I always stop by Pastry House Hippo. My kids like the pastries which are shaped like animals. The strawberry shortcake is really good. I just ordered a cake last weekend for a special occasion.



Red Bean Pastry:


Pastry House Hippo pastry pics webpage.

dupreeblue wrote:What are the musts on your virgin Mitsuwa trip?

First, go to Santouka in the food court. Get the miso (I recommend spicy) ramen with toroniku (special pork). Don't bother with the regular pork or most other stuff in the food court. Eat. This will justify your trip already.

Hippo House is definitely worth a stop. Try the cream pan and an pan, especially. Everything is extremely fresh because of the good turnover. Also good turnovers, come to think of it.

With regard to buying stuff, you can stock up on rice, dried noodles, mirin, rice wine vinegar, etc. Lots of varieties of miso. Buy kombu and flaked bonito and make your own miso soup. Fish in the sashimi case is excellent, mostly (stay away from the uni, but that's a common problem in Chicago, unfortunately). Groceries are occasionally cheaper than in regular grocery stores (stuff like daikon, Japanese cucumbers, etc.) They may also have more exotic stuff like fresh wasabi and, around this time of year, matsutakes. (Pretty pricey, especially the latter.)

Also lots and lots of great snacks in the aisles by Hippo House. Go nuts.

Wow! That's one interesting looking cake.
Thanks for the suggestions; both of you.

dupreeblue wrote:I'm interested in good quality staples to have around—I've never really cooked Japanese; Chinese; or Korean foods

Besides fresh foods, we always buy rice crackers and odd Japanese snacks, pickles, packaged noodle mixes (yakisoba), and spices.

Mitsuwa sells a few non-Japanese items but not many. You're better off going to Chinatown for Chinese foods and H-Mart or Assi Plaza for Korean food (Niles is accessible by bus and has a free bus within its limits).

When I go to Mitsuwa, I often get the Japanese eggplant and the shiitake mushrooms since I have not seen them look as fresh anywhere else.

Adorable photo, shorty!

Mhays wrote:Adorable photo, shorty!

My daughter took a bite of the pastry before I was able to take a picture.

I also get the ingredients for fish stock (dashi) from Mitsuwa:
bonito flake, kombu, and dried anchovy. There is also a large selection of miso paste.

Thanks all. H-Mart is another place I keep meaning to get to & haven't. One step at a time. I think my main problem is I'm going to be totally overwhelmed by all the options & not even know where to begin. I've been going through recipes to find what I want to make & what I'll need to do so; hoping that'll be a good start. Are there certain miso brands you recommend over others? Any advice on getting out of there without spending a small fortune? Is there a housewares store?

Mitsuwa sells bowls, colanders, strainers, chopsticks, etc. Some things which they sell a lot of volume are actually cheaper at Mitsuwa than other places (e.g. tofu, japanese eggplant). The produce at Mitsuwa looks fresher than the produce at H-Mart. I don't buy my noodles from Mitsuwa (except for udon) since I prefer Chinese noodles and the noodles at Mitsuwa are expensive.

Good to know Shorty. Thanks.

In addition to the basic housewares, there is a shop selling Japanese porcelain and stoneware, some of it quite cheap.

I don't find the dried soba and udon particularly expensive. One thing to keep in mind is that at the edges of every aisle are the sale items. You could always look through those first.

Not sure where you're at, but for staples like sesame oil, rice vinegar, rice wine, and condiments like chili garlic sauce, black bean paste, wasabi (powdered,) curry pastes, you can usually do a little better at the myriad of asian grocers scattered throughout Chicago. However, Mitsuwa is a cool store. good idea with thhe cooler. I'd suggest getting some sushi staples if you plan on trying it out - rice, nori, a bamboo mat, rice vinegar. Also some masago or tobiko if that floats your boat - it freezes pretty well. I'd also suggest, oddly enough...CANDY!

Their candy prices aren't the best, but they have quite a selection. Pocky sticks, and gummi candies. Asian gummies are really good. Check em out. Ice cream Mochi if you aer packing ice in your cooler (although it might not survive the ride for OTHER reasons.)

If you're gonna stock up on asian staples, some I'd suggest are GOOD oyster sauce, some ponzu, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, and anything that looks good in the condiment aisle. (kid in a candy store syndrome.)

Their candy prices aren't the best, but they have quite a selection.

I've been pretty disappointed by the candy selection. Given the Japanese obsession with unusual flavors the stuff at Mitsuwa is very mainstream. Some online sites like jbox.com have a far broader selection of items. For example, Mitsuwa has maybe 2 flavors of KitKat, but Japan has a much broader range of flavors (plum, mango, ramune, rose) not saying they're good but the novelty is appealing.

Is there a brick/mortar besides Super H around that has a bigger selection?

<tangent>I've been looking for a bag of plum candies that I used to get at the store on Broadway N of Lawrence for about 5 years now. They stopped carrying them, and I haven't been able to find them anywhere. They were little hard candies, round I think, and came in bags, but were individually wrapped. SOOOOOOOO good. I have no idea of the name, and I would only reconize them if I saw them. </tangent>

Super H is large area-wise but seems to have a lot of repetition with respect to products - sort of like a Hanna-Barbera cartoon where the characters keep running past the same 3 storefronts.

I forgot to mention that I like the frozen gyoza at Mitsuwa because they make a quick and easy lunch (and they are often on sale). It is better than the stuff that you get at places like Costco.

seebee wrote:Not sure where you're at, but for staples like sesame oil, rice vinegar, rice wine, and condiments like chili garlic sauce, black bean paste, wasabi (powdered,) curry pastes, you can usually do a little better at the myriad of asian grocers scattered throughout Chicago. However, Mitsuwa is a cool store. good idea with thhe cooler. I'd suggest getting some sushi staples if you plan on trying it out - rice, nori, a bamboo mat, rice vinegar. Also some masago or tobiko if that floats your boat - it freezes pretty well. I'd also suggest, oddly enough...CANDY!

Their candy prices aren't the best, but they have quite a selection. Pocky sticks, and gummi candies. Asian gummies are really good. Check em out. Ice cream Mochi if you aer packing ice in your cooler (although it might not survive the ride for OTHER reasons.)

If you're gonna stock up on asian staples, some I'd suggest are GOOD oyster sauce, some ponzu, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, and anything that looks good in the condiment aisle. (kid in a candy store syndrome.)

I can't wait to go all kid in a candy store on condiments & sauce-type things. We're big on dipping things around this house; this part might be the most fun for me.

Also, if you wanna check out a smaller joint that's really just up the road a piece, there's Tensuke Market a tiny bit S on Arlington Heights road.

For jarred sauces/condiments, if you are ever near Super H Mart or the Asian mkt in the corner of that strip mall just north of Lawrence on Broadway on the E side of the street, stop in. I love gazing at those things, and I can fill up a shelf in my pantry with that stuff in no time flat. I puroposely do not buy everything I see so I can go back every so often and try something new.