Tips: Asian grocery shopping in Seattle

By far, I think the cleanest Asian grocery store around town is Hmart. I can't go to Hmart alone to get all my groceries, so I will tell you the path/ stores I will go nearby the area and get everything done.  This maybe a bit excessive, but I only target this once a month; otherwise, our living space will run out fast if I do this weekly. Here's what happen after a crazy grocery trip, Daniel will remove the grocery bags once we got home and let me fit everything into the freezer.  Every time, we barely make it and feel so proud if I can make the freezer close.  Maybe that's a hint I need to get a mini freezer.

Anyways, back to my route:

1. Dollar Tree 
13233 Aurora Ave N, Seattle WA

Who doesn't like dollar store.  This is a true dollar store.  Everything is a dollar.  They have lots of snacks and grocery products for a dollar. I love Daiso too, which is a bit fancier but at the same time they are charging $1.50. So if Dollar Tree has the same product, I may want to get it in Dollar Tree instead.

2. Grocery Outlet
13201 Aurora Ave N, Seattle WA

Grocery Outlet is located right next to Dollar Tree, so you don't need to re-park your car if you go to both.  And if I can't find any kitchen stuff I want in Dollar Tree/ Grocery Outlet, I can go to Ross, which is right next door.  Nice, I can park once and go to three stores here!  I was really impressed by Grocery Outlet's price but I wasn't sure whether I will purchase produce or anything I can consume from this place.  However, based on reviews online, I just need to make sure they don't expire and I am probably safe.  Anyways, the deal I found last week was $11 for 105 counts of Cascade ActionPacs Dishwasher Detergent.  Normally, $11 will only get you 60 counts from a grocery store, meaning I got this almost half price!!  Well, I also compared with Sam's Club, it's $15 for 105 counts.  So yes... Grocery Outlet beats bulk prices too :)  Since last week was my first visit, I will do more price comparison in the future, likely at a closer location to home if possible.

3. Sam's Club
13550 Aurora Ave N, Seattle WA

So back in November, I got this membership deal from Sam's Club and I practically got their membership for free as I received a $25 gift card and 3 food coupons for free. At this time, I am not sure if I want to renew their membership this year as they don't normally have sales and it's a bit of a drive from home. Their prices are not always cheaper than a regular grocery store either so I really need to do my math and research before I shop there. I may want to try Costco next year when I see a deal in Costco membership. But a worthy mention is Sam's Club's gas prices is usually 10% off compare with other gas stations.  And whenever Daniel want to fuel up, we normally go to Sam's Club and combine with this extreme grocery shopping trip.  Mind you, driving to Sam's Club alone is $5 for us, that's why I want to get my money worth and get all Asian groceries and deals at the same time.

4. Boo Han Market?
22618 Hwy 99, Edmonds WA
I haven't been here. I just discovered this on Google Map and its right next to 99 Ranch, maybe I will give this a try next time, likely next month!

5. 99 Ranch Market 
22511 Washington 99 Ste 1092, Edmonds, WA

Uwaijimawa is my go to Asian grocery store, but they don't have everything I need, like some of the Chinese green leaf veg and Chinese snacks.  Therefore, I go to 99 Ranch if I want Chinese snacks and Uwaijimawa if I want Japanese snacks.  Also, I like 99 Ranch because they always have items on sale that I can stock up; for example, dumplings or fish balls for hot pot or certain sauces for cooking.

6. H-Mart
3301 184th St SW, Lynnwood WA

Last weekend was my first time in H-Mart Lynnwood but H-Mart was not new to us as they exist in Toronto.  H-Mart here is different compare with the one in Toronto as they sell household stuff here.  Also, not sure if we went there at a bad timing, I didn't see any cooked food in Lynnwood, I only see different kinds of kimchi.  H-Mart is my go-to place to get fancy meat and frozen products (i.e. buns, dumplings) and other Korean snacks.  Guess what I found last weekend, a mountain of chips!

Also, not sure how good this is.. but you can get real candies from Candy Crush!

P.S. This is a super long post, likely not the next one.

Review: BCD Tofu @ Lynnwood, WA

Store: BCD Tofu House
Location: 3301 184th St SW, St 210, Lynnwood WA

Months ago, we drove by H Mart Lynnwood, but we didn't have time to check it out and I begged Daniel to go there last weekend.  I will write a grocery review for that later.  In the meantime, I want to share with you my experience with BCD Tofu House, which is outside of H Mart.

BCD Tofu House is a food court vendor but their service is on par with a restaurant.  After you order, they will give you a tag and they will locate you once the food is ready.  In my past experience, food court Korean food will not give you side dishes but BCD did!  That was surprising and plus, they have this fish (in full) for side dish.  I am very picky on seafood and the fish has too much bone, not my cup of tea, but still, Daniel was happy with his fish and finished it all.

Their menu is a bit confusing, I am not sure what BCD combination menu really is.  But after we ordered, I think combination menu means you get 2 main dishes.  We had:

1. Beef Bulgogi Premium Tofu Combination ($14.99)
They served us one big plate of beef bulgogi, a small tofu soup and purple rice.  Inside the tofu soup, there's beef and seafood (one shrimp and one clam) Their portions were huge.  The beef was a huge portion and marinated well.  However, I wish it's a bit more moist.  Their rice was also cooked within the stone bowl, nice!

Beef Bulgogi

2. Dumpling Premium Tofu ($9.95)
The tofu is very similar to the small tofu soup served with the beef bulgogi but bigger portion.  Of course, this dish had dumplings, 4 of them in total.  I loved the shape of the dumplings, pretty cute.

Dumpling Premium Tofu

Bonus, they served complimentary barley tea, if anyone likes them :)

Food: 4.5/5 (consider this is food court quality, this is pretty good)
Price: $$ (consider this is food court quality, this is pretty expensive, same price as sit down restaurant)
Service: 5/5
Recommend to friends? Yes