Asian supermarkets in DC?

[Olentzero]

@Electric_Warrior

There is one at Bailey’s Crossroads in Virginia. Google Maps tells me it’s called Duangrat;

Just to prevent a needless trip down thataway - Duangrat is a Thai restaurant. The ex and I used to eat there often (and laugh about the name far more often) when we lived in Arlington.

[Caffeine.addict]

@Nzinga_Seated

I got a story. A couple of weeks ago, my best friends and I went to DC for their Carribbean Carnival. While we were there, I decided I needed a parasol to sheild me from the sun at the parade. My friend said, let’s find a chinatown in this city and get some really cool paper umbrellas.

I google “Chinatown DC” and get the wiki artical, which describes a booming chinatown complete with this really beautiful over-the-top ornate archway. I don’t read the whole wiki, it being on my lil’ phone screen, but I am hype to get to this Chinatown. The article indicates it is near H street.

I check another link and they indicate H and 7th. We program the GPS. We go to this area and…nothing.

The area shows no indication of a Chinatown, and certainly no big beautiful gate waiting to greet us.

We stop some brothas on the street; “Hey, we are looking for Chinatown!” “You just passed it, sweetheart! Go back toward 7th!”

Okay…We go back a couple blocks toward 7th. Nothing. Just regular shops and restaraunts and hat shops. A black neighborhood with no signs of any Asian influence.

We just scratched our head at this. We tried a couple more times over the course of the weekend before we just gave up.

That was my second visit to DC. Both times, I was able to find everything very easily, including all of the great Reggae clubs in DC and Baltimore (the real reason for the visit!). But Chinatown DC remains an elusive beast.

DC’s Chinatown is 7th and H Street where the Arch is. It is a collection of mostly Chain restaurants with Chinese language signs. The Chinese aspect has been vanishing for quite some time. There used to be a grocery there but it closed a few years ago. Most of the ethnic neighborhoods in DC have vanished and the recent immigrants tend to go out in the suburbs. Lately, I’ve heard people referring to that area as Gallery Place as opposed to Chinatown. I don’t really go there much since there isn’t anything there that isn’t in the suburbs.

Back to the OP, there are quite a few Asian markets in the area, they just all tend to be in the suburbs and away from Metro. The biggest ones tend to be Korean and there are two chains of Korean supermarkets, Lotte and H mart. H mart tends to be the larger of the two. There Fairfax location on Lee Highway is large and sells not only Korean items but other Asian items as well as having a small Hispanic shelf. The most authentic Asian restaurants are going to be in the suburbs.

[shy_kat]

Duangrat’s is both a restaurant and a nearby grocery (small and very good for Thai needs, maybe not for other Asian things).