Where to buy Asian groceries

If you’re coming from Asia or a multi-cultural city like NY, San Francisco where there is a strong Asian presence, Zurich might seem like a desert in terms of Asian ingredients, but actually you just need to know where to go. There are small and mid-size shops in the city where you’ll be able to get most of the Asian ingredients you need. I’m listing some of the places that I frequently visit to get the ingredients for my Asian cooking classes.

Korean/Japanese Supermarkets: I get my Korean ingredients like the red chili powder at Yumi Hana, a Korean & Japanese grocery store just off Zurich Bahnhofstrasse. Location is convenient, and great for one-stop shopping when I need both Korean and Japanese ingredients and some basic pan-Asian sauces. There is also a small Japanese grocery store Nishi Shop near the tram stop Milchbuck – however they carry Japanese products only.

Chinese Supermarkets

If you’re looking for Sichuan pepper, chilli flakes or Doubanjang and fresh noodles for your Ramen, this is the place to go. These places have a tendency to carry products that have past shelf-life so take a close look at the expiry date when you purchase things.

• Lian Hua in Zurich-Wiedikon
• Lian Hua near Zurich-Oerlikon

Pan-Asian (mostly Southeast Asian ingredients): For the wild green onions and rice flours/tapioca flour/ glutenous rice flour, Vietnamese/Thai ingredients, you can go to basically any southeast Asian supermarkets in Zurich. A really big one that I go to is the New Asia Market near the Kalkbreite tram station. They mostly sell south-east Asian groceries but you can find pan-Asian groceries and cooking equipments like bamboo steamers and green papaya slicer. On Saturday mornings they sell some freshly made Vietnamese take-away food like Banh-Mi, summer rolls and sweet snacks, Go before noon on Saturdays if you want to buy some of them. They sell like hotcakes!

Another Asian (Vietnamese) supermarket that I frequent is in Oerlikon, called Asia Way. It’s a small supermarket attached to a Vietnamese restaurant, but they carry most of the things I need. Even some Korean products, Philippine, Taiwanese and Indian too.

If you need to buy Asian groceries on a Sunday, Asia Store in Zurich main station underground is the place to go.

How to get thinly cut beef for Bulgogi/Shabu-Shabu/Sukiyaki meat: Take Beef “Hochrücken (Ribeye)” part of the beef. It is marbled nicely with fat, so it stay juicy when you cook. In general most of the butchers in Zurich city know how to cut the meat like the meat fondue. If they don’t understand it, just say you want it thinly sliced like meat Fondue. If you can’t get to a butcher, use the Migros/Coop Fondue Chinois meat in the freezer section – they work really well.

Where are some of your favorite places to shop for Asian groceries? Share your comments here.