A visit to the H-mart location at Alderwood Mall, right next to the new Costco, was like a field trip to another land. Get a feel for the space – www.facebook.com/w3hmart.us – the gigantic store is well stocked with Korean groceries and as well as a great selection of other Asian food. Shoppers can purchase ready to eat portions, or gather plenty of ingredients to cook authentic dishes at home. Produce offers both the usual and unusual. A freezer case stocked with spiky Durian fruits captured our attention. The plentiful fish and meat offerings are rounded out by a house wares section that ranges from lunch boxes, dishes, aprons, and house slippers to high end rice steamers.

The food court is huge. Cuisine choices include Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. This may look like “fast food” to the uninitiated, but each station takes the time to prepare fresh entrees and desserts from scratch. Most spots have a number system, displayed on flat screen monitors, to inform diners when their order is ready. Displays of delicious dishes and menu specials are shown on the screen to tempt diners.

The steady and unending long lines at the Oshima Japanese Cuisine convinced Restaurant News and her companion of the quality, so we opted to dine around the food court. We selected courses from each the remaining kiosks.

Thai Iced tea and Spring Rolls from Pho Thai were perfect starters on a hot day. The Orange tea, with extra tapioca we chose was refreshing and tasty, not over sweet. I was disappointed to learn that the orange color was artificial. The spring rolls did not disappoint, veggie filling was crispy fresh, the shrimp were tender and peanut dipping sauce was flavorful.

Traditional Korean fare selections were set off by a “summer weather” special called Jjoi-Myun, cold noodles in a dish similar to Bibimbap. The homemade sauce was delicious and my meal came with miso soup and hot tea, the best value of the day. Most entrees were in the $8-9 range, with sushi even higher.

Other Korean options include Lee Ga Tofu House Grill, Jin Mi Restaurant and Kong Tofu House. Tempting, but I had to save room for dessert.

I followed the aromatic scents that wafted from two bakeries located close to the food court. Difficult to choose from the multitude of choices at the Le Bon Patisserie, but I settled on the Corn Mochi. It was fresh out of the oven and delicious, I didn’t even ask for a bag!

Eat them immediately says the sign on the wall at Beard Papas. And we did. Cream puffs come in two sizes and are filled with vanilla, chocolate, or green tea cream. Each filled puff is then dusted with powdered sugar of the same flavor. The minis come five for $1 and the hardest decision was choosing- I had to have some of each, of course. Next visit will try out the Éclairs and Napoleons’. A new ice cream flavor caught my eye- Red Bean. I departed with a double scoop cone of this new (to me) flavor and one of the green tea.
Restaurant News recommends repeated trips to H-Mart to be able to taste all of the options therein.

Coming soon- Treats found on train trip to Tacoma and awards for our local producers’ products at the Fancy Food Show in NYC.

Bon Appetite,
Kathy

A specialty gourmet food broker for over 30 years, Kathy Passage has in-depth knowledge on food and the special qualities of ingredients used in the exquisite products she helped bring to market. Kathy brings this unique perspective from the “other side of the plate” to writing about the food and local restaurant scene.