Food Field Trip: Hmart in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

If you like cooking and tasting new foods, then it’s time to go beyond the local grocery stores and farmer’s markets.

Don’t get me wrong – there’s an impressive array of international goods in the typical supermarket these days. Fish sauce, naan, rice noodles, and seaweed snacks – it’s all there. But there’s also specialty markets in the Philadelphia region that are geared exclusively toward the culinary offerings of particular cultures.

I recently took a food field trip to Hmart, located in Philadelphia’s Terminal Square. Consider this place the Walmart of Asian goods. An unremarkable entrance leads to a sprawling full-service grocery which fills the first floor and features fresh, frozen and sundry Asian goods, as well as a second floor full of home goods. (I never made it to the second floor … my thawing frozen dumplings were more important.)

Here’s a snapshot of the top five food finds that await you at Hmart:

  1. Exotic Fruits and Veggies

At the entrance of the market, find all the exotic produce that’s on your list at a very good price. Look for hot peppers, a wide range of greens and cabbages, whole coconuts, mangos, papayas, cactus leaf, and even durian fruit. I discovered nagaimo for the first time – a long cylindrical tan yam often used in Japanese foods.

  1. Snacking Fun

Octopus flavored chips? Yes, please. There’s a whole aisle dedicated to chips, shrimp crackers , seaweed snacks, and more. Dried squid “jerky” is quite tasty (a favorite food I first tried in Thailand), as is a tapioca style fruit drink with aloe vera. And there’s another aisle with floor to ceiling ramen options – you’ll want to try every variety.

  1. Endless Kimchi

If you love spicy kimchi with a meal or straight from the jar, this is your store. Lug home a vat of kimchi in gallon size buckets. The kimchi is next to a section of prepared foods like seaweed salads, seafood pancakes, Korean marinated beef, calamari salad and more.

  1. Unusual Fish and Meats

Find a seafood counter with whole fresh fish flipping around. There’s also a frozen section where you can find unusual meats not easily found in a regular grocer. For example, I found a frozen rabbit loin for an upcoming recipe story. Need beef blood? Find it here.

  1. Dumpling Delights

Who doesn’t love shumai, gyoza and other varieties of dumplings? In Hmart’s freezer section, find a breadth of dumpling varieties. Buy a couple packages of these and prepare at home for a fantastic, quick dinner. Look for options like spicy kimchi, leek and vegetable, barbecued pork buns and more.

Take a food field trip to Hmart in-store or online. The Asian grocer is located at 7050 Terminal Square in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Visit hmart.com for more details.