Original link: https://www.meow.meowshiba.com/foulee-maruta-boohan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=foulee-maruta-boohan
Because our daily favorite Yuehua supermarket has withdrawn its Seattle branch , we have to start searching for other small Asian supermarkets to replace it. There are many Chinese, Japanese and Korean supermarket chains in Seattle, but the chain supermarkets always lack the human touch of small business. Three small supermarkets have been explored recently: Foulee Market , a Filipino supermarket, Maruta Shoten , a Japanese supermarket, and Boo Han Market , a Korean supermarket. Each family has its own interests, so it is recorded as a running account.
Southeast Asian supermarket Foulee Market
Foulee Market was recommended by a Filipino colleague. I once ate the rambutan brought by my colleague in the company and was shocked. Yigang bought it from this supermarket.
I think it is the best rambutan in Seattle. There are also a few not fresh ones in a box, but the overall cost performance is the best!
The storefront is not big, the palm-sized parking lot can be packed with up to ten cars, and the low-rise bungalow with the old exterior wall looks like an ordinary Asian family business. The layout of the store makes use of all kinds of corners and corners, and it is naturally not as neat and bright as other supermarket chains, but although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs, from shelled coconut to sour horns to cold potatoes, from pork belly to beef intestines. Prices are also moderate. I bought rambutan, it is indeed sweeter than costco, but when I get home, I have to pick out the ones that have been in the box for a long time and eat them quickly. I also bought small taro and came back to stew braised pork.
Maybe I haven’t seen such fresh jicama in 20 years. Last time, I dug jicama in the vegetable field of my grandmother’s house in the countryside and used it as a fruit. 
Coconuts are available with and without shells, which are much cheaper than chain supermarkets.The snack area is interesting. What do you want for dried fruit (that is, the crispy jackfruit, taro strips, banana chips, etc.), as well as durian, jackfruit, coconut, and taro egg rolls (I bought durian egg rolls, very fragrant). Filipinos seem to love crunchy things, such as all kinds of biscuits, fried pork skin, fried fish skin, shrimp chips, puffed food. I used to go to Hainan for the New Year and found that the main product of the New Year’s goods turned out to be biscuits, not a pack of biscuits, but a bucket of biscuits. I don’t know what Nanyang custom this is?
The biscuits all over the wall make me dream of returning to the New Year’s supermarket in Hainan 
flaky old fashioned sugar cookies I don’t know but looks delicious 
Milo Oreo! 
Milo Chocolate Sandwich Biscuits have the feeling of old-fashioned biscuit. 
All kinds of tropical fruit-flavored egg rolls have a strong fragrance, super crispy egg rolls, and the price is very close to the people, about three or four yuan a bag. 
Assortment of tropical fruit flavors imaginableIn addition to the special Southeast Asian sauces in the seasoning area, there are also many pearls in glass jars (pearls soaked in caramel water), purple potato sauce, coconut nuts of various flavors, boiled and sweetened beans, and a very tasty Something like vermicelli (it’s coconut noodle). If you buy a can of each type, you can open a stall to sell nostalgic milk tea and iced products. These colorful ingredients remind me of the Siguo soup I ate in Quanzhou and the Qingbuliang I ate in Hainan.
Why do you have to wait at Trader Joe’s for purple potato sauce? It turns out that people in Southeast Asia have used it for a long time, so it is not new at all. 
There are all kinds of coconut fruit lined up on a whole wall 
Jane…pearl? ! It turns out that convenient pearls are also what other people play with. 
Not to mention pearls, brown sugar pearls are also leftovers. 
All kinds of boiled sugared bean ingredients, there are always these things in the ancient milk tea iced products that I bought when I was a child. 
It turned out that coconut fruit and coconut sticks came out. I looked like Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden.There are a lot of frozen seafood in the meat product area, such as a whole bag of small squid with the head, and all kinds of sea fish that you know and don’t know. The salmon head and fish maw in the refrigerated area are also very cost-effective, and with the authentic buns in the supermarket, you will definitely be able to make authentic Philippine sour soup salmon.
Squid and octopus are all there 
Salmon belly and salmon head are really special in Asian supermarkets, especially Korean and Southeast Asian supermarkets. There are also a lot of dried fish.The most surprising thing is the fresh meat area. Chicken feet and gizzards are of good quality and low price. What do you want for beef feet and lamb bones? Hairy belly, money belly, beef tendon… everything you can think of is here. Unexpected things, such as beef liver and intestines, are also available here. Ever since Yuehua Supermarket withdrew from Seattle, I thought that I would never have the chance to buy affordable raw materials. I didn’t expect Foulee to supply so much, and it only took 20 minutes to drive there when there was no traffic jam. I was really relieved.
Picking up the product and looking at the price tag carefully, I found that Foulee also has a Chinese name – “Fu Li”. I can’t help but feel that this letter is really a perfect score.
Never seen such a big package of chicken gizzards, so cheap? ! 
Beef tripe, ox louver, and money tripe are all available, as well as homemade lo-mei platter, Mao Xuewang, and hot pot. 
Lamb bones and hooves 
beef liver 
Pig nose, pig face, pig intestines! 
Beef intestines and tendons! 
The most authentic trotters in town. Others sell pork knuckles and trotters separately, but Foulee sells the whole thing, which is so touching. 
Skinny pork shoulder! I no longer have to worry about not being able to buy fresh ingredients when I want to make crispy roast pork and pork belly.The deli section is full of temptation because it’s almost all fried. Fried fish and fried chicken are not surprising, but there are also fried pork skin, fried chicken skin, fried salmon belly, and fried pork belly. In addition to fried food, there are also sensible bento boxes and Filipino snacks to buy. The suman in dim sum looks like a zongzi, which is glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk wrapped in banana leaves. There are also rice cakes such as puto, which I have eaten at my colleagues before. They are very refreshing and I like them, but the coloring is a bit too much.
Fried Chicken Skin and Deep Fried Pork Skin 
Fried Salmon Maw and Fried Pork Belly 
All kinds of fried food make people unable to extricate themselves for a long time
God and man fought in front of the fried food for five minutes. I wanted to buy half a catty of fried salmon maw to satisfy my cravings, but salmon maw is already oily, and fried salmon maw is oil on top. I have a bad stomach. I had no choice but to wave my hand and rush to the next stop in a small Japanese supermarket to eat a more refreshing bento.
Japanese grocery bento house Maruta Shorten
Japanese supermarkets Maruta Shorten and Foulee are not far apart, but the styles are completely different. Maruta is what a small American supermarket “should have” – there is a large number of regular parking spaces in front of the door, and the store layout is square, spacious and bright. Compared with the lively and crowded Foulee, Maruta even seemed a little deserted. Foulee’s side is almost all ethnic minorities (and many of the customers don’t speak English, which is good, it shows that the store is authentic), while Maruta’s side has significantly more white customers.
There are many special snacks at the door, as well as many new flavors of pejoy.
Maruta doesn’t have much fresh food, 80% of which are dry snacks and sundries, more like a small grocery store. Interestingly, Maruta also sells the same type of groceries as Daiso, and even the packaging is original Daiso, but the price is 30% more expensive than Daiso. In fact, there is a Daiso on the north and south sides of Maruta, which is a ten-minute drive away. At first, I was quite surprised that there is a market for such reselling. Foulee Market also has repurchasing and reselling, but it sells Costco’s seasonings or split products. However, there is also a Costco ten minutes’ drive near Foulee. In retrospect, it is unexpected and reasonable, because South Seattle is not a high-income group, and maybe not everyone can afford the annual fee of tens of dollars in free driving or Costco.
We came to Maruta’s cooked food area, but unfortunately the cooked food area closed at 2 pm. We didn’t buy anything. We could only drool at the menu of rice bowls, parent-child bowl, fried chicken bowl, pork chop bowl, poke , Everyone wants to eat, but unfortunately none of them can. The price is also very conscientious. Now, where can you find a bowl of rice bowl for seven or eight yuan? Even the rice bowl of panda express is more expensive than this.
They can also order party platters, huge sushi platters, sashimi platters, and even fried chicken platters. When I have something to celebrate someday, I want a fried chicken platter, which is only more than 40 yuan, and it is not a loss if I get angry and get nosebleed. The Japanese-style fried chicken here is only 9 yuan per catty. Next time, you must come and eat enough.
When I came, I realized that the stall was closed at 2:00 in the afternoon, so I could only look at Mei to quench my thirst.
so cheap ?
The regret that I didn’t catch up with the hot meal lingered for a long time, so I had to go to the cold food area next door to buy some sushi and sashimi to satisfy my hunger. It was four o’clock in the afternoon, and there was not much left of the bento, and there was only a small corner of the bento shelf empty. We all love Inari sushi, so we took an Inari sushi platter. Chai also picked out a sashimi platter and a discounted squid side dish. The total cost is only 15 yuan, which is harder than the cold rice sold in American supermarkets. Where is the cheap price?
However, after all, this is all left by others, and we have almost no expectations. I first took a bite of Inari sushi, and it turned out to be unexpectedly delicious. The refreshing and sweet sushi rice was just right. The squid side dishes are refreshing, tasty and chewy. A serving is only a little over 2 yuan, so you don’t have to go to Seattle Fishguy to wait in long lines and look at your face to buy squid side dishes. The 6 yuan sashimi platter is the most amazing. The tuna, salmon, and octopus are all very fresh. If you go to a restaurant and add a plate, the price can be tripled.
There is not much sushi left in the afternoon, basically a box of about 6 yuan, it is said that after 4 o’clock, it is half price, but there are fewer choices. The picture shows the spicy salmon roll and the unagi roll. 
The afternoon side dishes have also started a 20% discount. The squid side dishes are sold for just over 2 yuan, and the taste is not discounted at all. 
The sadness of not buying don rice was healed by Inari Sushi! 
The sashimi platter only costs more than 6 yuan, so you won’t suffer if you buy it, and you won’t be fooled if you buy it. The salmon melts in your mouth, and the octopus is very chewy, which is well worth the price.After buying the bento, I sat in the car and ate it. It was already mid-October, but outside the car window were the swaying shadows of evergreen trees and the warm wind, and in a trance, I thought I was out for a spring outing. There is Costco near Maruta Shoten, which is very suitable for coming to Maruta to buy a lunch box and then go to Costco next door to stock up.
Korean supermarket Boo Han Market
A while ago, I went to the Korean restaurant Gilson for grilled sausages, and I stumbled upon the Boo Han Market, a small Korean supermarket next door. ? The restaurant was idle and idle, so I came to Boo Han for a walk.
2 yuan a pound of winter jujube 
seafood snacks 
Brown sugar-flavored snow cakes have the feeling of brown sugar precious milk 
Rice pancakes! Rice products are still well made by Koreans 
Rice drinks, rice dew, and rice cakes are also delicious and sweet 
When I went to Boo Han for the first time, I came across good and cheap chestnuts and winter jujubes, as well as Chinese cabbage and white radishes, which were especially good in appearance. They could even be sold by box, so they were perfect for moving home and making kimchi. Boo Han’s fresh products are not as rich as Hmart, especially meat, but snacks and dry goods are still abundant. Snacks are not as fancy as Hmart to keep up with the trend, but there are many ancient snacks that meet the taste of our elderly. For example, there are crispy fried rice cakes that I have been craving for a long time. We have bought all kinds of flavors, and they are all delicious.
This store’s seafood snacks, seaweed slices, dried mushrooms, etc. are all packaged in oversized packages, comparable to Costco. There are also small bread, cooked food, and Korean traditional snacks (rice cakes and the like) at the entrance of the supermarket. On the whole, it is easier to shop than Hmart because of its compact layout (you won’t get lost among the high shelves). It is estimated that customers have gone to Hmart and Dahua next door, so it highlights that Boo Han is less crowded.
In fact, Boo Han has another one in South Tacoma, which is their home base. Boo Han immigrated to the United States in 1973 and settled in Lakewood near Tacoma. He started out as a tofu shop, then opened a supermarket when he grew up, and then developed the branch I went to.
All the authentic Korean businesses in Seattle are located in the very south and very north. I don’t know why Koreans settle in these two places. The history of the archaeological Seattle China Town has been traced by Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino labor immigrants, but the Koreans have not been seen. In the beginning, China Town was dominated by Chinese immigrants, but the Chinese Exclusion Act cut off the road for Chinese immigrants to travel westward. Japanese immigrants followed, filling the labor vacancy and establishing a thriving Japan Town. But the good times did not last long. The shadow of World War II forced Japanese Americans to suffer from concentration camps, and Japan Town lost its glory. Because the Philippines has a colonial history, Filipino workers can use American passports to travel to the United States more easily, filling the cheap labor market like a relay.
When did the Koreans come? It is said to have come in the 1960s. Because the United States abolished the population restrictions on immigrant nationality in 1965, and finally opened to encourage immigration, and it just so happened that the Koreans were also unable to bear the domestic turmoil, so they came one after another.
I especially enjoy visiting these family owned small businesses. Duc Tran, the owner of Yuehua Supermarket, came to the United States as a refugee from the Vietnam War, taught himself English, and helped other fellow countrymen who also fled to the United States to settle in a foreign land. Later, he started from scratch, and gradually enlarged the small supermarket in order to serve the community. And Boo Han was probably influenced by the Korean War and the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act of the United States, and became an American immigrant, opening a tofu shop and a fresh supermarket.
Every store is the story of one generation or even several generations, but urban development and the maintenance of old stores are often in conflict. It is said that Yuehua Supermarket will return to Seattle after the construction is completed, but not all stores have such luck. The fate of most stores is hidden in the dust with the purchase of land and building or the development of urban infrastructure. I don’t know what will happen to the future of Foulee, Maruta, Boohan?
The post A Walk In The Supermarket Is Serious | Seattle Foulee Market + Maruta Shoten + Boo Han Market appeared first on Mavis Meow’s Blog .
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