Celebrate with H Mart coupons, rebates

The Spanish Mackerel Dinner at Woochon Restaurant in Palisades  Park.

Editor's note: Today, I report on a shopping trip with H Mart coupons, and another great dinner at Woochon Restaurant, a recent addition to the Korean dining scene in Palisades Park.

To help shoppers celebrate H Mart's 30th year in America, the Korean supermarket chain sent out a new coupon booklet to holders of its store card.

"The savings are almost as good as 30 years ago," the booklet cover boasts, but that's a wild exaggeration.

On Wednesday, I stopped at the Englewood H Mart and picked up three coupon items, plus fresh fish, baby bok choy and Korean sweet potatoes for dinner.

Three bags of Nong Shim Shrimp Crackers were $1 -- a savings of $1.97. Two 1-pound bags of Arizona Farm Cactus Honey Powder, a sugar substitute, were $4 -- a savings of $3.98.

And an 8-pack of Premium Roasted Seaweed snack was $1.99 -- a savings of $2.

Last year, H Mart issued a Smart Card, which entitles shoppers to in-store sales and a 1% rebate or reward.

But you don't get anything back until you spend $1,000 at its Bergen County stores. 

On Wednesday, I picked up a $10 rewards certificate at the Englewood store. However, it's not redeemable for cash.

I plan to use a coupon for Choripdong 7 Grains -- a combination of brown rice, beans and other grains. A 10-pound bag is $9.99 with the coupon, good from Sept. 8-23.

But after seeing the many artificial ingredients and colors in Hansung Seafood Nuggets, I decided against buying any.

Even the non-sale items were a good value.

At home, we had a wonderful dinner of pan-fried whole whiting; baby bok choy with sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic powder; and boiled and mashed Korean sweet potato with garlic powder and olive and sesame oils.

We pan-fried fresh whole whiting. They were $3.99 a pound.

Baby bok choy were 78 cents a pound. We plated the fish and bok choy with mashed Korean white sweet potatoes, which were $1.99 a pound.

A meal to share

Korean food lends itself to sharing, as I discovered at Woochon Restaurant in Palisades Park.

For dinner one night, I ordered grilled Spanish Mackerel ($16.99), then watched a procession of dishes arrive at my table.

First, 10 side dishes of tofu, vegetables and noodles were arrayed before me.

Some of the side dishes served at Woochon Restaurant.

You can order live fluke for an expensive, over-the-top sashimi dinner.

 As I worked my way through the side dishes, the fish arrived, along with a stone bowl of bean-curd soup and another dish holding the brown rice I asked for instead of white rice.

On the way out, I looked at one of the restaurant's fish tanks, and saw live fluke from Long Island hugging the bottom.

They were destined to come up for air, and be served as sashimi. 

After that big Spanish Mackerel dinner, I needed to come up for air, too.

Woochon Restaurant, 280 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-242-9999.

New life for an old market

Image via Wikipedia

I used to be a big fan of King Fung, the Chinese supermarket on Kinderkamack Road in River Edge, drawn by its live fish and Dungeness crabs, fresh greens and a nice selection of inexpensive Japanese bowls. I even wrote it up several years ago when I was doing the Marketplace column at The Record.

But as the years passed, the store became increasingly shabby. I gauged the decline by the filthy floor in the produce section and, eventually, I stopped going.Yesterday, I went back, looking for more Japanese bowls, and discovered the New King Fung Supermarket, which has been refurbished and rearranged.

The worn, dirty linoleum floor has been replaced and there is a new fish case and new signs. The drop ceiling also may be new. The store seems brighter. The same courteous cashiers are on duty. There's no need to go to Flushing or Chinatown for ingredients: It's all here.

Shelves are filled with a wide selection of dried noodles; small jam-filled cakes and mochi; bottled cooking wine, sauces and oils; and canned eel and fish. I saw more than 20 kinds of whole fresh fish on a bed of ice, a tub of live frogs and tanks of live fish and crabs.

The produce section is full of fresh-looking greens and Chinese vegetables. There are cases of frozen dumplings and other food. Meat, chicken and herbal remedies are also available, as are bags of California-grown rice. Take-out Chinese food is inexpensive, but it doesn't look too appetizing.

I bought four medium-size Japanese bowls at $4.99 each (great for cereal, soup or rice); Shanghai bok choy, Chinese cooking wine and small fruit mochi and mango cakes, and put New King Fung back on my list of great places to shop for food.

For dinner last night, I blanched six to eight whole bok choy in boiling water for a few minutes, then transferred them to a pan with heated cooking wine and soy sauce, seasoned them with black pepper and covered the pan, allowing them to cook for about five minutes. We had them with wild-caught fried flounder from Costco and spaghetti in marinara sauce. A nice dinner.

New King Fung Supermarket, 625 Kinderkamack Road,
River Edge; 201-262-8558. No Web site.