Marukai Market Little Tokyo — Attraction in Los Angeles

little authentic japanese grocery store . Lot of the packed food is imported . On the down side the parking lot is a NIGHTMARE very guetto very smelly and disgusting . Smallest and most dirty marukai i ever been too . They charge 2$ per 15 min unless u get validation . Which i hate i rather go shop in the ones in costa mesa west covina or gardena ( free parking and they are HUGE compare to the one in LA).you also have to pay CASH in that parking, they dont take any card, its so annoying . The store is relatively small compare to other locations . The selection of food is extremely limited same with the vegetables / fruits . Organic food is almost non existant exerpt for a free mushrooms and eggs .the line is long the store is narrow very cramped up way too many people inside pushing right and left . Not a store where i would enjoy doing my weekly grocery shopping . The sushi were disgusting tasted kinda old with bone hard rice . The tempura were super soggy same with the tacoyaki super sad looking flat and poor taste .the only food i recommend is their ramen. Lot of exp or close to expiration date food poor stock poorly managed and a mess . The table outside were sticky dirty amd so gross .very unsanitary . The plaza itself isnt all that clean . Overall skip this one ... i usually love tokyo central/ marukai but this location is an absolute nightmare. LOTS of homeless people at night .this place just keep getting worse and worse by the minute . There is one security guard but it doesnt feel all that safe walking toward and...

It is a small but good size japanese store. You can find to go food like onigiri, rolls, sushi, dango, red bean mochi (not the ice cream but you can find ice cream too), and a lot of other foods They also have a microwave to heat up your food, if bought in store. There is a good selection of drinks from teas, ramune, beer, and sake. The produce section is small and compared to other stores in LA, which may be a bit overpriced for some depending if you know where to shop. The meat section has a nice selection of fish, not so much in terms of chicken. When I went, I didn't find a whole chicken breast. There are plenty of teas and sweets. Also, when entering, there is an empty section. It used to be a beauty section, but it has gotten moved or removed. I didn't get to explore completely the side where the registers are at. When checking out, you can pick the self check out or a person to help. There were no people in line when I went, around 3pm to 4pm. Checking out is easy, though I had a bit of trouble getting my card to be read as debit, so perhaps not as easy. However, they a help me button on the screen to press. They do have parking, I didn't use it, but it is there. Four stars are mostly from the lack of produce. They aren't as full as Ralph, Whole Foods or those grocery stores in other areas when it comes to fruits and vegetables. It is understandable because...

The problem is it’s size. It’s small.

I asked if they had corn starch and they only had potato starch. They’re both thickeners but one ends up being clear and the other opaque. I found out these are the most important differences between them on google much later because I had poor reception there. I’m not sure if Japanese cuisine rarely uses corn starch as opposed to potato starch or something but it wasn’t great that there was no corn starch.

All in all I was very frustrated. Maybe I deserved it because, alas I was going to make orange chicken lol. Getting stuff for orange chicken at a Japanese grocery store? Well, I must admit that I chose this store because it had one of my favorite items.

Ponzu sauce. The ponzu sauce was made in Japan and it was not terribly expensive. I always look for items that are made in Japan as opposed to China. Items like wakame. Yeah, some of it isn’t produced in Japan. Of course the Japanese stuff is more pricey but it’s worth it. I like to think the Japanese stuff will be less carcinogenic or something.

I found everything besides the corn starch. Chef grade soy sauce, Kadoya sesame seed oil and ponzu.

The store is overflowing with snack foods. Maybe they could calm down with the snack foods and bring in other things? Just maybe, so I can maybe find corn starch next time? Lol

Parking in the underground structure...