I E.
Yelp
TO REVIEWERS: Past and Future - please do not make ignorant and culturally insensitive remarks about the groceries, staff or customers. English isn't commonly spoken here because it's a Chinese store IN CHINATOWN that doesn't cater to Anglo clientele or sells American products. If chicken feet or pigs blood isn't your thing? WALK AWAY! Just because it's outside of YOUR cultural norm doesn't mean it's "gross, weird or disgusting". Other cultures can say the same about frozen chicken nuggets; it's not even real chicken!
Now, for my review....
For what it's worth, I'm Asian and a native New Yorker with a lifetime of experience shopping at Asian markets. This market can get very crowded....NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED! Mental preparation is of the utmost importance PRIOR to engaging in a shopping excursion here! Customers RARELY seemed to travel in a straight, predictable path and often cut you off, rammed your cart out of frustration, impatience or carelessness, or abandoned their carts in the middle of isles while perusing - causing unnecessary bottlenecking.
That said - This is the largest Asian Market in Brooklyn with a huge selection of fresh, inexpensive, hard to find Asian produce. Massive frozen food selection of dumplings, buns, dim sum and fish balls (yes, it's a thing!)
It's clean, organized and well stocked with a variety of products from China, Taiwan, Indonesian, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. There isn't a huge selection of Indo/Paki, Japanese or Korean groceries beyond condiments.
The butcher and seafood departments have typical Asian staples, like tripe, tail-to-nose pork and live seafood. Needless to say, they're not Halal or Kosher. It all looks fresh. No funky smells of past-their-prime meats. Prices are very reasonable. Jockeying a position at the meat counters can be intimidating , so know what you want, how much you want and dive in.
To disarm and charm surly employees, remember to smile, be confident, say
Hello : "NI (knee) HOW (mandarin) or LAY HO" (Cantonese)
Thank You : "SHAY SHAY (Mandarin) or DAW Jeh (like, yeah)" (Cantonese)
LASTLY, do yourself a favor and download a translation app with live-camera Chinese-English text conversion like Google Translate to figure out what you're buying.
One star off for not having a more comprehensive snack selection or direct entrance to the actual store. 8th ave entrance requires you to walk through the food court to a narrow hall that leads you to the market but there are no shopping carts there. The "main" Market entrance and shopping carts are located off the parking lot but you'll have to hike up a long steep ramp.