Love these small spots in Seattle that are very surprising. It is a little busy and hectic here on…read morea Sunday during the farmers market, so you gotta be very patient. There isn't really a system for ordering or receiving your food/drinks. It's kinda like when you go to a family's house and they're busy making sure all the food and drinks have enough love, so you gotta wait for them to do their thang and just quietly enjoy the process. The owner is suuuper kind and greets you as you enter and you can tell he really cares about his customers. He will let you know if he's busy and around how long to wait. I just gotta hand it to the owner, it sounds like he has a lot of regulars who come in for dosa, lentils, and chai. It smelled good every time he made some dosa! Masala chai: got mine with oat milk (he has to brew a new batch if you want a different milk), he usually uses half and half I believe for his chai. Love the spices! I like my chai pretty spicy and this is really good. He sells packs of loose chai so you can brew at home also Note: their masala chai is made with black tea and their pink chai is made with green tea and has pistachio Will come back to try the food and pink chai when it's not so poppin!

Extraordinary food, made to order: Chais & East-Indian fare! Bali's a friendly host; and he makes…read moreDosa!! Dosa, an Indian dish that's impossible to find in most Seattle E-Indian restaurants are heaven!!. THANK YOU, Bali ; )

We came around 1 pm on a Monday. We were impressed by the…read morevariety they carried and the spacious store. The staff were friendly and helpful, and they checked us out efficiently. We were able to find free street parking across the street.

This is a wonderful shop for Chinese herbs, and I was told they've been open for 30 years! I am…read morefirst-generation Chinese American so it's great to be able to access herbal medicine and knowledge at local shops like this. I usually get some of their dried sweets like orange peel, hibiscus, and ginger, and some cooling herbs in bulk. The people at the counter are friendly and knowledgeable, and they also speak Cantonese which makes it easy for me to communicate with them. Great shop, will continue visiting in coming years!

We stumbled to this newer Asian supermarket after lunch today. The inside of the store was clean…read moreand bright. I was pleasantly surprised by it. It has produce, dry food, frozen meat section and live seafood area. We saw some big live spot shrimps in the tank and decided to get some. The older gentleman helped us was really nice and not only is he friendly. The most important part is that he was HONEST! He actually took out 2 dead shrimp from the net before weighing it for us. It is a much higher level of service than I have ever expected in the area. We will definitely be back.

Lulu Market is the newest small scale grocery store in the Chinatown portion of International…read moreDistrict. Lulu took over two spaces - Golden Hong (a tiny market) and a noodle shop that has vacated long time ago. (This is the same location as the old China Gate restaurant, so the façade is ornate.) The combined space makes for a more comfortable shopping space, bigger than the nearby (and old) Dong Sing Market, smaller than farther Dong Hing Market (with a parking lot). All this matters because many elderly locals can only walk to buy groceries. Having more grocery options is pertinent to serving this dense and elderly community. I am excited for the locals, and I hope Lulu can keep the prices low (like Golden Hong was). While Lulu is currently open, it is still work in progress with several cases in place but empty. Having the business open is important for the community (and their own bottom-line), so they have been partially opened for a while now. The outside (as of this writing) still has the signs of the previous businesses. The only Lulu sign is a screen at the window. The interior is brightly lit. The produce areas are particularly abundant and well-stocked, perfect for their clientele. The freezer inventory is much larger than Golden Hong. Good for stocking up a bit during the cold season and shop less often. They have a modest though sufficient amount of non-perishable, shelf-stable goods and also a selection of small item household goods such as gloves, sponges, etc. This market is sized and stocked for the immediate community. I thought the produce area is excellent. When I was there yesterday (on a Sunday), not one but two ladies were busy sorting through the boxes of produce before putting them on shelves. Nice! I will return even if just for produce. Credit card purchases require a minimum of $10.

This place probably does have all the spices in the world. Walking in, it smelled like a spice…read moregarden. There were so many spice and tea options to explore. If you head down to the lower floor, you can sample some of their spices with chips or popcorn. They also offer samples of two featured loose teas. My friends ended up buying some chocolate and spices. We were told that visitors can also order online as well.

I have been shopping since it opened decades ago and it just keeps getting better. Love to sniff…read morethe spices and teas. I mostly order online now but recently visited the store again. Take a look at my pics to see how much they've got going on.

Fun little market in the middle of Chinatown. We ventured in looking for a specific sauce and found…read morea couple! The place is notably small but has a modest selection in the 4 aisles. They have plenty of fruit and veggies out front and a smaller selection inside. The meat selection and frozen goods are present but not overly large. They've got a good amount of sauces and a lovely selection of coconut milk and coconut cream - my best half enjoys it so that's what I came for! Prices were very reasonable, as expected, and the gal at the counter was very helpful! They require a purchase of at least $10 to use cards so plan accordingly. Worth checking out if you're in the area.

The business located at the following address is Dong Sing Market, not to be confused with Dong…read moreHing Market. Dong Hing is listed here on Yelp, but it is actually located at 1001 S Jackson St. which is about three blocks from Dong Sing. The weird thing about this, is that this store used to be called Dong Hing Market several years ago. Got that? I wonder why each store decided on such similar names because it is confusing to Yelpers. Dong Sing is actually not very big, but it is one market located in the heart of Chinatown/I-District. Produce is piled high on the street for your perusal. Inside the market you will find groceries like you would find at Dong Hing or Hau Hau or Hop Thanh, but they carry a smaller selection due to limited size. They do have a meat and fish counter in the back however. I have found the prices here to be slightly higher than a few of their I-District counterparts, but still better than at a traditional supermarket. Overall, Dong Sing Market is decent and the location makes it worth a visit.

Great little market in White Center. Fresh vegetables, great deli food and a wide variety of hard…read moreto find Southeast Asian goodies. The owners are very friendly and are helpful if you need help finding an item or an explanation of what something is. I love being able to buy herbs such as Thai basil, rice paddy herb, culantro, etc by pound, and it's always so fresh! I'm a huge fan of their deli items as well from fried quail, bean cakes, coconut mochi, boneless stuffed chicken wings and durian sweet rice. You can also find pickled mango, pickled pig ear salad and a selection of other Cambodian street foods available. Come around 12pm for the best selection. +1 Vibe +1 Taste -1 Presentation +1 Service +1 Value

I believe their name has now changed. Typical local Asian grocer but so needed in the community…read more The area is seeing some revitalization aka gentrification and I hope they'll be able to withstand changes to the area. It's pretty large inside, having most things you need to cook your favorite Asian meals. One exciting thing (for me personally) is that they have twa kow - a Cambodian homemade sausage that is sour and fermented. This is the only place that has them. While there is a large Cambodian community in the PNW, there aren't very many places outside of your own home where you can find traditional plates or groceries. The people running the place have been there since inception, I believe. They used to have Thai and Chinese movies dubbed in Khmer for sale but I'm not so sure anymore. Occasionally they have hot foods and/or desserts. Even if you don't cook Asian food, please support your local and small mom/pop businesses!!

pros... one of the many little herb shops in the international district/chinatown. was somewhat…read morestocked for an herb shop. if you are a chinese herbalist in search of the raw herbs, i think this one is a good place to go. it also has a lot of other stuff like tea cups and pots and the like. also has a good choice of some loose teas. cons...patent chinese med selection is quite sparse. and if you only know your formulas in mandarin than you will need to bring in the actual chinese characters so that the people here will know what you want. as they only speak cantonese and can't really understand the mandarin pronunciation of the formulas. but nice people none the less. i think if they had a more complete selection of patent herbs i would have given one more star

I had initially headed to the International District early on a Sunday morning in search of another…read moreherb shop, favorably reviewed on Yelp. However, it was closed (long story). So I walked one more block, just to see what else might be open. I was in serious pain from a UTI, and I knew the right herbs would help. Mai smiled at me as I walked in. I explained my symptoms (and mentioned Damp Heat) and Mai took me to the back of the shop-- a glass counter in front of an enormous wall of drawers (all labeled with Chinese characters). She took my pulses and looked at my tongue-- then asked me questions about my digestion, my bowel movements, and a few other technicalities. She took notes the entire time on a yellow legal pad using Chinese characters (which I thought was pretty awesome). She then told me it would be 12 dollars per tea preparation (that is me paraphrasing). I said, "Absolutely." She then got out five paper plates, and proceeded to open drawers and measure out herbs on one of those cool old fashioned scales. As she placed each carefully measured herb on the plate, she told me what it would heal/how it would impact me/why she was giving it to me. As she weighed, we chatted about niceties-- family, children, living situations, etc. She then tipped each paper plate into a little brown paper bag. She also took my notes and put them on one of those spiky paper-collecters (where it joined a sheaf of other similar papers . . . "lots of customers!" she said. I thought that was a good sign). At some point, she asked me if I had a slow cooker. When I told her I did not, she told me she sold them. The slow cooker I purchased is shaped like a tea pot, and it is especially made for medicine. :) There's a word here I'm supposed to use, like "Detocting" but I cannot remember right now. :) Anyway, it is a deep rich blue, with Chinese characters etched on it in gold. It's very, very pretty, and it takes the guesswork out of boiling five cups of water down to one cup. The drink itself smells quite savory and tastes like the inside of those gunpowder pellet pills (i.e. sort of sickly sweet and disgusting). However, I felt an immediate relief after my first dose. The second day I felt even better. The third day (today), I felt an strong return of my symptoms (although I think me getting cocky and eating a bunch of dampening foods AND alcohol AND feeling really, really hot at night was at fault here). I am drinking my tea now and feeling my symptoms recede. I also scheduled a session with an acupuncturist here in Seattle. No more dampening or heat building foods! I should have known better. Holistic means WHOLE, and I can't undo the work of the herbs by not making good choices regarding food. A few more details of the transaction: my herbs were tucked into paper bags-- Mai wrote her cell phone number on one of them. She also had very charming customized bags-- red with gold lettering. I realize that I am a white girl with enough knowledge of TCM to be dangerous . . . but I loved my experience. I am grateful to Mai for her care and obvious knowledge.

You know what, we don't have any Kho Bo (Vietnamese beef jerky) specialty stores all over the place…read morelike in California, so it's very hard to come by a store that offers varieties of jerky. I do like the regular squid jerky. It's sweet and kinda spicy. Just like what I want. I don't like extremely spicy food & snacks. You basically go in, take a bag, and fill it yourself. I got a store associate helping out, so that was nice of him! I am glad I'm able to live within a .... Reasonable distance to travel to the store if needed if I'd like to purchase some jerkies for present-giving or self-craving snacks.

I came here the other day to get some drinking food. There were so many choices from different…read moretypes of plums, dried fruit, jerky, toasted rice, pistachios, etc. I got a few different beef jerkies and some baby mangos. The mangos tasted good. It's a little sour, spicy, and crunchy but I wish it was crunchier. All the jerkies tasted great! The service was also great. She gave me some bags to pack and I accidentally dropped tongs so she said it was okay and gave me new ones. I believe she was helping me, helping someone sample, and servicing the Bambu place connected to it as well. I will definitely be coming back!