A couple of weeks ago I posted a detailed pictorial report on Rong Market in Richfield, whose focus is on Chinese items (and secondarily on Japanese and Korean as well). Today I have for you a report on a much smaller market in Burnsville which focuses on Filipino groceries, belying its generic name: Asian Mart. It occupies the exact location of the Thai market it replaced, Rearn Thai (which I never got around to reporting on). I believe the changeover happened two years or so ago. It may not seem very different at first when you go in but it is an entirely different market now. Unlike Rearn Thai they do not carry any produce; they make up for this by carrying a much larger selection of frozen meats and fish of interest to more than just the Filipino kitchen. They also carry a number of refrigerated Filipino prepared snacks etc.; and on weekends their deli offers a broader selection of hot dishes (currently takeout-only). I hope to stop in next weekend to pick up some of this food but for now here is a look at the market itself.

I stopped in on a whim after a quick browse at the adjoining Blue Max liquor store—which also changed ownership some two years ago—and so didn’t purchase very much: only some prepared foods (hopia—a pastry stuffed with sweet bean paste and in this case pork; and suman moron, sweet tubes of glutinous rice, peanuts and chocolate, rolled and steamed in banana leaf). Both were excellent. I expect I will explore more of their snacks as well as their frozen meat and fish selections very soon. In the meantime, however, I hope the slideshow below will entice you to perhaps get to all of it before me.

It is located, by the way,  in the strip off County Road 42 and 10th St. You can’t miss the Blue Max sign and Asian Mart is right there.

If you’ve tried any of the other snacks/prepared foods listed above—at Asian Mart or elsewhere—please write in below.

I’ll be keeping my survey of the Asian and other immigrant market scene going through the year. Some of you have already recommended other stores for me to catalog. I am always happy to get such recommendations. So if you’d like to help draw more attention to a store you like, please write in below as well.