Yu Xiao

I know this place as the only Asian market within 3 miles of my house in Dalston, or Fu Xing (which is the what the perpendicular sign reads) if I really squeeze my brain to remember the name. I need my Korean/​Japanese/​Thai staples from somewhere, so Fu Xing is my place for the cheapest firm tofu I’ve found in London (£1.50 for a big block), sesame oil, bean sprouts, nori, galangal, dried shiitake mushrooms (look no place else, so cheap here), phở and bun noodles, pak choi, etc. They have a small but solid Korean section with gochujang, dwenjang, Korean rice vinegar, even bulgogi marinade! They also carry two types of kimchi (jarred and in plastic, refrigerated pouches) and occasionally have kkakdugi.
However, I still buy my kimchi every few weeks from Centre Point market next to Tottenham Court Road station. Although it’s overpriced, £9 per kilo, the homemade, authentic taste makes me shell out the dough.
Fu Xing is a great little family run store. The young, 30-​something-​ish guy who usually mans the cashier is friendly and is happy to help you find items for your tom kha soup or whatever dish you are cooking. He even covered me when I was 20 p short one time and let me pay him back next time. I’m always happy to help them out.
Cash only and you should BYOBag cause, really, who needs another plastic bag! Although they do supply sturdy blue ones for freezies.

One thing I would say is that this place is way cheaper than Chinatown, so if you live locally you’re far better off shopping here if they have what you’re after. Rent must be a pittance. It’s a small shop but generally they have what I’m after 90% of the time — which given I cook some fairly obscure Asian and Chinese food is not bad — and there is a plus that they do have good and fresh seafood, like clams, razor clams, seabass, crabs, on a fairly reliable basis and it’s not expensive. It’s run by Mainland Chinese so it’s the place to go for Chinese food; they have a small Japanese section and also sell Kimchi but if you want Vietnamese herbs etc, better go elsewhere. Their English is merely average but they will really genuinely try to help you, and I get a smile when I arrive — they actually look pleased to see me. This is the kind of neighbourhood business it’s good to support.

Yeah Yu Xiao does add a bit of new spice, exotic mystique to the tired formula of general convenience shops that London specialises in. I just love thinking of all their food coming in from Malaysia or Vietnam. And thus, it is absolutely crammed with (to me anyway) weird and wonderful items and curiosities. Like you can buy a massive bag of dried mushrooms which look absolutely amazing. And the really big bag of them costs £11.90. Fab. Loads of beautiful juices, many of which I have tried, you know them ones with bits of aloe vera floating about? Got plenty. Obv. all the sauces and spices.
And really interesting things in their freezer. Chunks of eel. Little frozen dim sum which I like. Loads of genuine noodles, I like them as well. In fact, just entering makes me want to get inspired and cook genuine asian, stir-​in sauces are a bit grim… With real noodles, on sale here. Some of the stuff is fairly pricey. But then it probably has been brought over from somewhere on the other side of the world. So… I’ll let them off. All in all, a veritable treasure trove of interesting foodstuff

Yu Xiao adds a bit of welcome diversity to Dalston’s less than endearing High Street. I often pop in here if I’m planning on cooking anything Chinese or Thai because they have such a great selection of herbs and vegetables that it can be quite difficult to find elsewhere. No matter how many times I visit here there is always some new tropical fruit or brown root that I don’t recognise but see old Chinese ladies filling their baskets with. Though I love seeing this little glimpse of real Chinese cooking, it always makes me a bit embarrassed at the uninspired stir-​fry I will inevitably prepare when I get home.
To make myself feel better, I stock up on the frozen dim sum and dumplings in the freezer aisle. I know that dim sum purists will recoil at the thought of buying frozen but these are so cheap and so delicious I find it almost impossible not to.
Though Yu Xiao can’t compete with the bigger Chinese supermarkets in central for their sheer size and range of stock it is still a great local resource and well worth a visit if you’re planning a Chinese feast.