Stephanie P.
Yelp
District H is to H Mart as Kai Market is to Uwajimaya... the upscale, higher-priced SLU boutique version of the store. But hey, if you live or work in SLU and can't easily get over to the ID or U-district, this is a viable option for getting some Asian grocery essentials and/or picking up a quick lunch.
Lunch options include a grab-and-go cold case and hot case at the store entrance, which have their own dedicated register right at the door to make things fast, which is nice. Bowls (including poke and chirashi bowls) range from $8-11, although they looked a little on the skimpy side, maybe only 2/3 full. There's also a food court serving up grilled meat, dumplings and kimbap. You use screens to place your order and pick up your food downstairs, next to the Tous les Jours bakery.
Tous les Jours is much like 85 Degrees - some items like bread loaves or pastries are prebagged to grab-and-go, but most are in cases. You pick up a tray and tongs and work your way around, grabbing your selections and taking them to the front to pay. By the registers, there's a hot case with a few savory items like croquettes. There's also a cold case with macarons, cake slices, and very cute whole cakes. Individual pastries range from $2-5; I tried a cocoa hazelnut croissant ($3.50) that was pretty fresh, flaky, and had a nice presentation with chopped cocoa nibs sprinkled on top.
The grocery part of the store is bigger than Kai Market and has a better selection overall. It has a smallish produce section, some fresh packaged meat and fish, and a pretty large frozen section with meat, fish, rice cakes and noodles, convenience foods like dumplings and meals, and frozen desserts and ice cream. There's also a selection of ramen packets, sauces, cooking ingredients, chips, cookies and candy (although the snack selection is surprisingly small, since I would think that's what a lot of people are here for). The layout and size is very similar to the H Mart in the U-district.
The store is new, and as others noted, they're still working out the grand-opening growing pains. But the employees seem friendly and chatty, and they were busy restocking the shelves for the lunch rush, so everything seems fresh and good-quality. Overall, I'm happy to see this new addition to the lunch lineup in SLU!