Grocery shopping day is never just one store for me.
I usually end up going to three or four different places, depending on what I need. And H Mart is almost always my last stop.
The funny thing is, I don\’t have to shop at H Mart the way I once did.
When I first moved to the U.S. from Korea in 2003, Korean groceries weren\’t nearly as easy to find. Back then, if a neighborhood had an H Mart or another big Korean grocery store nearby, there was a pretty good chance a lot of Korean families lived in the area.
Things are very different now.
I see gochujang at regular American supermarkets. Costco carries Korean food. Trader Joe\’s has Korean products. Even Korean pears, which used to be something I\’d specifically look for at a Korean market, show up at Trader Joe\’s and Costco now.
So why do I still end my grocery-shopping day at H Mart?
Mostly because of the choices.
I Buy Most of My Korean Pantry Basics Here
Soy sauce, gochujang, doenjang, vinegar, sesame oil and fish sauce are some of the basics I usually buy at H Mart.
Yes, you can find several of these at regular supermarkets now.
But there\’s a difference between finding a bottle of gochujang and standing in front of an entire section of it.
That\’s one of the reasons I still prefer buying Korean pantry staples here. There are different brands, sizes and varieties, and they don\’t all taste exactly the same.
If you cook Korean food regularly, those little differences start to matter.
If you\’re new to Korean cooking, though, don\’t feel like you need to buy everything at once. Gochujang, soy sauce and sesame oil are probably some of the easiest ingredients to start experimenting with.
Then There\’s the Ramen Aisle
I don\’t think I need to convince anyone that H Mart has ramen. 😂
What makes it fun is the selection.
Regular grocery stores carry much more Korean ramen than they used to, but H Mart is where I go when I want to see more than just the few famous ones.
The same goes for gim, or roasted seaweed.
These are normal pantry items for me, so they\’re usually somewhere in my cart when I need to restock.
The Frozen Dumpling Section Is Dangerous
I can buy Korean dumplings almost anywhere these days.
That\’s not an exaggeration. I\’ve seen them at Costco and plenty of regular supermarkets.
But the frozen dumpling section at a Korean grocery store is completely different.
There are vegetable dumplings, meat dumplings, shrimp dumplings, seafood dumplings, different sizes, different wrappers and different brands.
This is one of those aisles where I go in thinking I need one bag and somehow start comparing five.
If you\’ve only tried one type of Korean frozen dumpling before, this is a fun section to explore.
Produce Is One of the Real Reasons I Still Go
This might actually be more important to me than the packaged food.
There are certain vegetables I use in Korean cooking that I don\’t reliably find at my regular grocery stores.
Kkaennip (깻잎), Korean radish (무), and napa cabbage (배추) are three big ones.
Kkaennip in particular is something I don\’t expect to find when I walk into my regular American supermarket.
If I\’m planning Korean meals for the week, it\’s just easier to go somewhere I know will have the vegetables I\’m looking for instead of driving around hoping another store has them.
And then there is the fruit.
I look for things like Korean pears, chamoe (Korean melon), and Korean grapes.
Korean pears aren\’t nearly as difficult to find anymore—I see them at places like Trader Joe\’s and Costco now—but H Mart still gives me more of those familiar Korean fruit options in one place.
If you\’ve never tried chamoe before, that\’s one I\’d recommend trying when you see it in season. I grew up with it in Korea, so to me it\’s just a very familiar fruit, but I realized after moving here that plenty of Americans have never had one.
Don\’t Walk Past the Banchan Section
If you\’re visiting H Mart for the first time, please look at the prepared-food and banchan section before you leave.
You don\’t need to know how to cook Korean food to enjoy Korean food at home.
Most H Mart locations I\’ve been to have a section with ready-to-eat Korean side dishes. Depending on the store, you\’ll see all kinds of vegetables and other prepared dishes packaged and ready to take home.
And honestly, I don\’t think the prices are always as expensive as people might expect for something that\’s already made.
If you\’re curious about Korean food but standing in front of a wall of sauces thinking, I have absolutely no idea what to do with any of this, start here instead.
Pick a couple of banchan that look good. Take them home. Eat them with rice.
That\’s a much easier introduction than buying six bottles of Korean sauce because somebody on the internet told you they\’re “must-haves.”
H Mart Has Changed for Me
I think that\’s what I find interesting about shopping at H Mart now.
When I came to America as a kid, a Korean grocery store felt much more necessary.
Today, Korean food is everywhere compared with what I remember from 2003.
I can walk into a mainstream supermarket and see gochujang. I can buy Korean dumplings without going anywhere near a Korean neighborhood. Costco carries Korean products that I never would have expected to see there years ago.
And I think that\’s great.
But I still go to H Mart.
Not because every Korean product can only be found there.
I go because when I need Korean ingredients, I don\’t just want one option. I want to choose which soy sauce I buy. I want the huge dumpling section. I want to know I\’ll probably find kkaennip and Korean radish. I want to check what fruit came in that week.
And, realistically, I\’ll probably grab ramen while I\’m there even if it wasn\’t on my list.
That\’s usually how H Mart ends up being the last stop on my grocery-shopping day.
And somehow, the last stop still manages to fill another shopping bag.
This post is based on my own experience grocery shopping and cooking Korean food in the U.S. Product selection and prepared foods can vary by H Mart location and season.