When we first moved to Minnesota in 2007 we did all our Korean food shopping at the venerable United Noodles in Minneapolis. Then we happened on Kim’s in St. Paul and that became our go-to store. (United Noodles’s pan-Asian selection goes wider than it does deep.) At some point after that we heard tell of a larger and better store up north on Central Avenue in Minneapolis. And that is how we happened on both Pooja Grocers and Dong Yang. Back then, they were both located in the same unattractive large strip mall in Hilltop. Pooja Grocers eventually moved out to their own digs but Dong Yang is still where they were. And they’re still the largest Korean grocery in the Twin Cities. We don’t shop there very much any more—Hana Market is smaller but is much closer to us—but there’s something comforting about knowing that they’re still there and still thriving. Here now is a very belated look at the store, via pictures taken on a shopping excursion after our second meal at NY Gyro in December. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Market-Korean
Kim’s Asian Market (St. Paul, MN)
We were back in St. Paul on Saturday for a pandemic takeout run—this time from On’s Kitchen (review coming on Tuesday)—and combined it with some quick Korean grocery shopping from Kim’s on Snelling. Despite the fact that we’ve been shopping here since pretty much our first month in Minnesota back in 2007 I’ve somehow never done one of my grocery store reports on them. And so here now is a quick look at what you can expect to find at one of the Twin Cities’ Korean mainstays, which sits across Snelling Avenue from both Pho Pasteur and Sole Cafe and only a few blocks away from the Twin Cities’ true Eat Street, University Avenue. Continue reading
Hana Market (Bloomington, MN)
Korean food does not have a very high profile in Minnesota. This is not because there are very few Koreans in Minnesota. As of the 2010 census, the numbers were not so far below the Vietnamese and the Twin Cities are dotted with Vietnamese restaurants. On the other hand, in the metro area there are very few Korean restaurants worth comment. This is probably down to the fact that despite decades of immigration, Korean food remains on the fringes of mainstream American consciousness—well behind Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian and even Vietnamese. Unless you’re in Los Angeles or New York or the Bay Area, you’re not going to come across a concentrated Korean population with an ecosystem of restaurants catering to in-culture diners; and for whatever reason, awareness of Korean food remains low elsewhere in the US among those who don’t habitually eat outside their own cultural comfort zone. So it is in Minnesota, even though the number of families here with Korean connections via adoption is quite high relative to most of the US. Continue reading