Jason Van Camp
Recipe for making an H Mart:
Take a Whole Foods, put it in a jar filled with cabbage, radishes, onions, ginger, vinegar and chili powder, bury it and allow it to ferment for several days or weeks. Pretty soon, an H Mart will sprout up from the ground in its place!
Okay, I'm being facetious, but I *wish* it worked this way. I would swap out every Whole Foods for an H Mart, if I had my druthers. Easily my second favorite Asian grocery chain (by a razor thin margin) and topped only by Uwajimaya (in my humble opinion), H Mart does *everything* right. Variety, quality, pricing: you name it! Exceptional produce. Exceptional seafood. Gorgeous cuts of meat and fish, fresh or frozen. Sane, sensible prices, considering the superiority of the goods on offer here, even the imported ones. Sure, it's no WinCo or Walmart, but since they (and most other grocers) are so woefully outclassed by the Asian Holy Trinity of Supermarkets (Uwaji's, H Mart and Fubonn), I'm willing to pay *a* premium for *the* premium.
Seriously, where else are you going to find multiple "deli" counters serving bento, bibimbap, sushi, fried chicken, bubble tea and shaved ice, all in one place?! And they're all awesome?! Shut the front door! No, wait, open the front door, I want some beef bibimbap!
My *only* complaint about H Mart is that (like Uwajimaya) it's not closer to my house. It would be a dream come true to move into the apartments above it, but there's no way my wallet (or waistline) would survive. At least we would both die happy!
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