If you are looking for recommendations when it comes to the best Asian supermarkets in Auckland, we have you covered. We love to shop at these marts as they provide excellent value, fresh produce, and things you may not eat on a regular basis. When finding a supermarket, you have to take into consideration how long they’ve been around, where you will need to drive, and how close one is to your place.
Lim Chhour Supermarket – Best Asian mart in Auckland CBD
If you want a grocery store that stocks all your favourite Asian ingredients, Lim Chhour supermarket on K road is a great place to shop. It has excellent prices and is stocked with all your favourite ingredients. We were so happy with the range that they have and love that they have so many options.
We mainly shop at these places for veggies and staple ingredients as we go to a local butcher for our meat, but their veggie prices are just insane.
Sometimes it’s super busy here and you might find that the customer service is not the best, but they do a great job regardless and patience is the key.
You can’t go wrong when you stick to the dry food items, and chili sauces (there are so many to choose from). These will enhance and add flavour to any dish!
Tai Ping Trading Company – Another great CBD option
Tai Ping is probably one of the most renowned Asian supermarkets in Auckland. When we find that we are trying to cook a dish and we don’t have the necessary items, we head straight to Tai Ping and they help us out.
If you have a recipe, with ingredients that you have no clue on what they are, the staff at Tai Ping know their way around food, and will generally give you a helping hand.
Tai Ping is full of strange and unique eastern flavours, just standing in the place alone is enough to invigorate your senses. If you find that you need sauces for instance, head to the sauce section and pick a few ones that you may like the look of. Ask the people at the counters if they are familiar with the sauce, and perhaps what dishes the sauce goes with.
It may take a bit of trial and error; however, your dishes will never be the same.
The supermarket has a variety of everything and sometimes you might find yourself leaving with more items than you bargained for. They have an extensive range of sauces and tofu’s for example and the fridge section is stocked with it. The veggies look great as well, however due to the amount of people they have coming in, the veggies are restocked often.
Greenlane Marketplace – A more central supermarket option
The Greenlane marketplace is an option for people who live in the area and are looking for a great alternative to the countdown that’s there. This used to be the old Huckleberry farm store years, and years ago however this has since been the new option for our eastern goods. They have an excellent range of fruits and veggies, all looking superb and fresh. They have a very extensive option of sauces and dried goods and we were curious to see how much we could get, for the same price at countdown. For roughly 50$ we got bags of veggies, an arrangement of sauces, including the best chili oil you can grab and dried goods like noodles, frozen dumplings and more.
This place is very popular and the staff are super friendly and willing to help you out. If you are wanting to make a dish that needs some expert advice, these are the people to go to.
If you live in the area this place is a bonus.
Jadan Supermarket – The biggest variety of products
Jadan is a great option for people who live near Dominion road. They stock a huge range of meats, vegetables, sauces and cooking utensils for people who are looking to grab some cheap cooking gear.
It is a very big space and will give you all the options you need for cooking up a storm. It is very well lit and clean and the staff are great at showing you around because, believe us when we say its massive.
Jadan is very well maintained and the last time we went in there, it was super clean.
Their Facebook page is also updated with any deals and pricing options there so you can’t go wrong finding out any information you need. Their opening hours are on their website and most of their information is there too.
Jadan has a wide range of suppliers which help keep their stock fresh, and helps them move quickly through customers giving them their food and goods as soon as possible.
Japan Mart – A smaller store in the CBD
If you are a university student, this place is stocked with the best Japanese groceries and snacks that you can grab. The prices are excellent and you might find yourself buying far more than you initially planned.
They have a range of Japanese kitchen items and other household items like cooking utensils, bento boxes and cutlery. These will come in handy for when you’re planning a sushi night for your friends.
Its super refreshing to see small stores like these around Auckland CBD which are so well organised and price orientated. Coming in to the Japan Mart
This recently opened up just down the road from my work and it’s refreshing to have such an array of Japanese speciality foods in central Auckland, and reasonably priced too. It’s great to be able to stock up on Asian ingredients without having to make a special trip to a store out of the city, so I can cook healthy week-night meals. It’s great for office lunches and snacks too – miso soup and a huge selection of noodles. Very happy to have Japan Mart in the neighbourhood and I hope it’s here to stay.
A slightly bigger selection would be nice, but the Newmarket branch is a bit larger so when all else fails, there’s always that.
Gai Lee Trading – Best option in Otahuhu
A classic run-of-the-mill Asian Supermarket that’s been in Otahuhu for a very long time. They have an extensive stock of all kind of eastern groceries that will help you spice up any dish. They have an assortment of frozen goods and very good prices, and also stock western goods as well. The fruit might sometimes be on the average side however you can judge this yourself.
The service is great, they are busy at times so wait times might increase, but the staff are friendly and helpful. If you live in the area, you absolutely must check out Gai Lee.
Its located in the main drag of Otahuhu and is a very convenient store to head into. A lot of the supermarkets sell foods that we have no idea’s on, however when we dive head first into the culinary world, trying new items is awesome.
If you need help with any items you’re going to add to your cooking, the staff will help you out.
