Asian Treats At Costco -- Min Hunts Good Stuff

Fans of the blog know Min as the inspiration for my beginner's walk through the Korean joints on Rte 40, but she has also found Asian surprises at the most-American of stores -- Costco on Rte 175 in Elkridge.

Min's post is actually a few weeks old, so the selection may have changed slightly, but keep your eye out for the Japanese, Taiwanese and other brands:

Today at Costco I' found more Asian surprises than the usual sushi trays, Kokuho Rose white rice, and frozen dumplings.

The Japanese snack giants Meiji and Morinaga are packaging their products for the US markets! Earlier, I've found Hello Panda, a chocolate creme filled cookie, by Meiji at Costco. Today, I saw HK style sausages, small envelopes of seaweed snacks in a bucket (from China), Hi Chew fruit chews similar to Starburst by Morinaga, and Chocorooms (mushroom shaped cookies dipped in chocolate) and Yan Yan (cookie sticks in chocolate), by Meiji.

Last summer, I tried a variety of flavors of Hi Chews in Asia: lychee, kiwi, blueberries and egg custard, to name a few. Here you get flavors of mango, lemon, green apple, strawberry, and orange in a whole pack. One other nice surprise today was the buckets of Taiwanese-made Japanese-style Mochi -- mango, strawberry, or red bean fillings, each wrapped individually. At Costco, you gotta get the exotic stuff fast while you can. I've missed the short offering of Kimchi last year that my Korean friend raved about; today I brought a Mochi bucket home!

As a bonus, Min says that her friend recommends the rice cakes at Yetnal Asian Food Service, the mystery spot near Bethany Lane that I mentioned in my post about Korean spots on Rte 40. Min's friend says her church members often order trays of Honey Rice Cakes (rice cakes with honey sesame fillings, appx. $25 each) for refreshment. She heard the food is good too, and the most memorable is Soon Dooboo.

This is part of a week of guest posts highlighting finds that other people have found around Howard County.