Asian market on Route 1/9 in Jersey City closed - new one on Grand St.

555 Asian Supermarket & Farmers Market

555 Tonnele Ave.
Jersey City, NJ

We’ve passed this while going N many times and missed stopping while going S many more times. It doesn’t look like much from the outside so it wasn’t a priority.

Finally stopped there on Sunday and it’s very impressive.

Huge selection of huge bags of rice. Multiple different soy sauces, multiple different fish sauces, multiple brands of coconut milk. Pandan leaves, durian, frozen lumpia, pork blood, Pocky (god help us), etc. You can get a lot of this stuff in Chinatown, 32nd St, Phil-Am, etc. but not all in one place.

We’ll be back.

Longer drive for you but Mitsuwa in Edgewater is probably the nicest Asian store I’ve been to in NJ and I’ve been to a few. I go there just for lunch sometimes.

Mitsuwa is great but it’s entirely Japanese. What’s nice here is that they have a huge range of East Asian foods.

How is it different from HMart?

The biggest difference I’m aware of is that I’ve never been to HMart and don’t know what is there. Or where it is.

Edited: Now that I’ve looked it up I’ve been to the one on 32nd St. They have better prepared foods (I loved their dried squid) but 555 has a wider range of fruits/vegetables and packaged goods. Also, 555 has Filipino food which HMart doesn’t.

Jay, I am constantly pleased by the quality of the produce available at my local HMart. All the exotics you named above are easy to find. Granted, no Filipino, but plenty of Chinese, Japanese & Korean options. Went last night with a buddy to get some takeout. We ordered Ja Jang Noodles, Spicy Beef Ramen and an order of about a dozen parboiled whole baby octopus with a sweet chili sauce (for all of $6.99). Delicious.

I’m a huge fan of Hmart as well. The quality of the produce is on par with what you’d find at WF, with greater variety.

I’m guessing the one near you will be larger than the one on 32nd St.

But yes, I love the prepared foods at HMart.

Btw Jay, where do you see an HMart on 32nd St? Don’t see one listed on their locations:

http://www.hmart.com/company_new/shop_main.asp#RGF

you crazy. CRAZY. H mart has trash produce. Most of their stuff is from out of the country, non organic. It always looks pretty but their stuff degrades so fast. I’ve stopped buying any produce from them. Korean BBQ meats on the otherhand, I will buy in bulk from them.

I have an Hmart within two miles of my office. But, I am often ignorant of what things there are…and no one can ever explain.

Do love the fresh fish aspect and the meats, though the latter are often cuts I don’t recognize…and…not cheap.

The HMart nearish me (it’s in the burbs so I don’t go that often) has gorgeous produce. I use it quickly so I can’t speak to how long it keeps, but the taste is quite good.

Both Charlie and Corey are right. I find the produce to be great when used quickly…otherwise it spoils pretty fast (at least the avocados from past experience).

yep. Typical Korean product, looks pretty, breaks early

You’re right.

When I googled HMart New York it came up with a map that included a location on 32nd St. But now that I look more closely it is actually a Han Ah Reum Supermarket.

Never mind, I’ve still never been to an HMart. But I recommend the dried squid at Han Ah Reum.

All H-Mart Stores have Han Ah Reum on the front – but it’s written in Hangul (Korean) and Chinese. Asian Dragon.

So your store IS an H Mart of sorts. I had a little one near me that went by Han Ah Reum and then they built the enormous one in Edison near 27 x Plainfield Ave, and they hired the personnel from the little one and moved all the stock to the big store. I love it, and of course they have non-Korean stuff (especially Japanese) but I think you’re right about no Filipino stuff worth mentioning.

I’m a big fan of HMart. For produce their Western stuff is ok, the Asian type produce and mushrooms are very good, but it requires looking carefully, and I usually try to be flexible (if I come in for baby bok choy but the tatsoi looks better, grab it).
Very good selection of Japanese foods - not as good as our 2 local Japanese groceries, but much better priced for same items.
OK selection of Chinese foods, and cleaner than closest Chinese place.
Irritating to me that they have aisles devoted to same products by country- so if buying laver/nori/seaweed to see whole selection have to visit Japanese and Korean sections, for soy sauce 3 different aisles.
Our HMart has virtually no Indonesian, Vietnamese, Filipino, etc products. Luckily Kan Sem in White Plains does, which is good as I just ran out of kecap manis.

Just a heads up here-- HMart on 32nd Street is probably one of the smallest in the country, has very limited selection, and is piss poor compared to any other one. Not a great point of reference when discussing Hmart’s quality.

Good to know about 555–I think we usually drive past it on our way to/from the Super HMart in Ridgefield.

We’re huge HMart fans and find it hits the sweet spot for us in terms of price/quality/cleanliness. Mitsuwa is clean but too pricey, Chinese markets are scary, HMart is just right. Unlike Charlie, I haven’t found their produce to have any magical rapid rotting powers.

The Little Ferry HMart, which we went to for the first time a few weeks ago, looks horrendous from the outside but actually has a decent amount of Southeast Asian stuff, if I remember correctly, and a liquor store up front with good pricing on sake that was open surprisingly early on a Sunday (Toto, we’re not in Bergen County anymore!).

And having said that, I wouldn’t mind having 99 Ranch out here, but I make do with what I’ve got.

It is, however, incredibly convenient to the PATH train.