Japanese grocery stores in the UK and Ireland

posted on 26 Jan 2008 by maki :: 13 comments

Ireland

We do have some listings for Ireland in the comments below…I’ll incorporate them in here soon!

UK

General UK notes: Obviously the vast majority of Japanese and Asian groceries are located in and around London!

London and environs

Arigato Japanese Supermarket: 48 Brewer Street; London W1F 9TG; 020 7287 1722; Comments: “A nicely laid out mini-supermarket with a prepared food/bento section. Prices are generally a little higher here than at the Rice Wine Shop.” -(Loretta)

Centre Point Food Store: 20-21 St. Giles High Street; London WC2H 8LN; Tel: 020 7836 9860 Fax: 020 7240 1702; Korean and English web site; Comments: “Japanese and Korean store. Conveniently situated near Tottenham Court Road station, this good sized grocery stocks most of the common Japanese staples. Staff are friendly and very helpful with any Korean food questions you might have.” -(Loretta)

Japan Centre: 212-213 Piccadilly; London W1J 9HX; Tel: 020-7434-4218 Fax: 020-7287-1082; English and Japanese web site; e-mail: foodshop [at] japancentre [dot] com; Comments: “They have just expanded their grocery section by opening up a department next to the original premises. Prepared food and bento is available from the Toku restaurant. Also of note now is a fantastic range of cooking and tableware priced at 1.50GBP - like a very high-class ¥100 store.”-(Loretta); They have a cooperation with Daiso, a 100yen store chain; Within the Japan Centre is
Yoshino Sushi: Tel: 020-7434-3610 Fax: 020-7439-2979; e-mail: yoshino [at] yoshino [dot] net; Comments: “A dependable source for sushi and sashimi grade fish you can prepare yourself.” -(Loretta)

Oriental City: 399 Edgware Road; London, NW9 0JJ; Withiin Oriental City are:
J-mart: 020-8205-3988
Oriental City Supermarket: 020-8200-0009; Several people have mentioned Oriental City. This is a shopping mall anchored by an Asian supermarket. It was formerly a Yaohan Plaza, as were the Mitsuwa stores in the U.S. The future of Oriental City seems uncertain after May 2008.; Comments: “This started its life as the Yaohan Plaza and was once an AMAZING place to shop for Japanese food products. The Yaohan company collapsed but the supermarket still stocks Japanese produce (just not nearly as many as before), as well as those from other Asian countries. Although this remains a good place for Japanese groceries and the complex features shops where both cheap and not so cheap cooking and table items can be purchased, the future of Oriental City is very uncertain - there is no guarantee that it will exist at all after May 2008. This is why I did not mention it (I’ve shopped here periodically for the past 15 years or so)” -(Loretta); “I have been to the above shops and can vouch for them- the bad news however is that the idiots who own the land that oriental city is on are planning on knocking it down and building a homebase (DIY shop that every town has- not interesting in the least!) so after may this year it’s future is uncertain see Wikipedia entry. But if you can manage a visit before it closes it is SO worth it. Best Oriental place in london. Japan Centre is good but the two places I mentioned in Oriental City mall are brilliant.” -(Katherine)

Rice Wine Shop: 82 Brewer Street; SOHO, LONDON, W1F 9UA; 020-7439-3705; Japanese web site; Comments: “I feel great loyalty to this store. Although small it has an excellent selection of groceries and consistently good prices. Can be accessed with a wheelchair (a squeeze but possible)” -(Loretta); According to the site they will delivery to the UK mainland (though their site is all in Japanese…)

Seoul Plaza: Seoul Plaza 4; 136 Golders Green Road; London, NW11 8HB; 020 8731 7999; Several other locations; Korean and English web site; Comments: “Not Japanese, but Seoul Plaza in Golders Green has a decent range of Japanese stuff. And looking at their website there are 3 branches in New Malden, one in Cambridge, and one in Bratislava (!). Not been to any of the others but I expect they also stock Japanese food.” -(Alice)

(below is still unformatted - working on it!)

Oriental Delight Fairly pricey, but centrally-located and has a bigger range of Japanese food than the Chinese supermarkets nearby.

14 Gerrard St, London W1D 5PT 020 7439 1183

Wing Yip Chinese but has a seperate Japanese section, as well as a decent selection of fresh produce. Prices are about as good as you’ll get in London, especially if buying in bulk. Haven’t been since they finished the remodelling of the Cricklewood store, and never been to the others. I usually visit every couple of months to stock up on basics in bulk, much easier to drive there (plenty of free parking) than to try and lug 5kg bags of rice back on the bus!

Wing Yip http://www.wingyip.com Chinese supermarket chain

395 Edgware Road Cricklewood London NW2 6LN Tel: 020 8450 0422 Fax: 020 8452 1478

544 Purley Way Croydon CR0 4NZ Tel: 020 8688 4880 Fax: 020 8688 8786

375 Nechells Park Road Nechells Birmingham B7 5NT Tel: 0121 327 6618 Fax: 0121 327 6612

Oldham Road Ancoats Manchester M4 5HU Tel: 0161 832 3215 Fax: 0161 833 2798

Hoo Hing Comments: “Same deal as Wing Yip. Only been to the Park Royal store, didn’t like it as much as Wing Yip so only been the once. Can’t remember how much Japanese stuff it actually had either but there was some!”

Hoo Hing

A406 North Circular Rd Near Hangar Lane Park Royal London NW10 7TN

Lockfield Avenue Off Mollison Avenue Brimsdown Enfield Middlesex EN3 7QE

Dorma Trading Park Staffa Road London E10 7QX

Bond Road Off Western Road Mitcham Surrey CR4 3EB

Hoo Hing Commercial Centre Freshwater Rd Chadwell Heath Romford Essex RM8 1RX

Others There is also Oriental City, which I’ve never been to and the many Chinese supermarkets in Chinatown which have some Japanese stuff and fresh produce. There used to be a lovely little Japanese shop called Unohana in Golders Green (opposite the tube station), it closed for renovation according to the sign in the window but now seems to have closed for good. It was quite expensive and didn’t have a huge range but did sell ‘sushi-quality’ fish and decent ready-made sushi and bento boxes. If it ever reopens I will post about it.

Alice | 25 January, 2008 - 17:29

Oriental City - Colindale (North London - UK)

Name: Natural Natural Address: 20 Station Parade, Uxbridge Road, Ealing Common W5 3LD 1 Goldhurst Terrace, Finchley Road NW6 3HX Website: http://www.natural-natural.co.uk/naturalnatural/indexe.html http://www.natural-natural.co.uk/naturalnatural/indexj.html

Not London

(Not formated yet!)

Korea Foods Mart Unit 5 Wyvern Industrial Estate, Beverley Way,New Malden, Surrey, KT3 4PH 020 8949 2238

Seoul Plaza 1 36 High Street, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 4HE 020 8949 4329

Seoul Plaza 2 126 Malden Road, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 6DD 020 8942 9552

Seoul Plaza 3 91-93 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 2AW 012 2330 3610

Birmingham

Besides Wing Yip (see above)

There is a small Korean grocery on Bristol Rd., near Selly Oak station, which also carries Chinese and Japanese groceries.

Day-In Supermarket Chinese supermarket

http://www.dayin.co.uk/1.html

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13 comments so far...

Japan Centre - Daiso

“They have a cooperation with Daiso, a 100yen store chain” (Maki)

I’ve just looked through the Daiso website
http://www.daiso-sangyo.co.jp/english/products/
That’s really interesting!

Just to add that there are still changes going on at the Japan Centre. I went on the weekend to the new grocery and kitchen/dining goods department and they had a big sale on where all the Daiso stuff was being sold for 1GBP.
They had also just opened a new sushi/sashimi/fish counter at the front of the shop, but this wasn’t part of Yoshino.
I can’t tackle stairs at the moment so I don’t know what happened to the space the grocery section used to share with Yoshino (it’s underneath where the Toku restaurant is, in the basement). But this is to advise that the Japan Centre expansion is still being fine tuned and it’s all in a state of flux.
Still, it’s now become another Japanese store with wheelchair access in London. Good news for those of us who are mobility impaired.
(Sorry I couldn’t ask the staff any questions - it was way too busy - the Daiso goods were flying out!)

!ramble alert!
Cute two tier bento boxes are currently on sale for 2.50GBP.
http://www.japancentre.com/?cmd=cat&cid=520
(They seemed nice and sturdy)
They currently have a promotion on Yamato sauces which don’t feature in their website, the sudachi ponzu is really, really good, much better than others I’ve tried - and no MSG!
http://www.yamato-soysauce-miso.com/product_ponzu.html
Apparantly a 3* Michelin restaurant in France uses this range. The He-She-Ho is also pretty amazing and at 3.45GBP not so different in price to the ¥525 it retails for in Japan
http://www.yamato-soysauce-miso.co.jp/okaimono/s_hishiho.html

Loretta | 30 January, 2008 - 22:25

Mount Fuji

I use http://www.mountfuji.co.uk/ who will ship to me here in Spain, but I tend to have it shipped within the UK and then pick it up on my next trip.

I don’t know if they have a physical shop at all, but here is their address:

UK Office
Mount Fuji International
Nr Shrewsbury
SY4 1AS
Tel: (01743) 741169
Fax: (01743) 741650

Japan Office
Mount Fuji International
Shizuoka
Japan

sylvia | 19 February, 2008 - 11:51

Downstairs at the Japan Centre

The basement has changed a lot recently (I’m finally able to manage the stairs)

Yoshino is still there
http://www.yoshino.net/delica/location.html

But the rest of the basement has been transformed into a tea and sake centre.
The range of teas is much more extensive than on the website, also tea utensils are stocked (from 1.50GBp upwards). There’s a small but enticing range of fresh wagashi. And lots of sake, shochu and other liquors to choose from.

Loretta | 16 March, 2008 - 17:55

Downstairs at "Old" Japan Centre

Indeed, downstairs where the old supermarket was is now a large selection of sake,shochu and tea. With a huge selection of organic green tea along with one organic sake also being sold. (There is more organic sake available on the market, yet Japan Centre need more encouragement to purchase it). Alas, more people need to learn more about sake and shochu so they can appreciate it is a great drink that combines well with both western and japanese foods.

Yoshino has recently changed it’s layout as well with another counter selling sushi (they need their own independent store I think) just to sell the sushi. Still got a large selection of great sushi at reasonable prices.

anon. | 31 March, 2008 - 10:54

Japanese 'bakery' at Japan Centre - London

Last update on the Japan Centre.

A recently opened section is dedicated to Japanese Bakery items. These sell out quickly and pickings are slim in the evening.
You can now try classic delicacies such as curry ‘donuts’ and melon pan here.

I noticed good sized suribachis for just 4GBP yesterday. Perhaps the only item this store doesn’t have that I’d like them to stock is a pickling press.
(I still think the Rice Wine Shop has better prices for many things - for instance the rice flours for mitarashi dango are less than half the price at the RWS)

Loretta | 14 April, 2008 - 15:10

Unohana

I read there that Unohana in Golder’s Green had closed for good, but a new Japanese food shop was re-opened there, and it’s called Hello Kitchen.

Alan | 18 April, 2008 - 21:02

Ireland

It’s been a while since i’ve lived in Ireland, so I am not sure of the shop situation…but why put Ireland in with the UK? Leave it with the rest of Europe - there’s no need to group us together! I’ll come back and leave a more useful comment next time I’m home :)

Maria | 23 April, 2008 - 20:38

oriental city

oriental city is getting shut down early june- signs are saying this in the centre now, and while the superarket is still reliably open ‘toko home’ the brilliant little japanese home shop has only been opening on wednesdays- apparently the lady who runs it is in ill health, and her grandson has been opening the store when he’s not at work (wednesday atm), and there are no plans to relocated toko home

katherine | 26 April, 2008 - 22:10

Dublin - Ireland

Hi there, I don’t think there are any specialist Japanese-only grocery stores in Dublin Ireland, but the bigger “Asian” city-centre supermarkets which I would recommend as having some Japanese ingredients are: On the south-side: Asia Market, 18 Drury St., Dublin 2 (opening Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-19:00). Also, just around the corner from Asia Market on 25 South Great Georges St, is a small Oriental Emporium while over on the north-side of the city, there is another bigger Oriental Emporium at 30 Abbey Upper Street. Furthermore, that part of Parnell Street between O’Connell Street and Gardiner Street (also on the north side, Dublin 1) has many smaller Chinese supermarkets which might be worth checking out if you are in that part of town but I don’t think they stock specifically Japanese products.

Anyway the Asia Market and the Abbey Street Emporium are the two I would frequent the most. They are great and have a large selection of frozen foods, canned goods, dried goods, kitchenware, fruit, vegetables etc!

Incidentally - if you are looking for Japanese food in Dublin other than the usual Yamamori/Aya/Yo Sushi/Wagamama joints, I hear that these two less well-known and out of the way Japanese eateries are good though I haven’t tried them yet: Akasaka Japanese Restaurant, 1 Castleknock Village Centre, Castleknock, Dublin 15 (northwest suburb, Tel: 00353 1 810 3564) and Michie Sushi, 11 Chelmsford Lane, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 (south of city centre, Tel: 00353 7 497 6438) which caters and does take-out sushi (no sit-in restaurant) is http://www.michiesushi.com/ (Tues-Sun 12:00 – 22:00)

-p

pia | 28 April, 2008 - 14:08

Happy Kitchen

Was just about to post the same as Alan above! Happy Kitchen seems to have replaced Unohana.

They’ve done a little bit of remodelling (the till is now at the front) but otherwise it seems pretty similar. The range of takeaway sushi and bento didn’t seem as extensive as before (no dumplings and they appear to have got rid of the microwave), but the maki I bought was pretty decent and sensibly priced - £1.70 for tuna hosomaki, I think £2.50 for salmon, avocado and cucumber uramaki.

Didn’t have much time to have a proper look around, I noticed they still sold “sushi-grade” salmon, seemed to have a decent selection of miso and tofu, and sold dashi granules in a jar (seemingly impossible to find in London although Center Point Food Store seems to have it now too - I hate the sachets because I never need a whole one). Next time I’m nearby I will have a proper look around and report back with more info.

These are the contact details for Unohana, the address I assume will remain the same, not sure about the phone number.

10 North End Road
Golders Green
London
NW11 7PH
Tel. 020-8201-8833

Alice | 14 May, 2008 - 11:15

Okinami

Hi,

Just wanted to alert you to Okinami - it’s in my hometown of Brighton, and the shop has been round a while. They just opened a restaurant on New Road (opposite the Royal Pavilion) and now have an online shop too.

http://www.okinami.com/shophome.htm

Free delivery with orders over £50 !

Emma | 15 May, 2008 - 21:13

Miura japanese food

I found this store called Miura Japanese foods, and it sells Japanese food, and it’s in Kingston-upon-Thames, thats quite near the Outskirts of London.

I haven’t gone yet, but I’ll go tomorrow and comment on it when I can :) address is

KT2 7AF Coombe Road Kingston-upon-Thames, they don’t have a website, so thats all I can say for now :)

I wonder what this does?

Hope I helped
Dan

Dan | 8 June, 2008 - 00:10

Sheffield - Fresh Asia

This is the best “asian” supermarket I’ve come across in Sheffield - many Korean and quite a few Japanese things. You can ask these guys to order items you need.

497 Glossop Rd
Sheffield,
S10 2QE
0114 263 8080

Google map location

Matt | 21 June, 2008 - 12:39

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