Hong Kong Food Market

For years I’ve been hearing about Hong Kong Food Market in Gretna LA. Finally, on our last weekend in New Orleans, we took the drive over the Mississippi Bridge to see what all of the hype was about.

After enjoying the earlier part of the afternoon at the Creole Tomato Festival at the French Market, we headed to Gretna. New Orleans has a huge Asian community. Out by our RV park it was mostly Vietnamese. I think we visited Dong Phong Bakery once a week to pickup some of their fabulous rolls and some Peanut Butter cookies.

Those rolls were perfect for my BBQ Shrimp Po’ Boys, Meatball Subs and Chicken Parm Subs. So I always had some in my freezer. The cookies tasted like pure peanut butter. For me, they were perfect. Not too sweet. Just chunky peanut buttery goodness.

But I needed more Asian ingredients in my pantry because I love the umami they add. So off to Gretna we went, not knowing what to expect. What we found was a supermarket of epic proportions! The incredibly vast number of ingredients just blew our minds.

For the most part each aisle was stocked with ingredients from one or two different Asian countries. There were a lot of aisles! The only problem we had was that most of the labels are not in English. But the friendly staff was eager to help us find what we were looking for. And I had a long list!

Though labeled an Asian Market, it is really a 45 thousand square foot International Supermarket that boasts the largest produce department in Louisiana. In addition to that, there’s are Fish and Seafood, Bakery and BBQ, along with Meat and Poultry departments.

Inside this market there’s an amazing array of anything you could want. Here you’ll find traditional Asian spices, sauces, teas, snacks, candies, canned goods, kitchen utensils, and other household items. The meat department has plenty of meats like pork and duck, desserts – picture mochi balls, and other packaged goods for you to choose from.

There’s also an awesome fresh produce section where you can find the typical tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage along with the more exotic items like durian and dragon fruit.

Steve and I remarked about the enormous Fish Department. Hong Kong Food Market offers ample amounts of fish and seafood that includes live lobsters, tilapia, and Dungeness crabs. Yes please!

And if you’re hungry, you can even get something hot and fresh to curb those hunger pangs while you shop. At the far right side of the market you’ll find the BBQ and deli where there are freshly prepared items like BBQ quail, duck, pig, and very reasonably priced banh mi sandwiches.

In addition to the astounding array of Asian products you can also find many different American, Latin American, Pacific Rim, Caribbean and Middle Eastern products.

While you’re there, don’t forget to check out Hong Kong Market’s huge alcohol section for large variety of local and imported selections.

I may be weird, but I love to wander the aisles of supermarkets. Sometimes I feel like I’m on a treasure hunt, exploring to find new and exciting exotic ingredients. Hong Kong Food Market is a treasure trove of International ingredients, just a short drive from New Orleans.