Waimalu Market

2stars for the service!!3stars for sushi! Service sucks! Sushi good and KIm chee too.

I love this place! They have various tea, fresh fruits, vegetables, drinks, ready-​to-​eat korean food, and the price is moderate. I go grocery at this place once per week to get the ethnic items i cannot find in NEX. They open until 9pm.

This place is located in the Waimalu shopping center. It was formerly called Waimalu Market. I love coming to this place. I no longer have to go to town to get my authentic Korean fix!
They have have a good amount of Korean groceries to choose from. They have some of my favorite Korean snacks like the smoky bacon chips and Milkis soda! They also sell a lot of namul (side dishes) such as seaweed, dried radish, choi sum and of course kim chee. I do wish they had a larger area for kpop and kdrama. They have a small health and beauty front and an accessories/​clothing section in the front.
The store is clean considering this shopping center is a bit rundown.
My favorite part is they have a hot food bar in the front and a takeout place is the back of the sore to get all your favorites such as kim chee stew and bi bim bap. They also have a table by the registers with all sorts of hot food such as kim bap, jap chae, spicy rice cakes, man doo and assorted bentos to name a few. If you go before noon, there is a pretty good selections and the food is fresh. My favorite is the fried egg and man doo!
Parking sometimes can be difficult with all the eateries in Waimalu Shopping Center.
^_​^*~

I was putting together my newspaper to recycle when I came across their ad for $ 1 breakfast choices and a free medium drink, when four $ 1 items are selected. They also accept debit cards, you just have to walk in to the market and pay at a register, after you place your order from the outside take out window.
One corned beef hash patty, three gyozas, and kim chee fried rice for $ 3 and tax.

I initially went into this place to get some Korean sushi which tasted okay, but this review is not about that. I saw a 12-​pack of New Castle beer for $ 15.99 and thought it was a steal since most grocery stores rarely ever mark down my favorite ale. OMG big mistake! I thought it tasted a bit different when I took a swig from the bottle, and so I decided to pour it into a glass. It still tasted a little skunky so I looked for an expiration date. This is when I realized that New Castle beer uses a special code indicating the production date and brewery location. As I started to do some research over the Internet, I discovered that my discounted beer was well OVER a year and half OLD! I am so ticked off that I bought into their scheme to get rid of some skunky beer. I doubt that I can get seriously ill from old beer, but it makes me wonder what other old products are they letting sit on their shelves!!! I’m not about to find out, never going back here again!

So I’ve had a few reviews in the oven, so to speak, but have been too busy with my life outside of Unilocal to write them (Yes, I really do other things than Unilocal… it’d be bad Kim Chee for me to keep writing about places I’ve never actually set foot in… ala Café Duck Butt… so I’ve been out doing more «research»). :)
Having been in the oven for awhile you’d think this next set of reviews would come out burnt to a crisp, but surprisingly instead… like this opening… they’re all a little half-​baked.
For a very brief period in third grade I thought I was Korean, in fact I was sure of it. I told my teacher, she told my mother, and my mother told me «You’re not Korean, you’re Chinese-​Japanese!» Unfazed by this revelation, I calmly brought out my almanac, pointed to the three countries and said «See every in Korea is half-​half!» Yeah, I was one of THOSE kids, my poor mom.
At some point in my childhood (or maybe after… memories getting hazy) I recall going to Palama Market at the Dillingham Shopping Plaza. Specifically my mom would go their for high quality affordable meats (Kal-​bi aka Short Rib, Flap Meat, etc), Korean vegetables, and an Assortment of side dishes (Woohoo Taegu!!!)
—TAEGU break… pulled some out of the fridge to eat for breakfast—
Back to Palama Market… I also really liked the Korean plate lunches they sold there (much better than Yummy, Tasty, or Pearl BBQ). So anyway I’ve always wished central Oahu had a great Korean Market like that… well I’m happy to announce that NOW WE DO.
While it took me awhile to get here (both in life and in this review), Waimalu Market does an nice job filling a much needed void.
Some aspects are still getting going (still waiting for FISH, and the meat selection is limited), but as the signs inside note, given time those things’ll be there. The remodeled space is brighter and cleaner then the Marujyu Market that preceded it.
I’ve gone in twice already, and it’ll probably be at least a weekly thing. This is a perfect place to shop if you want to make a hot pot dinner. They’ve got AFFORDABLE thinly sliced rib-​eye, thinly sliced pork, fresh vegetables, and cheap mushrooms (Enoki’s were only ninety-​nine cents a bunch).
They have a huge frozen seafood section, that thankfully has English translations (for those of us who thought we were Korean). Also to be found there are large selections of rice, dried mushrooms, sauces, and sweets (they have those Meiji chocolate Dip Sticks and chocolate Pandas? Koalas… I told you my memory was going).
My favorite section is the assorted side dish section (these are just a few)…
Taegu — Very good, am on my second container already. Always loved the honey sweetness covered fish mixed with hints of red pepper, seasame oil, and paprika
Kim Cheed Daikon Strips — I threw a few of these potent pieces on top my Mac n Cheese the other night and was euphoric for hours
Little Fish — Tasty, but a little dry… was having a hard time eating them, got as many stuck in my teeth as I swallowed… sorry TMI.
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If you make it to Waimalu Market between 10am and 5pm (the store stays open later) it’s worth checking out their plate lunch/​super early plate dinner counter. One day after work I rushed over and had the Kalbi/​BBQ Chicken combo (see picture). You get a choice of four sides that includes Kim Chee (good), Mandoo (good), some ika thing (tasty, but too tough), long rice like noodles (bad), and about 5 0r 6 others. The Kal-​bi was tasty and grilled to perfection. The chicken while grilled expertly was to subtly flavored (read slightly bland). It still tasted good, but I prefer the chicken at J’s in Kakaako or Bar-​B-​Q Inn in Pearl City. I plan to go back to sample the BBQ beef, Fish Jun, Meat Jun and Bi Bim Bap.
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All in all I’m just happy that this hood now has a good Korean Market.
Hmmm time for another Taegu break (looking back at the container, it’s just Park’s Brand, not anything produced in house, oh well, still good)…
BTW don’t try taking pictures inside (I managed to take one, but was politely asked to never do so again… Send me a message if you’re really curious… while nice it’s nothing mind blowing).