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: Both shops below have a shop and also online-store.

•  Yumi Hana – A Korean & Japanese grocery store just off Zurich Bahnhofstrasse. Location is convenient, and great for one-stop shopping when you need both Korean and Japanese ingredients and some basic pan-Asian sauces.
• Nishi Shop : A small Japanese grocery store near the tram stop Milchbuck – however they carry Japanese products only, so if you need Korean or other Asian items, you cannot get them here.

Chinese Supermarkets: These places carry authentic Chinese items but frequently carry products that are 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):

• New Asia Market : A large pan-Asian shop near Wiedikon, perfect for southeast Asian ingredients and especially fresh Thai/Vietnamese vegetables and herbs. You can also find 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!
• Asia Way: Vietnamese owned supermarket in Oerlikon center. It’s a small supermarket attached to a Vietnamese restaurant, but they carry most of the things you might need for Asian cooking. 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.

Indian groceries:

• Art of Food (Zurich-Oerlikon): Small shop but has lots of basic Indian ingredients like rice, wheat flour, fresh vegetables. For lunch time they sell samosas for take-away. Saturdays are very crowded.
• Aggarwal: (Zurich city): THE Indian supermarket where they sell many fresh ingredients and also household/ kitchen items.

Where/How to get thinly cut meat (Korean/Japanese style) for Bulgogi/Shabu-Shabu/Sukiyaki: 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 Chinoise 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.