SeeWoo

No Japanese ichiban ramen or Korean chapaghetti when I visited (it was a while ago). This was incredibly disappointing. Otherwise, an okay Chinese grocery. I prefer it over the others on the main drag because it’s not as packed on the weekends. I can’t quite remember whether the produce was very fresh. I have a vague recollection of some dodgy fresh ginger that I purchased there.

There is a good selection of greens, sauces and fresh noodles here to get you started on your stir-​fry collection. The fresh wonton noodles come in huge bags — enough for a huge party of like, 30 people — so keep that in mind if you are feeling ambitious enough to take on the challenge of cooking all the noodles before they expire. I really dig those small round cartons of almond cookies they have right before you pay for your goods — they are the only Chinese grocery store that carry them. Really good with green tea.

First place in London where I felt like I could get all the stuff I needed to cook all the Asian food like I did back in the States.
Big selection of greens, sauces, snacks, noodles, herbs, though if you’re looking for ready-​to-​eat desserts, the other markets in Chinatown might be a better bet. There’s a small area with baked goods and pastries just past the freezer area.
Prices are fine for London, and the many tills make even long queues rather speedy.
Minimum £10 for card charges.

I searched several oriental markets for a Thai curry paste (without shrimp paste) but without success… until I found this place. It was the ‘cock brand’ Matsaman curry. All the other brands seemed to contain shrimp paste or palm oil and I do not want either of these.

Foreigners beware — See Woo only takes Chip and PIN cards — absolutely NO Chip and Sigs. So bring cash!
It’s well-​outfitted but very cramped — although that perhaps speaks to its authenticity. Groceries here aren’t terribly useful in the sense that it sells staples, but not much in terms of meats/​proteins. There are a lot of pre-​cooked or pre-​prepared items (ie, frozen scallion pancakes and/​or frozen dim sum) but if you’re looking to make Asian dishes 100% from scratch, you may need to pick up meats from the Co-​operative on the Strand.
It’s not bad — but if you’re used to extremely large and well-​outfitted establishments (complete with top Asian brands and variety galore PER product), you may want to check out larger markets nearby.

Even when I’m cooking Asian food at home, it’s a rare occasion that See Woo has EVERYTHING I need. Luckily, there are other Chinese supermarkets in the neighborhood, but still.
I mainly come here for easy access to tons of frozen dumplings, sweet Asian confections, and a whole aisle of different kinds of noodles.

I really like this store, I don’t really cook anything Chinese related, but they do have really cheap ramen noodles :)
The main reason I come here, is for the seaweed, ok yes it does sound a bit strange, but I’m addicted to seaweed! They have huge snack packs for about £1.20 it’s perfect.
Other than seaweed, they sell other Chinese type food, lots of sweets to try (moon cakes, poki etc) if you are looking for something different head to this supermarket.

#540 Not a bad Asian grocery store, but I have to agree with Kevin L. about their peculiar stocking choices. Considering the utter lack of appropriate Asian (or «Oriental») grocery stores in Oxford, we were excited to drop by Chinatown for some grocery shopping. Unfortunately, we were only able to track down noodles (of which SeeWoo has an abundance) and dried mushrooms. Dried scallops or any other seafood were missing, as well as fresh noodles. I was disappointed. Regardless, everything is rather cheap here and I’m sure you’ll find at least half of what you need.

Many people told me how great this place was, and I wandered into here searching for what I thought was standard issue at any Asian supermarket — Pocky — and it was not there! Sheesh. Some of the shops in Bayswater along Queensway are actually better than this place. However, the other products that were there seemed to be quite reasonably priced.

See Woo food is out of this world. I was invited to a lunch hosted by See Woo — little did I know that it was to be a seven course Chinese feast! As a pescatarian, Chinese food can often be a little meat-​heavy for me, however the See Woo crew took great care of me and were very accommodating, making me a special vegetarian selection of dishes.
This was Chinese food at its best — you could tell all of the ingredients were high quality and were obviously cooked to perfection as well. My favourite dishes included the fried bean curd which was crunchy, spicy and oh so tasty. The vegetable dumplings were beautifully colourful, warm and wholesome — I felt bad that I could only manage one!
The star of the show, however, was Canadian crab with a chilli sauce dip. I would not normally go for crab and was slightly perturbed when it arrived at my table shell et al, but was happy to give it a try. Apparently See Woo are the only suppliers licensed in the UK to import this particular type of crab from Canada so I didn’t want to miss out. The crab was a very soft meat and tasted divine.
Next, we were able to sample some crunchy noodles and Chinese broccoli. I also loved the spicy Szechuan-​inspired fish soup. When I say spicy, I mean it was incredibly spicy! It would appear that See Woo are in possession of some industrial-​strength chilli.
See Woo are well established in the UK and it is obvious why. Overall, I was very impressed with the range and quality of ingredients used in the dishes.

What is wrong with these UK Chinese grocery shops?!
You have fish sung, but no pork sung.
You have canned gluten and tofu curd, but no marinated cucumber.
You have canned five spice powder, but not five spice cloth packets.
It’s as though SeeWoo divided the various Asian food products that I grew up with into two buckets and only chose to stock one of them. And it’s an utter grab bag on what fell into one bucket vs. the other.
Admittedly, the produce and veg looked nominally fresher here than some of the other groceries I’ve popped into on Gerrard Street and the frozen goods section is massive. These are some things that SeeWoo has going for it.
As with all of its ilk, this shop also suffers from a staggering shortage of available checkout counters. Perhaps in order to make room for more crammed shelving, only three cashiers can ring up customers at a time, so be prepared to wait a good five or ten minutes to pay for your items.
The best part about SeeWoo is probably that it’s located just up the street from Beijing Dumpling. So at least you know you can immediately obtain satisfying nourishment after a gruelling visit to the grocers.

This place is ok… not that much selection in vegetables but the most of what I’ve seen here in London.

Seewoo is one of the Chinese supermarkets off the beaten track in Chinatown. It’s located on Lisle Street, which runs parallel to the main drag of Gerrard Street.
If you spot a traffic jam on Lisle Street, you’ve probably found the store — there are usually trucks unloading outside, which blocks up the narrow street. That’s quite apt as the aisles inside are also quite narrow and the place can become quite crowded if there are lots of people inside.
It has the usual mix of fresh and canned/​preserved Asian goods. I don’t shop here often and find it a little hard to navigate. The range isn’t bad though it’s not as comprehensive as some of the bigger supermarkets. However, as it’s off the beaten path, sometimes you can find something here which is sold out elsewhere.
So you may see me at Seewoo!

I agree with other reviewers that this is a fairly well stocked and not too expensive Chinese/​Oriental supermarket.
It does help if you can read Chinese while looking for things.
I was just a bit bothered by how difficult it was to move around the aisles. I was in there yesterday, not having been there for nearly a year. Sure, the place was busy with customers. However, more often, I was literally elbowed out of the way by the staff who were busy re-​stocking. It didn’t make for a good shopping experience. Sure, if one had absolute necessities to fulfil, so be it. Otherwise, for browsing and getting to know the ingredients, I think one of the big out of town stores like Wing Yip would be much better.

This place has the cheapest frozen dumplings of all the groceries we’ve been to in Chinatown so far. Yes, my wife and I are living it up in London.

If you want to find any Chinese cooking ingredients, See Woo Hong supermarket is the perfect place for you.
However, you may find that the place is a bit messy. But once you have got used to the arrangement, you will find that it is very systemetic.
But do not worry, even the staff are very busy, you can still go to ask for help as they are all very friendly and helpful!

Positives about Seewoo: they have most basic Asian groceries and a pretty comprehensive supply of Chinese groceries. I’ve found Thai and Korean products here as well. It’s one of the bigger Asian groceries in the area, plus it’s open fairly late (til 8, I think). I’ve gotten fresh noodles that were tasty and they have a fair amount of frozen goods.
Negatives: Although they have everything, it can be very hard to find what you are looking for because the aisles are tight and the place is always crowded. The checkout lines are usually long and the place smells funny.

A good place to come pick up fresh Chinese vegetables as well as a choice of exotic fruit (lychee, alphonso mangoes, Brazilian paw paw) The range is of all sorts and the prices are very good. If you need to buy basics like such as garlic, ginger, onions, what have you, See Woo’s prices are so much cheaper than that of a normal supermarket and you can also bulk buy.
I came to buy some frozen shrimps (which cost under £3 for a very decent amount), a large bottle of soya sauce, a bunch of coriander, and cheung fun (fresh, thick chinese noodles), and everything came to just over £5.
They also sell a wide selection of noodles (egg, flat, vermicelli, rice noodles), rice (long grain, Thai fragrant, Basmati), sauces, canned food and herbs and spices.
It is very tight in See Woo, but it’s an experience on its own!

Seewoo is really exciting and I got some awesome tofu here. It is pretty cheap too. I picked up a wok which went a bit grotty because it was non-​stick, but that may have also been my fault for not tending to it properly.
They have a great range of oriental veggies and if you are planning to make a stir fry then get some dried shrimps from here as they really add flavour and are very versatile. One thing I do not trust is the instant packages of noodles as I have been told that they are full of chemically additives. No thanks! The staff are really friendly and will explain anything to you if language becomes a barrier during your shopping.

Seewoo is my favourite Chinese store in London, situated right by the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square. It’s the best place to come for all your Oriental needs.
They have a great supply of fresh veg, tofu, noodles, rice and at 40p for a small packet of green tea it beats all the main supermarkets I know.
Downstairs they have a great stock of home and cookware, from pots and pans, woks and spoons to chop sticks.
Well recommended.