Sun Chong Grocery

I had gotten something stuck in a crevice in my car so I had been walking around Chinatown looking for a store that sells tweezers. After going to about 4 or 5 stores I stumbled upon this one. I asked the lady at the register if they sold tweezers and she told me to ask the guy in the back of the store (she wasn’t exactly friendly where you get the warm fuzzies, but I wouldn’t quite say she was unfriendly either). I went to the back of the store and found the guy and asked him if they sold tweezers. He told me that they didn’t but then asked me why I needed them so I told him I needed to get something unstuck in my car. He told me to wait and ran out of the store. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do but I waited. As I waited I started looking around the store. They have all kinds of crack seed, dried seafood, teas, along with a bunch of other stuff I had never seen before. About 15 minutes later he came back with one of those travel sets with tweezers and nail clippers. I guess he lives nearby and he ran all the way home to get it for me. I thanked him and told him I will bring it right back but he told me I could keep it. I offered to pay him for it but he wouldn’t accept my money. On my way out I noticed their wall behind the register stocked full of all kinds of Chinese medicine. Just in case, I asked if they had this Chinese cough syrup I had plan to buy online later that day. Not only did they have it, but it was a lot cheaper than the best price I could find online. All because of this hidden gem I found by accident in Chinatown I was able to get the thing that I lost unstuck from my car, I was able to get rid of a annoying cough that I had had for a long time, I got to see lots of things I had never seen before and I was able to experience the local store, above-​and-​beyond-​for-​their-​customers service that you only see in movies nowadays. Though parking is a little tough in Chinatown, this is definitely my new go-​to place for Chinese medicines, teas and snacks.

The 2015 Chinese Lunar New Year is coming up on Thursday, February 19^th so I decided to get a jump on marketing for several items to make Buddha’s Delight (Lo Hon Jai), a vegetarian dish. It is customary to eat Buddha’s Delight as our first meal of the Lunar New Year to enhance one’s Health, Wealth, Prosperity and Longevity. The Chinese believe that eating a vegetable diet connects one spiritually and symbolizes purification. My parents told me that the meaning of Lo Han Jai represents 500 disciples or principles of Buddha.
Our family recipe includes 18 ingredients. The number 18 has lucky significance as it symbolizes wealth and prosperity. Various regional recipes exist from different families yet all are made up from dried tofu, bamboo shoots, oysters and scallops (my family recipe always included these), mushrooms, seaweed, chestnuts, ginko nuts, fried bean curd, golden lily buds and some fresh vegetables such as snow peas and Napa cabbage. I came into Sun Chong to purchase some of these items that I didn’t have already in my pantry. Before entering the store, I noticed that it had expanded to occupy two store spaces. The inventory was nicely stacked and shelves were clean and nearly dust-​free. The two ladies (mother and daughter?) were very polite and helpful in directing me to the items that I needed on my list. Luckily, the daughter speaks English well and between my «broken» Chinese language, we figured out what I wanted and how much. Marketing for Chinese food stuffs and sweets under this one «roof» was so quick and easy! I didn’t feel intimidated by any language barrier and dried items were weighed and priced in front of me.
Making the traditional lo han jai is sort of subjective as there is really no exact measurement to direct one with proportions. You just have to rehydrate the ingredients, stir-​fry them and taste as you go. When my family gets together to make jai, we usually do it in a large wok over an outdoor gas burner. The «stew» just gets expands as we add the ingredients and allow it to cook. By the time the jai is done, we end up with several gallons of this vegetarian mélange to share among relatives and friends gathered together to celebrate the New Year.

Sun Chong is like Chinese Longs drugs or CVS with fresh fruits.
This store has all different types of teas, dried fish, herbs, trinkets, seasonal fruits etc. During my recent visit I noticed their store has expanded and it’s very spacious. Usually there are 2 mid age ladies working. They’re very knowledgeable and helpful if you’re looking for something in particular.
When lychees are in season, this is one of the best store to buy it from. You can buy either in bags or lychees on bundles.
This store is probably the cleanest and neat store in Chinatown. The store reflects two ladies’ pride.

Lady asked me if I needed help… Since I had about a dozen items in my list and knew what brands I wanted, I replied that I could find it myself – in English (pretending not to understand Cantonese). She impolitely told me to get out of the section I was in (which wasn’t marked off limits in any way, but was out of her direct line of sight from where she was seated). She continued to mumble several rude and insulting things concerning me in Cantonese, to herself and her coworker. Needless to say, I took my business elsewhere and will never shop there again.

I rarely come to this Chinese grocery store as I tend to shop at the same ones on Maunakea Street.
Just the other day I was heading to Maunakea Street after shopping at my regular produce shop at Kekaulike Market, I was approaching Sun Chong Grocery store and noticed a group of ladies walking in.
I then stopped at noticed dragonfruit, which caught my eye because of its bright pink color, and next to it had a bag of dried herbs to make Chinese soup. As a kid my parents would boil soup for us to drink all the time but now that they’ve both passed on, I recently have started to experiment with soup making at home.
When I worked at a Chinese restaurant during my student days, at times I was sent on errands to buy various items, including «soup mixes». So at Sun Chong I decided to «experiment» with this soup mix that I’m not familiar with. It was only $ 1.50 for the whole bag so I got one and will be making soup in the near future. Very curious on what it’ll taste like…
As you walk in the store, it’s cluttered with so many items with snacks, candy, dried herbs, scallops, mushrooms and the list goes on! Oh, and because it’s now in season, there were also tin cans of MOON CAKE.
Seems like a mother-​and-​daughter team working, who are both bilingual. I was amazed on how the daughter was so friendly with this elderly local Asian lady who was looking for coconut candy in green wrappers. While I was shopping there the girl explained the various different hard candies they had on stock with green wrappers.
It was a very memorable shopping experience here. I didn’t really appreciate the very narrow walkway to the cash register but this store has a lot of Chinese goods and the prices were reasonable in my opinion.
NOTE: NO sales tax here.

Ginger is yummy. Ginger is tasty. Ginger has many different positive healing qualities. Ummm, I have to admit that I love ginger.
I come here to buy different varieties of ginger and li hing mui for my mom. She’s very particular (wet, but not too wet or dry but not too dry depending on her mood, not to sweet, the right level of spice, etc.). This store has a good variety of crack seed items that you can buy in volume. The women who work this store are patient, helpful and generous. They don’t mind offering free samples and showing you all the different varieties of products they have. This all keeps me coming back for more!

Preserved Fruit galore Li Hing Mui, Lemon Peel, Dried Ume, Melon seeds and You name it they pretty much have all the dried fruit and nuts you can think of. pretty decent prices and nice packaging rather than the plain clear wrap they have a clear and foil wrap.
Of course being it is Chinatown parking is limited to what you can find on the side streets or in the public parking structures. usually bustling with people both browsing and tourist walking around taking in the smells and sights.