On Tuesday I posted a quick review of takeout lunch from Saigon Deli in Burnsville. The restaurant, as I noted then, is attached to the larger Saigon Market. When we got to Minnesota the market used to be in Eagan, right off Cedar Avenue and we shopped there often—mostly for whole fish and ataulfo mangoes. Some years ago they moved a few miles west to their current location on Highway 13 in Burnsville. That location took a while to open and after a few thwarted attempts to shop there in the early going I lost track of them. This was a mistake. As I discovered when I stopped in a week ago, the store is much larger than the previous incarnation and more fully stocked with a lot more than just Vietnamese ingredients. And, of course, it helps that their restaurant makes very good food as well.

Here is a quick, picture-heavy look at the store. As I said, it is larger than the previous, with nicely spaced aisles. Still, it’s quite a bit smaller than Shuang Hur in St. Paul, with much smaller produce and fish/meat departments (though their fish/meat dept. is on par with that of United Noodles in Minneapolis). Still, most everything we go to Shuang Hur for seems to be available here, most importantly whole pompano and mackerel. They also have a lot of Korean ingredients, which, as Saigon Market is a bit closer to us, may also put a dent in the business we’ve been giving to Hana Market in Bloomington over the years. I’m not going to pretend to be very well-informed about the Vietnamese market world in the Twin Cities metro but I suspect this is the largest and best such market south of the river (it’s certainly much larger than Viet Hoa Lao in Eagan). If you know of other contenders worth a visit, please write in below.

Launch the slideshow to take a look at what you can expect to find there if, like us a week ago, you have not yet visited them yet.

I was there on a Saturday morning and it was reasonably busy. I’ll probably time my next run for a weekday and see if it’s any lighter. Everyone was wearing masks but there was a bit of bunching up in the queue for the cashier, which goes right through the produce section. As I double-mask it when I have to go into stores, I was not overly concerned but I still opted to stand away from the queue for a while till it lightened out.

Oh, and if you’re not in the mood for Vietnamese takeout, they’re located just a few steps from Thai Curry House—which we should probably hit for pandemic takeout some time soon as well. Speaking of pandemic takeout, my next report will be of another Indian meal, picked up this weekend in Plymouth. I might not get to posting it this week, however, as I have a special guest post lined up for the usual takeout/restaurant review slot. Let’s see how it goes.