Han Ah Reum

[Rachel Perlow]

Englewood had two kinds of shrimp out. A medium sized one for Ŭ or ŭ per lb, but the tiger shrimp were so much bigger and nice looking and they seemed like such a bargin (pronounced w/a yenta accent) at ů/lb.

[jhlurie]

Since I visited the Ridgefield Han Ah Reum today, this place was on my mind and I decided to bump this thread.

Coincidentally, this weekend is apparently the third anniversary of that store. Some signs in the front of the store described some kind of event, but most of the sign was in Korean (and my Korean is lacking...) so I can't be more specific.

[Ellen Shapiro]

Just returning from some time in Vancouver, where the Asian markets have for a long time blown away what we have back here in the Northeast. But in the last few years I think we have caught up. I've got to say, at this point, Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest have nothing on Northern New Jersey when it comes to Asian markets.

Hanahreum is my favorite market of all. It's gigantic (like the size of any suburban mega grocery store), clean, well organized, and while the focus is Korean it offers all the Chinese and Japanese ingredients I would ever need (for truly specialized products you might have to go elsewhere, but all the basics and then some are covered here) plus most Southeast Asian and Western ingredients a cook would want.

Best of all it's cheap. Really, really cheap. Not just cheaper than Manhattan but cheaper than most New Jersey markets. Those red globe grapes that cost around $2.50 a pound in Manhattan and $1.49 a pound at New Jersey supermarkets cost $0.69 a pound at Hanahreum. Fish prices are incredible especially whole fish but also shrimp and live crabs.

The produce section covers all the bases from standard Western produce to some Hispanic produce to an amazing selection of Asian greens. Most of the signage is bilingual though when you get deep into the Asian section there are some signs that are not. Everything is neatly laid out and well organized.

Dry goods are diverse and piled high.

The tofu selection goes on seemingly forever.

The same is true of most Asian staples, like soy sauce. Even when it comes to some products that I don't recognize, there are a lot of choices.

Live crabs are $2 a pound.

The fish section is free of foul odors and well kept.

I don't know what to do with these dried fish but they look cool.

This is my favorite thing at Hanahreum, though. It's a machine that makes rice cakes. I have no idea how it works. I never even thought about how they made rice cakes until I saw this machine. It seems to squirt rice goo onto a circular metal plate and then after a few seconds it slams this big hammer thing down on the rice and out flies a rice cake.

Then this guy reaches his hand too close to the hammer thing, grabs the rice cakes, and puts them in bags.

Hanahreum

321 Broad Ave.

Ridgefield, NJ 07657

201-943-9600

There are 12 other company operated stores in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York, as well as 3 franchises.

[Jason Perlow]

nice photos, Ellen. Yeah, we're pretty damn spoiled by living in such close proximity to these stores.

The important question is, do they have Pringles?

[Double 0]

I love this store! There is anouther branch nearby (on River ST in Little Ferry) that has been recently renovated that I like better than the the one in Ridgefeild. The selection of Kim Che is amazing. All types ranging from simple cabbage in salted water to tiny crabs in spicy sauce. There must be over 100 in their display. One of the other things I like is the frozen food isle. So many dumplings and buns to choose from (at great prices). If you're into Oriental food products these stores are a destination worth traveling to. China 46 is nearby.

Edited May 13, 2003 by Double 0 (log)

[hjshorter]

Thanks so much for the post, Ellen. I checked out their website and there's one in Wheaton, MD - about 20 minutes from us. I'm definitely going to check it out.

[thereuare]

No picures of the weekend women in hurricane rainsutes and rubber gloves up to their elbows bagging Kim Chi on the weekends?

No matter, NICE pics!

[KatieLoeb]

Hi Ellen:

Yup - I love this place too! There's one in Cherry Hill, NJ about 15 minutes over the bridge from Philly, and one in the far Northeast part of the city. The produce is incredible and CHEAP! The variety of Asian mixes, canned goods and sauces is beyond belief. And the place is spotlessly clean. I never get out of there without at least two very full bags, and usually more.

The rice cakes are the best! I like to buy a pack and munch on them as I shop. If I didn't eat something I'd buy the whole store. This is a dangerous place to go in hungry.

[Ellen Shapiro]

Double O, do you really like the Hackensack/Little Ferry one better than Ridgefield? The Little Ferry one is big but half of it is taken up by non-food things. Worse there is no rice cake machine in Little Ferry! And there are no restaurants in the complex the way they have in Ridgefield.

Thereuare, it was two guys and they weren't very picturesque. I have a photo somewhere here. I'll post it later if I can dig it out.

--

Edit: Here you go. Failed attempt to do something artistic.

[jhlurie]

Actually Ellen there IS a rice cake machine at the Little Ferry one now, although I've never seen it running (unlike the Ridgefield store, where it frequently is).

Another entertaining spectacle surrounds the kimchee ladies, who set-up three to a table and publically play around in a huge vat of the stuff. EDIT - but as I see, Ellen got stuck with two boring guys instead of the three ladies who I frequently see do it.

BTW: give the size of the ones we've seen in NNJ, I'm wondering what the "Super H-Marts" referred to on the website look like. Are they simply more westernized, or are they actually larger?

Edited May 13, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[tommy]

those ladies are swimming in red stuff. it's quite a sight.

[jhlurie]

Thanks so much for the post, Ellen.  I checked out their website and there's one in Wheaton, MD - about 20 minutes from us.  I'm definitely going to check it out.

Apparently there's one in Fairfax, VA too.

10780 Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA 22030

Tel:1-800-427-9870

[fimbul]

give the size of the ones we've seen in NNJ, I'm wondering what the "Super H-Marts" referred to on the website look like. Are they simply more westernized, or are they actually larger?

The Super H Mart in Fairfax, VA is indeed larger than the Hanh Ah Reum near me, though it sounds as though our Hanh Ah Reum is relatively small. (Which I'd not have believed. ) The primary difference between the two stores, however, is that Super H Mart tries much harder to be an all around, run-of-the-mill supermarket. Asian foods alternate aisles with tons of more or less standard mid-Atlantic grocery store fare; i.e, breakfast cereals, pop tarts, supermarket cheeses, yogurt, coffee, trash bags, plastic wrap and the like. At the nearby Hanh Ah Reum, there's very little of that sort of thing.

[jhlurie]

Super H Mart tries much harder to be an all around, run-of-the-mill supermarket

(feigning shock)

You mean the labels are in ENGLISH?

[Double 0]

Double O, do you really like the Hackensack/Little Ferry one better than Ridgefield? The Little Ferry one is big but half of it is taken up by non-food things. Worse there is no rice cake machine in Little Ferry.

Have you been recently? They've completely rennovated the store. There is a rice cake machine (always been there) and they give samples of dumplings and other goodies. The restaurants in the Ridgefeild store are closed right now. I also like the selection of Kim Chi (prepack and loose) better in Little Ferry. Btw there is a store on 32nd st in NYC (not at all like NJ, but a good selection of take away items) between 5th and 6th on the north side of the block.

[fimbul]

Super H Mart tries much harder to be an all around, run-of-the-mill supermarket

(feigning shock)

You mean the labels are in ENGLISH?

O, not all of them! There's still lots of stuff in kanji, more in what might be Sanskrit, a few in what appears to be ancient Egyptian, and a great number in Engrish. Don't let me scare you away; in most of the store you'll be just as bewildered as always.

[Jason Perlow]

Double O, do you really like the Hackensack/Little Ferry one better than Ridgefield? The Little Ferry one is big but half of it is taken up by non-food things. Worse there is no rice cake machine in Little Ferry.

Have you been recently? They've completely rennovated the store. There is a rice cake machine (always been there) and they give samples of dumplings and other goodies. The restaurants in the Ridgefeild store are closed right now. I also like the selection of Kim Chi (prepack and loose) better in Little Ferry. Btw there is a store on 32nd st in NYC (not at all like NJ, but a good selection of take away items) between 5th and 6th on the north side of the block.

Steven and I went to the Little Ferry store last weekend, and yes, youre right, it has a ton of stuff.

I like the Ridgefield store better because of the other businesses located within it -- but I would say both stores are comperable in terms of stuff they stock.

[Ellen Shapiro]

Double O, do you really like the Hackensack/Little Ferry one better than Ridgefield? The Little Ferry one is big but half of it is taken up by non-food things. Worse there is no rice cake machine in Little Ferry.

Have you been recently? They've completely rennovated the store. There is a rice cake machine (always been there) and they give samples of dumplings and other goodies. The restaurants in the Ridgefeild store are closed right now. I also like the selection of Kim Chi (prepack and loose) better in Little Ferry. Btw there is a store on 32nd st in NYC (not at all like NJ, but a good selection of take away items) between 5th and 6th on the north side of the block.

Are you sure there's a rice cake machine there? I was in approximately three weeks ago (I have cousins in Teaneck so I'm in the area often) and didn't see a rice cake machine. I even asked about it. I can't promise anybody understood my inquiry but nobody was able to point me to a machine.

I don't like the renovation they did there. What did it used to be a VF or something? Half the store is still a dime-store not a supermarket. I think this gives the illusion of the supermarket part being bigger than it is. I don't know how to measure it but I think the Ridgfield store is bigger as a supermarket. And I think it is nicer.

[jhlurie]

The part of the Little Ferry store which seems "nicer" than before is the produce section, but yes... the Ridgefield store is still bigger, and parts of THAT store were being renovated the last time I was in there.

Little Ferry's Rice Cake machine was hidden along the same stretch where the kimchee prepation area is. I was a bit confused though, because it didn't seem to have that big safety barrier that the one in Ridgefield has. In fact, it wasn't apparent to me whether or not it was ever actually used.

[Double 0]

I've been there many times when the rice cake machine has been on (behind where they make sushi). The store in Little Ferry is actually two stores, Valley Fair(which is actually many little stores) and Han Ah Rhum. They've completely renovated Han Ah Rhum in the last couple of months. They added a butcher and expanded the Kim Chi section and rearranged the packaged and frozen food section. It doesn't matter which one is better, its just nice that I have TWO great Oriental mkts so close. I'm suprised that no one from Middlesex Co has chimed in about the great mkts in Woodbridge and Edison.

[Fat Guy]

I want one of those rice cake machines.

[Andy Lynes]

Wonderful photos. Am now v.v jealous.

[jpr54_]

There are so many reasons to shop at Han Ah Reum-

The shopping mall is filled with interesting shops-

where else can u purchase kimchee pots-authetic asian style beds, pillows,etc.

The vegetables, fruit and meat are excellent as well.

You can also purchase things like flower and green plum chewing gum, too.

If you use one or two korean phases to the person at the check out you will have made a friend forever.

jpr

[Fat Guy]

One of the best products at Hanahreum is the Xylitol chewing gum from Haitai Co.

http://eng.ht.co.kr/export/productdetail.a...ode1=1&pcode2=3

It's like four bucks for a thing of it everywhere else (if you can even find it) but it's $1.99 at the Big H.

[jhlurie]

I'm a Xylitol 333 man myself. Same company, but new flavors (Peach Mint, Lime Mint and Apple Mint) in spiffier packaging that the older flavors (Ginseng, Lemon Mint and one other flavor, which its pissing me off that I can't remember...)

Apparently a company named Lotte is also a big perveyor of Xylitol sweetened gum in Korea, and Xylitol is also used in Europe as well (in fact I recently had a Turkish gum called "Relax" which used Xylitol).