It might be the Year of the Horse. But here in the Bay Area, 2026 is also the year of the Asian grocery.
Two major openings marked the first part of 2026. This March, a long-awaited H Mart debuted in Dublin, drawing an estimated 10,000 people on its inaugural day. And in January, Tokyo Central landed in Emeryville from Japan, with a two-hour line snaking around the block. To this day, that line is insanely long on weekends.
Add those to Osaka Marketplace in Foster City at the end of last year, and other 2025 openings like Seafood City and Jagalchi in Daly City and Mega Mart in East Palo Alto. The wave is just cresting, with other groceries soon expected, including three T&T Supermarkets from Canada, another Osaka Marketplace in Pleasant Hill and a flagship H Mart in Fremont. The latter is reportedly the biggest investment in the history of H Mart, which calls itself the largest Asian grocery chain in the U.S.
These stores arrive at — and capitalize upon — a time when Asian Americans account for the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States. They also play into Americans’ growing love for all things Asian, whether it be TV and movies, music, fashion or beauty.
And food, of course. As recently as 2024, sales of “Asian” or “ethnic” items in groceries grew almost four times faster than overall grocery sales, according to industry publisher The Food Institute.
“As Americans’ interest in Asian cuisine grows, so does their literacy around regional flavors,” writes the institute. “Where ‘Asian food’ once conjured images of Chinese takeout or Japanese cuisine like sushi, today’s consumers are exploring a wider variety of dishes, from Korean tteokbokki (simmered rice cakes in a spicy sauce), seolleongtang (ox-bone soup) to less familiar Asian cuisines, such as Filipino adobo and Malaysian rendang.”
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With such a cultural phenomenon on our doorstep, who could resist a little shopping?
Recently, we fanned out to some of the most popular Asian supermarkets in the Bay Area. The mission: Eat some tasty snacks. We bought larger prepared meals, and then smaller, fun-size treats. Here’s our report back – use the form at the bottom to let us know which treats you like to buy at your local mega-market.
TOKYO CENTRAL (Emeryville, Cupertino)
The first supermarket to open in Emeryville in more than three decades, Tokyo Central occupies an anchor spot in the Bay Street shopping center. It’s owned by the Japanese company Pan Pacific Retail Management, which has only one other store in the region, in Cupertino.
Shelves are stocked with fresh and imported produce and staples, beer and sake, made-to-order and take-away meals, health items and Korean beauty products. Some of its products feel like the cutting edge of Japanese food technology, such as an $80 impossibly spherical melon or a $15 instant ramen that you microwave for three minutes to somehow make a broth magically appear.
Attached to the store is also a restaurant, the Hand Roll Factory, which uses Hitomebore rice and a delicate vinegar made from kelp stock. For shabu-shabu and sukiyaki fans, there is a good selection of soup kits with all the fresh veggies and sliced meat you’d need, including Wagyu beef. Disappointingly, Tokyo Central has no real butcher or seafood counter, though it does offer prepared sushi and bento box-style bites.
RELATED: New Asian grocery market in Emeryville opens with 2-hour lines
For light meals, we tried the “Tuna Special” sashimi tray and inari sampler at the new Tokyo Central supermarket in Emeryville’s Bay Street shopping center. (John Metcalfe/Bay Area News Group)
Light meals
“Tuna Special” sashimi tray ($22): The store makes it easy to grab whatever premade sushi fits your fancy – sometimes including heavily discounted trays of sea urchin, a rarity, to eat with rice at home. This sashimi tray, quite beautiful with a real flower tucked inside, features sliced cucumber, ribbon daikon, lemon and a seaweed salad. The fish was fresh and clean-tasting, and the featured Akami (lean) bluefin tuna had a good unctuousness with zero annoying tendons.
Inari sampler ($9): Inarizushi are fried tofu pockets stuffed with sushi rice and served chilled. This tray contained five, each with a different topping: shrimp tempura, fish paste, seaweed salad, imitation crab and chopped egg with salmon roe. The favorite was the egg-on-egg one, which had a nice salty-sweet quality; also decent was the fish paste, like a foie gras of the ocean.
Little snacks
Jonetz Shiitake Mushroom Snacks ($7): Jonetsu Kakaku is the store brand of Don Quijote, a grocery chain owned by the company behind Tokyo Central. These were a surprise to open: Out tumbled a bounty of whole shiitake mushrooms, dehydrated into little brown, crunchy balloons. They are addictive and fun to munch, though they’ll leave you with cottonmouth – a cold beer would be a perfect accompaniment.
A package of Jonetz Shiitake Mushroom Snacks from Tokyo Central in Emeryville offers a bounty of dehydrated shiitake mushrooms. (John Metcalfe/Bay Area News Group)
Grilled U.S. Kobe beef and chopped-wasabi onigiri ($6): Tokyo Central has a little shop making rice balls, and it’s serious about it: A schedule of when they’re made fresh is posted, and also the label on ours stated “made at 3:29 p.m.” and “must be sold by 7:29 p.m.” Chunks of real wasabi were bracing, though scarce, and the Kobe beef was just fine. But variety is the master here, and other rice ball flavors include cod roe, spicy lobster and shrimp, sockeye salmon and umami chicken. On the same menu are Hawaiian-style musubi, including a “Premium Spam” version with kombu, sushi egg, mayonnaise and shiso leaf.
Matcha churro ($3): It’s a Mexican churro, dusted with Japanese green-tea powder and sugar. The churro wasn’t hot, but it hit the spot – it’d be nice to dip into a matcha latte.
Details: Open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily at 5603 Bay St., Emeryville, and 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily at 19750 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino; tokyocentral.com
H MART (Dublin, San Jose, San Francisco)
True, the big news is the opening of the massive Dublin H Mart on March 26 and the upcoming construction of an even more massive Fremont location. But the two San Jose stores (De Anza area and Brokaw) boast a great selection of Korean and pan-Asian food and products and are wildly popular — as evidenced by the parking lot challenges for customers.
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The BBQ Town booth at H Mart offers dosirak box lunches and bowls. They’re packed for takeout, but the kitchen will heat up your meal if you’d like to eat in the food court. (Bay Area News Group)
Light meal
Korean dosirak box ($11.99): Speaking of popular, we lucked out and snagged a Korean dosirak, or bento-style box, for a late lunch from the BBQ Town eatery in the Brokaw store food court. They’re often sold out around dinner time. This $11.99 meal includes a little of everything: your choice of protein (we went with glossy, juicy chicken wings but beef, pork or shrimp are also available), spicy rice topped with an egg, plus banchan of pickled radish cubes, spicy cucumbers and tender, chewy Korean fish cake.
Little snacks
You can’t miss at H Mart, with its rows and rows of affordable sweet and savory snacks. We found a tasty array:
Homerun Ball chocolate puffs ($1.79 per pack): These would make a fun treat to bring to the ballpark or add to the goodie bags at a kids’ birthday party.
Some of the boxes of South Korean-made Pepero chocolate sticks feature the photos of K-pop stars like the Stray Kids. (Bay Area News Group)
Pepero ($1.99, seven to a box): For preteens and teens, we spotted Lotte company’s Pepero boxes showcasing the adorable faces of the Stray Kids, a popular South Korean boy band. Pepero are tasty chocolate-and-nut-covered biscuit sticks — essentially the Korean version of Japan’s Pocky, which was invented years earlier.
Turtle Chips ($2.99-$3.99 for a large bag): We also discovered that the Turtle Chips brand makes its puffy, super-crispy chips in Korean-Style Chicken flavor. Zesty and medium-hot, these snacks will scratch the itch when you can’t get to a restaurant for sweet-and-spicy chicken. (However, a post-meal look at the long ingredients list suggests one should indulge in these infrequently.)
Details: Open 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily at 1710 Oakland Road, San Jose, and at 1179 S. De Anza Blvd.; hmart.com
99 RANCH MARKET (Concord, Richmond, Newark, Fremont, Pleasanton, Dublin, Milpitas, Cupertino, Mountain View, San Jose, Foster City, Daly City)
From 99 Ranch in Richmond, we tried chips, a pomelo, roasted duck, BF Bakery & Cafe Cream Puff Cakes, a pork bun and a sesame ball. (John Metcalfe/Bay Area News Group)
This large chain focuses on Chinese products, though you’ll find plenty of items from Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam and other Asian countries, as well. It’s owned by Tawa Supermarket Inc., which is based in Southern California, though it has a high density of locations in the Bay Area – in Concord, Pleasanton, San Jose, Newark and Dublin, just for starters.
“Ranch 99,” as it’s often incorrectly called in these parts (due to its unclear signage), often features a well-stocked seafood department with whole fish, oysters and mollusks, live lobsters and well-priced Dungeness crabs, when in season. There are trays of sashimi, a good pick being the sweet-and-crunchy surf clam. Its meat department is slightly less impressive, but still has most of the typical cuts and also specialties like tripe, gizzards and goose.
There’s also a decent selection of baked goods and a buffet with Chinese barbecue and dumplings. Real heads know to check online or on the store’s app for the weekly promos, offering sweet deals throughout the store.
Light meal
Snacks like tuna-floss rice crackers, salted-egg fish skins, Singaporean chili-crab seaweed tempura and potato chips line the shelves of the 99 Ranch Market in Richmond. (John Metcalfe/Bay Area News Group)
Half a roasted duck ($18): At the Richmond store, the barbecue station offers roast pork, soy-sauce chicken and roast duck by the half or whole (you can order a meal set for $16.50, which comes with three barbecue items and rice or noodles). The duck was juicy and — though maybe not of the quality from your favorite Chinatown shop — a decent and well-priced meal.
Steamed pork bun and a sesame ball ($2 each): Steamers hold bouncy dumplings and smaller items you might find at dim sum. The pork bun was fluffy, though a little mushy, but the sesame ball was nicely sweet and chewy.
Little snacks
Calbee Takoyaki Balls ($3): The company that supposedly introduced shrimp chips to Americans in the 1970s now offers these corn puffs flavored like gooey octopus balls, a popular street food in Japan. They really do replicate that taste, down to the seaweed and mayo, and are quite enjoyable.
Lay’s Cucumber Flavor ($2.50): A snacker’s paradise takes up a full aisle with tuna-floss rice crackers, salted-egg fish skins and Singaporean chili-crab seaweed tempura (“Made with real crab meat!”). The potato-chip flavors include Zesty Yuzu, Asian BBQ, Fried Egg and these cucumber chips from Lay’s, which are not as artificial-tasting as you’d expect, with a refreshing pickle-y flavor for our spring weather.
A pomelo from 99 Ranch Market is a large citrus fruit with a meaty, slightly floral-scented pink flesh. (John Metcalfe/Bay Area News Group)
BF Bakery & Cafe Cream Puff Cake, Sea-Salt Cream and Double Cheese ($5): These are lumps of whipped cream and sponge cake with a cheesy aftertaste, made by a bakery that appears inside some 99 Ranch stores. They were heavy and sat in the stomach for what felt like a full day.
Pink pomelo ($7): We grabbed one of these huge fruits after noticing the variety at local farmers markets. The pith is supposedly edible if braised, but we focused on the meaty, slightly floral-scented pink flesh. They’re fun to carve, like a Thanksgiving turkey of citrus.
Details: For locations, hours and weekly specials, head to 99ranch.com
OSAKA MARKETPLACE (Foster City, Fremont)
The Kuma Sushi plate at Osaka Marketplace in Foster City presents a veritable rainbow of freshly sliced sushi bites. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Area News Group)
A bustling Japanese grocery store, Osaka Marketplace opened in Foster City this past December, following in the footsteps of the first location the brand opened in Fremont in November 2021, which was considered the first Japanese supermarket in the East Bay at the time. Bright cuts of sashimi gleam behind the refrigerated deli counter displays imported directly from fish markets in Japan. The aisles are filled with packaged snacks adorned with cartoon mascots and anime characters.
While the Fremont location has a cafe and food court with popular Osaka street foods like wagyu bentos and donburi, there’s still plenty of ready-to-eat, delicious fare to be found in the grab-and-go selection in Foster City.
Light meal
Special Kuma Bowl ($24): Vibrant sashimi cuts of salmon and tuna are just part of the appealing package inside the special kuma bowl ($24). It is a hearty amount of fish for the price, along with rice, eel, seaweed and cucumber salad, soy sauce and more.
A melt-in-the-mouth matcha mochi donut with sprinkles is among the delicious treats on offer at Osaka Marketplace in Foster City. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Area News Group)
Light snacks
Mochi, in both the packaged and freshly prepared forms, is the way to go here.
Mochi doughnut ($3.50): For an immediate treat, pick up a mochi doughnut. The matcha flavor is sweet with just a subtle hint of matcha earthiness, rounded out with sprinkles and glaze on top. The mochi added a welcome chewiness to each bite.
Individually wrapped mini daifuku, mochi bites wrapped around red bean paste, are a soft, chewy, sweet treat and can be found at Osaka Marketplace in Foster City. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Area News Group)
Daifuku ($5.99): To snack later, go for a packet of individually packaged daifuku, or mochi bites wrapped around red bean paste. These provide ultra-pillowy bites of lightly sweetened chewiness that remain fresh-tasting even weeks after purchasing them.
Details: Open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily at 919 Edgewater Boulevard, Foster City, and 46881 Warm Springs Blvd, Fremont; osakamarketplace.com
MEGA MART (East Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Fremont)
Mega Mart, a new Korean grocery store, held its grand opening in East Palo Alto on Sept. 24. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Area News Group)
Located inside a former Target, the experience of visiting Mega Mart, which opened last September in East Palo Alto, has something in common with a neighboring megastore: Ikea. That’s because the design of the shop corrals visitors through a specific pathway. Except instead of being lost in a maze of room designs, visitors stroll back and forth through aisles of glossy produce, then seafood, meat and other items on the way to the back of the store and around the other side as they browse full shelves and displays of mouthwatering Korean foods.
The layout seems to work – more than a few perfect-looking produce items (looking at you, shine muscat grapes) and attractively packaged snacks seem to somehow find their way into the shopping basket. After shopping for food, you can also check out the well-stocked K-beauty section for top skincare products.
Pogu Picnic, situated inside Mega Mart in East Palo Alto, is a fast-casual take on Pogu, the Korean restaurant inside the grocers’ sister store in Daly City, Jagalchi. Here, you can order a custom tray with rice, banchan and the customer’s choice of protein — eel is shown here. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Area News Group)
Light meal
Dosirak box ($16): Fuel up for your shop at Pogu Picnic, a fast-casual customize-your-own-meal restaurant concept in the lobby. For $16, you get a dosirak box, complete with rice, four banchan, japchae noodles and a protein of your choice.
At Mega Mart in East Palo Alto, visitors can find snacks like ramen oranda, a mix of puffed ramen crunch glazed with a caramelized sweet syrup. (Kate Bradshaw/Bay Area News Group)
Little snacks
Ramen onanda ($2): One of the snacks on sale for just $2 was ramen onanda, with packaging from Mega Mart’s sister grocery store, Jagalchi, in Daly City.
Basque cheesecake baked in a kabocha squash ($6/slice): Like Jagalchi, the shop also has items from Basquia, the grocer’s bakery brand, which specializes in gluten-free baked goods, bread and cakes. One beautiful seasonal dish recently on offer was a rich, decadent Basque cheesecake baked in a kabocha squash.
Details: Open 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily at 1775 E. Bayshore Road, East Palo Alto; 760 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale; and 3900 Mowry Ave., Fremont; megamart-usa.com
MITSUWA MARKETPLACE (San Jose)
At the Mitsuwa food court in San Jose, the Katsu Curry entree with shrimp, egg omelet and Japanese curry sauce makes for a hearty meal … or two. (Linda Zavoral/Bay Area News Group)
As devoted shoppers have noted, Mitsuwa isn’t just a supermarket. It’s a Japantown in a single store. Under one roof, this marketplace — a mainstay on Saratoga Avenue since 1998 — combines a grocery with seafood, meat, bakery, sushi and produce departments; a food court with three restaurants, a huge lineup of Japanese whiskey and beer — plus a bookstore and several cosmetic and skin care counters. You can feed your mind, body and epidermis in one visit!
Of special note is the Niitakaya pickled foods department, with its cartons of pickled plums, radishes, cucumbers, scallions and more. In the bakery, you’ll see a clever partnership: The Bay Area-based Andersen Bakery, that mall favorite, makes Japanese desserts for Mitsuwa.
This store also hosts vendor fairs throughout the year for both Japan-based and U.S.-based companies to introduce new products to consumers. Keep checking their website for upcoming tasting events.
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Light meal
Katsu Curry With Omelette ($17): Or not-so-little meal in this case. We had two food booths to choose between — Santouka Ramen and Yamachan Takoyaki — and the Katsu Curry With Omelette at the latter appealed to us. For $3 more, we added two large fried shrimp, or ebi. The dish comes with a sizeable container of mild-to-medium Japanese curry sauce. Between the egg, the ebi and the nicely coated fried chicken breast, this made for not one but two delicious meals.
Among the imported snacks we tried at Mitsuwa Marketplace in San Jose were the appealing mini matcha cookie-chocolates and the yuzu chips, which could use a stronger jolt of citrus. (Bay Area News Group)
Little snacks
Fruit mochi ($4.80): What better way to end a katsu curry meal than with a refreshing fruit mochi? The Mochi-Ya Ren stand in the food court makes those, along with dessert crepes, sundaes and matcha drinks. This treat is just the right size — a huge, juicy strawberry encased in red bean paste and then an outer shell of mochi. On the other side of the store, a “sweets deli” counter sells mochi in 18 flavors, including black sesame, caramel macchiato and rum raisin (about $3 each).
Details: Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 675 Saratoga Ave., San Jose; mitsuwa.com/sj/
NEW INDIA BAZAR (Santa Clara, Milpitas, Fremont, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Pleasanton, Dublin)
The New India Bazar in Santa Clara sells takeout containers of prepared vegetarian dishes (above, Paneer Tikka Masala and Mixed Vegetables Kadai) and Indian sweets. (Bay Area News Group)
With small Indian groceries catering to the needs of the Bay Area’s residents of South Asian heritage, the closest thing to a mega-store might be the popular and well-regarded New India Bazar.
One of the chain’s markets, at 2213 El Camino Real in Santa Clara, is a wide-aisled emporium whose shelves are constantly restocked by employees. Bags of legumes and grains fill entire rows, as do cooking essentials and condiments.
You’ll find jars of ghee, bottles of rose water and bags of organic spices such as fenugreek, cardamom and cloves. One chutney brand alone, Veer, offers about a dozen intriguing varieties — including a tangy Bhel Puri for snacks, two types of mango (Alphonso, Kaccha), Manchurian (which always means spicy), a minty Pudina, Tangy Tomato and both Sweet Garlic and Spicy Garlic. The 10-ounce jars are priced at $2.99 each.
The New India Bazar locations stock numerous flavors of chutney, and all are priced at $2.99. (Bay Area News Group)
Light meal
Paneer pints (about $6 each): You can buy containers of freshly made vegetarian specialties at the hot counter in the back of the store: Aloo Mutter, Chana Masala, Dal Makhani and others. There’s no seating area, so you’ll have to do takeout. We enjoyed pint-size containers of paneer in an irresistible Tikka Masala sauce and chunky Mixed Vegetables Kadai.
Little snack
Onion samosas ($0.80): We checked out the hot samosas and other snacks near the checkout stands. A few of the tiny onion samosas — fiery and savory — filled the between-meals craving. They’re 80 cents each.
Details: All Bay Area locations open daily from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m.; newindiabazar.com
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