my opinion, it's not worth leaving town to go to this store, there's not really an easy way to get south without annoying traffic stuff. read more

I love this place, people so nice and kind. Love buying my rice here. They sell lottery as well. Fresh herbs and eggs, never know what you might find. I enjoy just walking thru. Prices very reasonable! I find their bowls with designs on them very pretty and reasonable enough to purchase for daily use. Please don't miss out on this hidden treasure, visit this market. read more

Lee's Asian Market is the latest East Asian grocery to be added to the very short list of Asheville's ethnic groceries. The usual pan-Asian business synergy is beginning to develop here and I would not be surprised to see other businesses of similar type pop up in the neighborhood in short order. The store is hard by Pho R Us 3 doors north and across the highway is the Stone Bowl Korean restaurant. If it's an Asian fix you need, a visit to this neighborhood on South Asheville Highway should do it. Opened in early May 2013 the Lee's stock all the usual dry goods, sauces, oils, noodles, bulk spices and etc. for your Chinese or Vietnamese culinary adventures. There is an entire wall devoted to frozen and refrigerated fresh goods such as daikon, bean sprouts, leafy green stuffs and you name it - plus open bins for garlic, ginger, root veggies, limes and onions of various types. Prices are as expected, way reasonable compared to Teeter's or Ingal's. Example: Small can of coconut milk, $3.25 at big box store, $1.95 at Lee's, large jug of essential chili paste $4.30 at the big box, $2.45 at Lee's, and so it goes. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are the friendly proprietors of this clean and tidy gem of a store and are there to help no matter if you are a novice or know exactly what you need. Notably, as I was stumbling around on my first visit I found bulk spices for Indian cooking on an end cap. BINGO! I scarfed up garam masala (in whole spices!), turmeric, cumin, paprika, chili powder, tamarind and whole black mustard and coriander seeds. Many of the bulk Spices for Vietnamese (tamarind, whole dry chili, cinnamon stick, star anise) are also used for Indian cooking so look on the other shelves to help fill out your Indian pantry. I had a short discussion with Mr. Lee on the way out about some other Indian spices that would round out his selection such as cardamon pods, fenugreek, whole black pepper corns and frozen curry leaves. He was more than happy to get a new shopping list and will stock those items in the near future. I think he was a bit surprised that a skinny white guy would be buying Indian goodies, but we all had a good laugh about it. read more

Although this is a rather small store, they do pack a lot in there. We found some items that we usually have to drive to Atlanta to get, including a favorite jasmine tea and fresh Rau Muong (water spinach). The dry goods and frozen items are a nice cross blend of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. They even sell Pocky. I hope they do well. read more

Best Asian Market in the area. Lots of fresh/refrigerated products. Big stock for a little store. Great Pho restaurant and a great Thai restaurant in the same plaza. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are also very helpful. Free gifts with purchase of certain amount. read more

Today was my second time here and i always end up spending all my money, haha! I love the extensive selection and the friendly owners. I have discovered so many new snacks and rediscovered found several old ones I haven't seen since living in Miami. I love coming here, there are many unique ingredients and products. read more

Best homemade Kimchi. Good prices on hard to find items. Friendly smiling owners. Very lucky to have a place like this in WNC. Perfect place for people who love cooking and trying new things. read more

Wow, what a great find! We live in Hendersonville and I actually drove past one Asian grocery, but was it worth it! This is a Tardis (hi all you Dr Whoites) of a grocery store tucked into a little strip mall in Arden, and it has a wonderful variety of many Asian countries products....and a friendly knowledgeable owner to boot. He helped everyone who asked while I was there, and seemed to know most customers. I came looking for Tamarind sauce and left with a lesson in the tamarind fruit and several cans and bottles....but of course not only that. They have an unbelievable selection of canned goods from Korea, Thailand, Japan, China and other countries. They also have big coolers full of fresh fruits and vegies and other foods. And they have more than food, things for the kitchen and well, you just have to go there. read more

I love this place. We just discovered it. We normally pick up asian cooking supplies in raleigh but this place will do for most of our needs. read more

Lee's Asian Market is a great place to get your basic Asian dry goods, spices and flavorings. They have good prices on sesame oil, mung bean noodles, mochi, etc. Not very many fresh or frozen things, but some selection of specialty ice creams and veggies. The owners / staff are very friendly and helpful. read more

Incredible selection, especially for a small store outside a major city in the deep south. The staff is friendly. They take credit card too. They have interesting products - both, for those who know how to cook authentic cuisine, and those who want convenience and snacks. I like to try new things, especially as an experienced chef who has traveled the world. read more