There's a store along Kekaulike St that's hidden by large deliver vans and trucks, and this store…read moreis literally filled with every fish and seafood imaginable from catfish to tilapia to milkfish to mud fish to many, many more! The store is called Santos Mart! I used frequent this store quite often when it was called something else that I can't remember at the moment, but the sign is still there. ____ Seafood Inc. I feel it was just Kekaulike Seafood Inc, or Chinatown Seafood Inc. Back then, there used to be another wet market of sorts that used to sell a lot of fresh and frozen seafood, but that's been boarded up, used as a filming location for Hawaii Five-O, and now it's going to be torn down for, hopefully, a future rail station. Also, the "glass house" where New Hong Kong Supermarket and Kim An 2 is located used to be a much bigger place with numerous seafood stalls. Homeless took over that sidewalk, but they're gone now and it's pretty safe to venture down. Now all that's left is Santos Mart, and it's all alone. If you look at Santos Mart, it appears to be a small store, but that's not the case at all. It goes deeeeeep inside. There are several, huge, long freezers all jam-packed with frozen fish, seafood, and other meats. If any fish pops into your head, or you watched a video about fish dishes in Southeast Asia, you will probably fish it here. The store is clean and organized, and the prices are clearly marked. Tilapia is the main fish they sell of varying sizes. Even frozen, all their fish look nice, good quality, and very well packaged. You won't find any with freezer burns. In addition to seafood, Santos Mart also sells many convenient dried noodles, sauces and other condiments usually used in southeast Asian cooking. Overall, Santos Mart is a great little store that's not little at all. Even though it's a little off in the distance by it's lonesome, it's worth the trip if you're in need of frozen fish and other seafood. You'll find so many varieties of fish, that you can spend the better part of your morning here. Here's a secret, all the stalls that sell fish that you believe to be fresh are all previously frozen! If the fish ain't in a tank, it's not fresh.

My go to for frozen seafood and Asian goods. Lots of the fish and seafood I grew up on we can't get…read morefresh only because they're not found in Hawaii. Low and behold Santos is the place to go! My Dad loves this place where he can find his beloved tilapia, shrimp and pampano along with Dalag, Bangus, Bukto. (The fish that brings him closer to his hometown the Philippines). The Frozen seafood are imported from South East Asia but just because they're frozen doesnt't mean the quality isn't great. Once defrosted you can see they were freshly frozen. The Quality is spot on. When friends and family are in town from the neighbor island, this is the spot they always ask for. They always go home loaded with extra coolers of seafood to bring back home! Prices are affordable even if the prices have gone up a bit but their items are still top quality .

Fresh quality and amazing price!!! It's hard to get fresh…read moreseafood in hawaii and for an amazing price! Ordered 3 dozen oysters and they were fantastic! So fresh and not fishy at all! Love how they are pre shocked, wating them was fast and easy! Good size it was enough to give you a mouth full. I had these oysters last month and I'm still thinking about them! The only thing is it is a little harder to order it you have to contact the seller. There is no menu of any sort on their yelp or website. And of course you have to preorder it. But amazing definitely the place to go when you need seafood in bulk!!

Where can I get Green Fish and Pork Belly Ham, Sam I Am. At Sam's Seafood Market! Thank you, thank…read moreyou, Sam I Am. Don't worry. This isn't a children's story with hidden negative messages and innuendos. Sam's Seafood Market must be the biggest stall inside Kekaulike Market in Chinatown. It's in the center portion on the right side of the entrance. All three sides offer a variety of seafood as well as raw meat! So it's not just a seafood market. You can find pork belly, chicken belly, pork tongue, beef tendon, whole chicken, and etc. There's also packaged seafood items such as Fish Tofu, fish balls, and the like. It's run by a very friendly couple. Every time I come by just to take a look, they'll always come by and ask if I need any help and inform of what's fresh, what just arrived, and etc. It's hard to not buy something here, but when in Chinatown, you always need to check and double check the freshness and prices from other stalls. The prices here are always kept at exactly the same as other stalls. But you'll never find anything that's better priced than other places. I normally purchase chicken feet from here as they often have more plump pieces, and they also defrost everything, so you can choose the pieces yourself. I recently purchased a lean pork belly for the meat to make dumplings. It looked nice and smelled fine as it was still mostly frozen, but after defrosting and mincing, there was a slight off putting smell which meant it's not that fresh. Overall, Sam's Seafood Market is a decent one stop shop to get your meats and seafood. Customer service is great. Prices are on par. Quality can be hit or miss. For some items, it's nice they defrost it so you can choose the good ones and the amount. However, it's obvious a lot of the meats and seafood are all defrosted and then frozen again for the items that didn't sell that day. It's okay to do that, as I'm sure everybody does that, but the quality goes down each cycle. All about timing to get the good ones! And Sam's usually have the good ones at any time of day.

Sam's Seafood is my go-to shop for fresh fish. The owner is very friendly and the quality of the…read moreseafood sold is excellent. The man behind the counter asked which fish I wanted that was on display. I chose the pompano, which is a favorite of mine to steam with ginger and scallions. I asked for the fish to be cleaned and cut. Within minutes he had the guts mostly cleaned out and the fish quartered. If I had attempted to do this myself it probably would have taken me an hour. Best of all the fish sold here is so much cheaper than buying fish at the supermarket. The pompano was only $2.99 per pound. You can't find customer service, freshness, and affordability like this at the big box stores. Support local mom and pop business and stop by Sam's on your next visit to buy groceries in Chinatown.

I'm rarely in Chinatown, but had lunch in this area. After lunch, I decided to do a walkthrough to…read moresee what has changed. I was walking through Kekaulike Market and came across this seafood stall. They had a pet fish on display and it caught my attention. I've never seen a fish like that before. It had a gigantic brain, lol. I had to stare at it for a minute. I got there around 1:30 pm. Most of the seafood was sold out. Whatever they had left was on ice and looked pretty fresh.

Malasig 7 Sisters is my go to place to buy shrimp and clams. The shrimp looks to be in great…read morecondition, almost not from frozen, and the prices are usually about a dollar cheaper than the markets. I also come here to buy fresh clams during the holidays. I've been shopping here for decades and hope that change to this area is slow to come.

Fish sauce in Honolulu's Chinatown…read more.. My coworker told me that there's a brand of fish sauce that is really good. She said to look for the 3 crabs on the label. Off and on, when I was in Chinatown, I'd look for the bottle of sauce because Times and Safeway didn't carry it. I was in no rush. We were passing by this grocery vendor inside of Maunakea Marketplace, near the Hotel Street entrance. I happened to look at the labels of fish sauce and spotted the 3 crabs! I was so happy! It was only $4.99. PARKING: since it was a Sunday, I parked in a metered street stall for free. It's also free on holidays. Service was alright - nothing bad or memorable. Haha! Note: Malasig 7 Sisters also has fresh seafood on ice, canned goods, and fresh produce

Shopping in Kalihi, Honolulu, Hawaii…read more.. Since I was already at The Marketplace at City Square, I walked around the entire clean, air-conditioned, well-lit shopping center and found 7 + One Seafood and Variety Store. I saw ingredients for Almond Float! They have not only clear-colored Nata de Coco, but also red and green ones! The colored ones would make the dessert more festive! I actually got a larger bottle of the clear Nata de Coco - I believe the price is better! I almost got a bucket for $12.99. It's a good quality brand... but I changed my mind. I was also looking at the snacks and paper goods. Hmmm... very tempting! Service was very friendly and helpful. The gal at the cash register asked if I needed anything else. I told her that I was looking for the white bean curd in a jar. One of the other vendors only had the red type that has wine in it. It seems like the white variety is sold out because Chinese New Year is next week! She took a photo of the red bean curd that I had purchased - and she said she'll look into it. Overall, this was a productive visit! I saw large cans of fruit cocktail, too... for future Almond Float making!

Many times, I am sent on missions for my part-time job that seem to be a wild goose chase but with…read morepersistence and knowing the ins and outs of Honolulu's Chinatown, I at times surprise myself. For the second weekend in a row, I was tasked to buy pork belly. Last weekend I went to my go to stall in Kekaulike Market and bought 3 strips of pork belly only to be advised it was "too lean" and not good to make steamed pork belly with harm ha (fermented shrimp paste). The "lean" pork belly eventually was used to make a different dish that made some employees bummed as they were looking forward to the steamed dish for that day's employee meal. This past weekend I went back to my regular stall and once again they had pork belly but indeed it was on the leaner side. I asked the boss man if he had any more pork belly as I wanted a fattier cut in his back refrigerators but sadly, none. I then visited the other 2 meat stalls in Kekaulike Market and the pork belly was too lean. My other options were to go to Oahu Market or to Maunakea Marketplace. Because I wanted to pick up some dim sum from Dimsum Village at Maunakea Marketplace, I proceeded mauka and entered Maunakea Marketplace from N Hotel St entrance and immediately came across Carnate's Meat and Seafood (CMS). CMS seems like a husband/wife team that sells fresh meats and seafood. The showcase on the left I found fresh pork nicely displayed and immediately found pork belly, but on the leaner side. I then asked if they had fattier slabs, where the male staff grabbed one from the middle and indeed it was fattier. ***happy dance*** However, because I had to feed 8 adults, I needed more. At first, he looked in the showcase and had none, but he offered to check his refrigerator behind him. He pulled out a large piece of unsliced pork where one end had fatty pork belly. Yes!!! I was so thrilled of the availability as it saved me time from walking around Chinatown when I had a list of other things I had to buy. I asked for 2 more slabs of fatty pork belly. He packaged and weighed the pork belly, and then paid for my purchase to his wife who was at the register. Because I was getting reimbursed, I asked for a receipt in which she obliged. While waiting for my change, I checked out their display and saw assorted packages of spices and mixes, as well as pre-packaged dried beans and grains. Seems like they were for Filipino dishes that I am not knowledgeable in. I took my purchase to my part-time job to receive thumbs up to make the steamed pork belly with harm ha sauce. It was sliced and marinated with some chopped garlic, fresh chilies, harm ha sauce, sesame oil, white pepper and cooking wine. It was steamed and we had a delicious lunch that day. Overall, a very pleased first visit where CMS came through in satisfying the critical staff at my part time job. They have refined palates where ingredients are key in cooking where variation and substitution are not forgiving. When tasked for fatty pork belly, I'll be sure to make my way back to CMS.

CTN LLC Seafood Fruit Season, every time I am here, I keep forgetting to ask the very friendly lady…read moreowner what CTN stands for and I keep forgetting to ask for her name. hehe- will update with info. I'm sure you are curious on what CTN stands for (?!) CTN is located at Maunakea Market, she is all the way to the back of food court. Look for the limited amount of seafood out front and seasonal colorful fruits. I usually make a stop here if need to fulfill my momma's shopping list or if we go to Chinatown together, we usually shop here. I loved seeing the fresh fruits, which sadly I am not a fan of fruits, if I do purchase them it would be for my momma. She has the good kine seasonal fruits which the prices are on the high, since fruits are expensive and comes in from Hilo. During my recent visit here and I just came back from my Hilo trip. I noticed she has Big Island durian (@$14.95lb), my momma wanted them which I wish I bought some for her when I was at Hilo., crazy me, I didn't know those fruits were durian and they were a cute personal size. She was happy with her durian fruit. We also got some seafood and onions. She has frozen seafood products in the freezer and some Asian products on the shelf. What I dislike about the owner is that she likes to sell and make my mom buy more, she is so sweet so my mom can't say no. She is a very good sales person! She is also very helpful, when my mom needed a product that I couldn't find she helped and gave me suggestions on where to go for it. We always have to get the hot boiled peanuts, $1. per cup before we check out. All in all, despite the sales tactic, I recommend CTN for all of your seasonal fruits, seafoods needs. It is going to be every fruit lovers favorite spot, Support local at CTN!

Here is another place I found by accident…read more It's a tradition where I cook a seafood dinner for my "NorCal family" when they come back to town annually. Several years ago they took me to their go-to seafood stall which is right across of CTN LLC. I noticed the go-to stall had seafood that didn't seem fresh by the color and texture. When I took a look at CTN which pretty much had the same seafood it looked better and the prices were about the same so I suggested my friends to try CTN instead. Because I was the "executive chef" (pardon me for bumping up my status) I could call the shots so we bought shrimp with heads and Manila clams for dinner. I made pepper-salt shrimp and clams with black bean sauce and "I killed" that night. The seafood was really, really yummy and no leftovers... Since then I have been a faithful customer of CTN LLC. I was hesitant in writing this review as I don't want the prices to go up with more foot traffic here. But in honesty, I get my shrimp and clams here and I cook for my family and friends on a regular basis. I once cooked 5 pounds of Manila clams and prepared it with black bean sauce and my whole family ate it all!!! When purchasing your fresh seafood you have the option of the staff bagging your seafood OR you can select your own. If selecting, they have courtesy disposable gloves and plastic bags and you choose the ones you want. For me I choose my own (i.e. for Manila clams the larger ones have larger shell, thus weighing more so I do NOT get the large ones). Besides seafood, they also carry fresh seasonal fruits. Today they had XL long ngan and there were so many middle-aged Asian ladies elbowing each other to buy the fruit. I kept hearing the owner tell the customers to not break off the excess stems and/or leaves as the fruit is sold by the pound. Furthermore, this place also sells boiled peanuts as they pretty much have a large pot steaming near the cash register. I've also noticed some soft drinks in the refrigerator for sale. Overall, a great place to get your shrimp and clams. I've made a lot of great meals with the seafood here and I thank CTN for selling me fresh seafood at great prices. NOTE: Credit cards are not accepted here but they do take EBT cards.