- [Matt] People go crazy
for a Korean grocery store chain
called H Mart.
To celebrate new store openings,
the supermarket is mobbed with people
taking in the food and opening day festivities.
- We're back at H Mart.
- Founded in New York City, H Mart has been around
since the 1980's.
In recent years they have aggressively expanded
and now it's the largest Asian American
grocery chain in the US.
What H Mart does, which is really, really incredible
is that, it just gives you
like such a tremendous amount of choice.
I mean, that's really the American supermarket experience.
With all it's choices, some folks might find
that it can be a little daunting to shop here.
I'm gonna give you my tips on
"Shopping at H Mart for Beginners."
Now there's one thing to know about Korean markets
is that a lot of them will have banchan and kimchi.
There's no shame in going to the store
and buying it already made.
So, buy a lot of banchan and eat it at home,
that is actually a very authentic thing
that Koreans will do.
(grunting)
Okay, this is how kimchi gets made.
You get salt, you salt the kimchi.
They know that people are gonna be making them
in mass quantities, so that's why they have these
fricking 50 pound bags of sea salt.
But, if you're not gonna get that,
you could always get the more
modestly sized Korean sea salt.
When you put this in the kimchi, that's where you
get that distinctive touch.
If the essence of Korean food is kimchi,
then the essence of kimchi are
these huge heads of Napa cabbage.
They're actually larger than my fricking huge head.
I have to get this now, I touched it.
So, this is your classic jar of kimchi.
If you're gonna keep this in your fridge at home,
I kinda recommend wrapping it with some plastic bags
and sealing it because if not, everything in your fridge
will smell like this.
This was always my favorite section growing up
because I love ramyun.
I would always want to get these
and then my mom would be like no, you can't get that.
It's too unhealthy, so you gotta get the little one.
Yeah, this is like a ramen lovers heaven,
I mean look at this.
Korean instant ramen might be some of the best
in the world.
It's becoming an increasing part of how
Koreans eat every day.
Like especially with the growth of mukbang
and these foods that you need to hear people
slurping all the time.
Instant ramen is hugely important.
This is what I was looking for.
Ppushu Ppushu, this is actually the ramen noodles
actually designed to be eaten as a noodle snack.
So, it's not designed to be boiled.
(crunching)
It needs some MSG, yeah.
Nice.
Magic dust, flavor.
I felt so wrong eating this when I was growing up
in elementary school, and now they just like figured out
that this is what kids do.
Oh man, that's so good.
You can also get meats here, so.
LA kalbi, it's already pre marinated,
all you gotta do is go home, fire up your grill.
You can even just cook this on a cast-iron skillet.
Growing up like we would go to picnics
and my family would go and ask them
for like 50 pounds of this stuff.
So, you get a whole bucket, and you're just
grilling this up in the park.
This thing cooks up in like five minutes.
Korean food has so much seafood in it.
The peninsula is surrounded by the ocean
and the ocean was a reliable place to get food.
Yeah, let's get some sashimi.
Look, this is not gonna be better than
your omakase restaurant but actually
it would probably be equivalent
to a really good conveyor belt sushi place.
You can take this home, and for 13 bucks
you can have a really solid array of sashimi.
The thing that you want is the cho gochujang,
red chili paste.
And that's really what you're supposed to dip these in.
To me, kimbap is like the quintessential market food.
People call it Korean sushi and that's
like an American way of understanding this.
There's no real need to get too cerebral about them.
It's a quintessential like after-school snack.
Your parents would grab one,
they go to the market during the day, they grab one.
And when you come home, this is what you can eat.
What is so important about H Mart is that it's expanding
cultural awareness of Korean food here in the US,
and even internationally.
It's organized and presented in a way that is
simple for anyone to have a little or a big taste
of Korean food and culture.
But knowing what you are looking for
is definitely half the battle.
I pretty much bought the entire store
and look, I have it on one arm.
Did you know that H Mart stands for han-ah-reum,
or one arm full of groceries.
Thank you so much for watching.
And if you wanna see more of K-Town,
click right here.