James Kenji Lopez-Alt
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A Tour of Asian Family Market in Seattle
🕑 Added 2025-09-23 23:20:30 +0000 UTCAsian Family Market is located at 13200 Aurora Ave N suite A, Seattle, WA 98133
Asian Family Market on Aurora in North Seattle has become my favorite supermarket in Seattle because it manages to hit that sweet spot between practicality and adventure. On one hand, it’s where I go for the staples: fresh herbs, noodles, tofu, dumpling wrappers, and everyday vegetables. On the other hand, it’s also where I stumble upon something unexpected that reshapes what I want to cook that week. The produce section is a standout: ripe peaches and stone fruit that are ready to eat the same day, champagne mangoes at half the price of larger grocers, melons I've never heard of, more varieties of greens than I have fingers to count, and seasonal rarities like mangosteen, longan, and squash blossoms that are both fresher and more affordable than anywhere else. Mushrooms, eggplants, chilies, herbs, and bananas appear in dizzying variety.
The store’s reach extends far beyond produce. The meat counter stocks everything from beautifully marbled Mishima Reserve beef to pig trotters, pork face, and thin-sliced cuts perfect for hot pot or sukiyaki. Ground pork in various grind sizes and fat levels. All four stomachs of the cow are represented (as well as its aorta and genitals). The seafood tanks, which my son, calls “the small aquarium,” (as opposed to the actual Seattle aquarium which he calls the "fresh aquarium") are equally impressive; Filled with live Dungeness crab and eel, enormous oysters and clams, and wriggling spot prawns at prices that make it hard not to overbuy. For pantry staples, it’s my go-to for authentic pastes and sauces with the “China Time-Honored Brand” seal, roasted rapeseed oil, Japanese curry blocks, pickles, dried spices and vegetables, nuts, seasonings, and every soy sauce imaginable. And while I come for the ingredients that inspire dinner, I never leave without a handful of snacks—turtle chips, unusual Pocky flavors, or a Calpico soda for the drive home.
What keeps me loyal, though, is how consistently affordable it is. Cilantro for under fifty cents a bunch, scallions for just a few coins, and produce that’s not only cheaper but better than what most supermarkets carry. It also carries practical frozen or ready-to-heat items that make breakfast and dinner easy for my kids. Arabiki sausages that they can’t get enough of (I stick them in the toaster while the bread is toasting to heat up, frozen pork soup dumplings, freshly steamed pork buns, and shelves of kitchenware—bowls, bamboo steamers, chopsticks—that end up in constant use at home.
What I come for most:
The produce section: ripe peaches, mangosteen, champagne mangoes, and an unbeatable mushroom selection
Herbs like Thai basil and lemongrass, always fresh and inexpensive
Specialty meats for hot pot and sukiyaki, plus every pig part imaginable
Live seafood tanks with crab, oysters, and spot prawns
Spice pastes, chili oils, cooking sauces, roasted rapeseed oil, an encyclopedic soy sauce selection, and other condiments and cooking sauces.
Bulk spices and dry pantry goods
Snacks like turtle chips, unusual Pocky varieties, and Calpico soda
Frozen dumplings, steamed buns, scallion pancakes, and other dim sum staples
Affordable everyday items like cilantro and scallions
Practical, well-priced kitchenware: bowls, chopsticks, and bamboo steamers
Where else do you like to shop in Seattle?
Comments
neuracnu
One thing I’ve always been curious about is going deep on everything on the inner isles of these import grocery stores. There are just so many items of things that I can’t identify or have any earthly clue what do do with. I feel like someone could make a career of just talking about what all these items are, how they’re used along with quality differentiators (what to look for, differences between tinned and fresh, etc).
Ken Geoduck JTo
Town and Country in Shoreline and Boo Han in Edmonds
