Window shopping at pricey Mitsuwa, stocking up at Korean markets

The belly meat of even farmed blue-fin tuna goes for $79.99 a pound at Mitsuwa Marketplace, the Japanese supermarket and food court in Edgewater. The portion shown here is only 1.6 ounces and costs $8. Meanwhile, store-made sushi rolls contained added sugar and some salad dressings I saw listed high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient.

Wagyu Beef, named for a Japanese cattle breed, is heavily marbled with flavorful fat, and priced at $44.99 a pound.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On my rare visits to one of North Jersey's most expensive supermarkets, I buy cheap sake for cooking and a couple of over-sized cans of Japanese beer.

But I spend most of my time gawking at the ridiculously high prices Mitsuwa Marketplace shoppers pay for what is billed as premium fish and beef.

Anyone who thinks Whole Foods Market is expensive will get a reality check at Mitsuwa.

Over the years, I've splurged at this Japanese supermarket on ices delicately flavored with fruit and mackerel sushi rolls imported from Japan.

On Friday night, I picked up a 1.5-liter bottle of Yaegaki Sake brewed in California ($6.99), a 25-ounce can of Kirin Ichiban 100% malt beer ($2.99) and a 1-liter can of Asahi Super Dry ($3.49).

I briefly contemplated going to my favorite Japanese restaurant, Hiura on Main Street near Anderson Avenue in Fort Lee, with the giant can of Asahi, but then how would I drive home after consuming all that beer?

Mitsuwa Marketplace, 595 River Road, Edgewater; 201-941-9113. America Express credit cards aren't accepted. 

In contrast to Mitsuwa's prices for raw fish and meat, stands in the food court offer complete meals for under $10, above and below, and seating at tables with a view of the Hudson River and upper Manhattan.

Plastic representations of food-court meals look good enough to eat.

Shoppers at Mitsuwa Marketplace have the Hudson, but at H Mart in Little Ferry on Sunday, customers found a flooded parking lot entrance full of hidden potholes.

From the Hudson to the Hackensack

At the customer service counter of H Mart in Little Ferry, the young woman apologized for the flooded, potholed parking lot, but said the Korean supermarket chain has no plans to fix it until spring.

I've spoken to other customers who believe the shabby store, which occupies less than half of a large, otherwise empty building near the Hackensack River, will be torn down eventually.

Meanwhile, the store offers some of the best free samples on weekends, making lunch unnecessary.

On Sunday, I tried three or four kinds of fresh and dried fruit, a seafood pancake, cooked octopus slices, green tea noodles and fish cake in hot broth.

I picked up a box of Shin Ramyun, a spicy instant noodle soup, with 16 4.2-ounce portions for $9.99 with a store card, a savings of $7.

Two big heads of leafy baby mustard greens were on sale for 88 cents a pound (regularly $1.69 a pound).

H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry; 201-814-0400.

Arirang Kimchi 

From H Mart in Little Ferry, I drove to Arirang Kimchi in Ridgefield, and purchased a 64-ounce bottle of Mahk or Cabbage Kimchi ($10).

Arirang is in the small H&Y Marketplace shopping center, where I picked up Marinated Tofu ($4.99) and Jun's Wild Sesame Tofu ($5), both made in that Korean supermarket.

Red bell peppers were on sale for 79 cents a pound.

H&Y Marketplace (Han Yang Mart), 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield; 201-943-7100. Free food samples on weekends.

So Gong Dong, a popular soft-tofu restaurant where a complete meal costs $10, is on the second floor of this Broad Avenue building in Palisades Park. My final stop on Sunday afternoon was to pick up takeout for dinner.

Fruits of my Korean food odyssey at my front door on Sunday.

Costco's Greek smoothie, Korean blood sausage, Arirang Kimchi

Langers Mango Nectar and Kirkland Signature Greek Yogurt are two of the ingredients in smoothies we make with fresh bananas and frozen strawberries and blueberries, all from Costco Wholesale.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Kirkland Signature Greek Yogurt has it all -- it's non-fat, packed with protein and calcium, and versatile.

We use the tangy yogurt to thicken fruit smoothies, garnish hot cereal, mix it with diced cucumbers and dried mint to eat over organic brown rice or quinoa, and as a stand-in for sour cream on baked sweet potatoes.

Two 32-ounce containers were $7.39 at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Costco's Greek Yogurt and dried mint on a baked sweet potato served with an egg-white omelet.

A sweet potato with Greek Yogurt and pomegranate seeds, also from Costco, served with sauteed spinach and Jamaican ackee and salt fish.

Korean blood sausage, kimchi

I returned to Arirang Kimchi's new store in Ridgefield today to replenish my supply of its incomparable handmade cabbage or mahk kimchi.

The ingredients list is short: Nappa Cabbage, radish, salt, salted shrimp, red pepper, garlic, anchovy sauce, ginger, water, sugar, scallion.

A 5-pound bag is $7.99.

The crunchy kimchi will leave your lips tingling.

Next door at H&Y, a Korean supermarket, I grazed on free food samples, including several kinds of fruit, maple tree water and two types of fish cake in hot soup.

When I got home, I snacked on cabbage kimchi and a slice of Jun's Wild Sesame Tofu with gochujang, a spicy vinegared red-pepper paste.

One of the popular free weekend food samples at H&Y, a Korean supermarket in Ridgefield, is blood sausage, foreground. A woman who was eating a sample said the sausage is made with translucent noodles mixed with cow's blood. A package was $6.

Live abalone are available.

Jun's Tofu is made at H&Y, including soft tofu for soup ($3.50), left, and Wild Sesame Tofu, sold in 30-ounce blocks ($5), right. Jun's Tofu is non-GMO.

A delivery truck for Arirang Kimchi reflected in the glass of the store at 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield, next to H&Y Supermarket.

Above and below, Arirang Kimchi ready to be delivered to Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong on East 32nd Street in Manhattan, a Korean barbecue restaurant owned by a famous comedian.

Arirang Kimchi, 1 Remsen Place, in the H&Y Marketplace shopping center, Ridgefield; 201-313-7975. Open 7 days.

An out-of-state upstart satisfies my hunger for kimchi at home

The long-delayed relocation of Arirang Kimchi to Ridgefield from Englewood remains incomplete.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The jar of kimchi in my refrigerator came all the way from Pennsylvania.

I had hoped to pick up Arirang's handmade cabbage kimchi in Ridgefield on Saturday, but the family owned company hasn't completed its relocation from Englewood.

The storefront in the H&Y Marketplace shopping center looks much the same as it did a couple of months ago.

I  looked under the "COMING SOON" banner covering the plate-glass window, and could see only three or four large refrigerated cases against one wall.

I have been a loyal Arirang customer for more than a decade, and have loved the crunch of its spicy cabbage, cucumber and radish kimchis.

So many kimchis...

But on Saturday, I had to go into H&Y, a Korean supermarket; look over a dozen brands and purchase a 64-ounce bottle of Mukungwha Mac Kimchi from Joo Young Food Inc. in Willow Grove, Pa. ($8.99).

The ingredients list is short: Cabbage, red pepper, ginger, onion, garlic, salt, fish sauce. 

Costco Wholesale in Hackensack is selling a smaller bottle of cabbage kimchi for $7.99, but I haven't bought any because it contains beef-bone extract and added sugar.

One of my favorite items at H&Y Marketplace is a  2-pound package of Jun's Wild Sesame Seed Tofu ($5), made in the store with non-GMO soybeans. A great snack is a thick slice of this tofu with a little sweet-and-spicy gochujang, below.

A 2.2-pound bottle of refrigerated Sinsong Vinegared Red-Pepper Paste or Gochujang was on sale for $4.99, a discount of $1. I bought two. This brand is made with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. The bottles were placed on the shelf above an old, incorrect sign for wasabi.

Mukungwha Mac Kimchi from Pennsylvania.

The cabbage kimchi sold at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack is $7.99, but the bottle is smaller, only 58 ounces.

H&Y Marketplace, 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield; 201-943-7400.

Holy mackerel, non-GMO tofu and instant noodle soup

I've heard of Spanish mackerel and Atlantic mackerel, but H&Y Marketplace in Ridgefield has a special on wild-caught Norway mackerel.

Jun's Tofu is made from non-GMO soybeans at H&Y Marketplace.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Shopping at H&Y Marketplace, a Korean supermarket in Ridgefield, is growing on me, even though it is farther away than H Marts in Little Ferry and Englewood, and smaller than a Super H Mart in the same town.

This H&Y is newer and cleaner than the Bergenfield branch, which has a badly worn floor that is a big turnoff.

And the shopping experience is relaxed, with no crowds to fight and plenty of empty parking spaces in the lot.

On Saturday, my second visit to the Ridgefield H&Y, I enjoyed more free samples, including cooked brown rice wrapped in seaweed and cabbage kimchi; bought natural tofu made in the store, and checked out the grocery aisles.

A big tub of Jun's Wild Sesame Tofu (1 pound, 15 ounces) -- made with non-genetically modified soybeans, black sesame seeds and sea salt -- was $5, and another customer advised me to try it with a little soy sauce. 

Samples were delicious. At home, adding a little gyoza dipping sauce and sesame oil, the tofu had a nutty flavor, and I liked the crunch of the sesame seeds.

A 16-portion box of Shin Ramyun spicy instant noodle soup was on sale for $11.99, as was a half-gallon of Lactaid 1% lactose-free milk for $3.49 or what ShopRite charges for its house brand.

I noticed H&Y carries at least three brands of a Korean staple called gochujang made with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup, and at better prices than H Mart.

Gochujang is a vinegared, hot red-pepper sauce that can be added to soups and sandwiches, and eaten with barbecued meat and broiled fish.

In the fish department, fresh Norway mackerel was only $1.89 a pound.

At the H Mart in Englewood, a sign advises seafood buyers the store is supplied by the Fulton Fish Market in New York City. Tanks, left, hold live abalone and Dungeness crabs. The crabs were $10.99 a pound.

Wild-caught shrimp from Mexico at the Englewood H Mart.

More seafood

Today, I bought four wild-caught sea bass at the H Mart in Englewood for dinner tonight ($5.49 a pound).

I was tempted by large, wild-caught shrimp from Mexico -- as an alternative to Costco Wholesale's farmed Black Tiger shrimp from Vietnam -- but didn't feel like deveining them.

The live Dungeness crabs in a tank of water also looked good.

For an appetizer, I picked up a Jinga-brand seaweed, rice and vegetable roll called kimbap ($6.49).

A tray of kimbap comes with jalapeño peppers and Korean pickles.

H&Y Marketplace, 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield; 201-943-7400.

H Mart, 25 Lafayette Place, Englewood; 201-871-8822.