A Stroll Through Hmart Pantry Aisles

HMart Grocery Store

A couple of weeks ago, we made our bimonthly stock-up trip to Hmart. For the uninitiated, Hmart is a Korean American grocery store chain. It’s my preferred place to stock up on my Asian pantry staples because I can get almost everything I need from there. Sometimes I’ll stop at a small Vietnamese shop to pick up Vietnamese specific items.

I’ve previously shared some Asian snacks found at Hmart, but today I’m focusing on the pantry aisles: sauces, dry goods, etc.

Ready?

Chili pastes at Hmart

Sriracha is now trendy and can be found everywhere. I grew up eating the famous “rooster sauce,” but did you know there’s a huge variety of chili sauces and chili pastes out there?  If you like spicy food, try the Korean brands. They are SPICEY.

Soy Sauces at Hmart

Soy sauces. Lots of them in giant bottles. I don’t know if Korean style soy sauces are different from others. I’m boring and stick to the same brand: Kikkoman.

Nori at Hmart

Nori is huge in Korean and Japanese cuisine. My sister turned us onto the savory dried nori snacks so the small packs are staples for us. I also buy the big square sheets to make sushi.

Miso at Hmart

Did you know there are so many varieties of miso (fermented soybean paste)? This is just the shelf stable version. There’s more miso in the refrigerated aisle!

Ramune soda at Hmart

Ok, so Ramune is not a pantry staple for our family, but we couldn’t resist the call of this Japanese soda. It’s super gimmicky, but that’s the fun of it. Every glass bottle has a small glass ball suspended over the mouth of the bottle. The cap turns into a plunger like thing that pushes the ball into the bottle and creates the carbonation.

It’s easier to see it in action:

 

See how fun it is? It’s pretty good soda too.

What other things from Hmart would you like to see? I’ll make sure to take photos of it next time.