Seoul Mart is a cute little Korean grocery store. It reminds me a bit of a small H Mart, but it's an independent store and not a chain.
My first visit ever was during the Covid-19 Pandemic, so they limited the number of people in the store. Staff were all wearing masks and gloves, and staff open all doors for you. They give you a pair of disposable gloves when you enter, and of course you have to be wearing your own mask. There is plexiglass by the cash register. I felt pretty safe shopping there.
They had a good variety of items. I loved the freezer full of ice cream at the front of the store, both individual bars and boxes of multiple bars. I'll need to go back and try some.
I was looking for seaweed to make kimbap/sushi and they had a good selection. All imported from South Korea. The prices were good too.
I wasn't planning on getting any sweets, but I couldn't help myself when I saw all these cheesecakes and other cakes in the freezer. They were all single servings and reasonably priced between $1.28 and $1.98.
My favourite part of my visit was the prepared foods section, which was very small, but they had exactly what I wanted... Korean Fried Chicken! I got a box of Korean Fried Chicken with fries for $13.98. I loved that the chicken pieces were all real lean chicken breast meat. Some people may find it a bit dry due to the lack of fat and gristle, but I like it that way. The fries were battered and from frozen. Nothing too remarkable about the fries, but they complimented the chicken well. They also have the same thing but with the chicken covered in sauce. That variety looked really good, and the lady had just brought it out, so it was hot and fresher than the one I got, but it was covered in sesame seeds, which I can't eat, so I had to pass on it.
I also got some fried mandu, which were $4.98 for 4 rolls. These were really good too. They had chicken in them, along with japchae (sweet potato noodles) and vegetables (mostly carrots and cabbage).
They had lots of shelf stable items, as well as refrigerated products and frozen items.
We don't have a lot of Korean grocery stores here (no H Marts or Galleria Supermarkets like in Toronto), so I'm glad that Seoul Mart is around. To think that I didn't even know it existed until recently.
Parking is a pain in the butt though. There is only street parking, which is free nearby, but finding a spot is tricky. Pretoria is also a one way street, so if you drive by a spot, it's not that easy to loop around, and traffic is steady, so you can't just back up easily. This is the only drawback. read more