Uwajimayas

The nearest Uwajimayas to me is in Beverton, it takes about 20 minutes to get there so long as there's no traffic and there frequently is. So why do I make the trip? Sounds like a lot of trouble, and there are other asian grocery stores closer to me.

However none of them can compare to my Uwajis, going to Uwajimayas is an event in itself. The store includes a Kinokuniya bookstore, a Shiseido cosmetics shop, and Hakatamon! An on site restaurant that makes their own Udon noodles, Becky also swears by their rice balls.

I do occasionally traverse the Asian stores closer to me, I work right next to one! But most of them look pretty dirty, they always seem to attract a lot of flies and none of their produce looks very fresh when I go. I usually stick to buying stuff in bottles and cans when I go.

Uwajimayas however can afford to keep fresher items in stock because there's more turn over, also I spot very few bugs, they are quite clean, and even though the fish section is huge, no gross fishy smell.

The fish and shellfish change every now and then but it's most common to find live dungenous crab, geoduck clams, and tilapia.

Along with the restaurant there's also a deli, it serves sushi, and some dim sum favs like pork buns and BBQ pork. Gloria bought us some bubble tea. Mine is passion fruit and hers is watermelon.

Some exotic fruits to buy and munch on. For those of your who've never seen them before the pinkish fruit with the green spikes are dragon fruit. The flavor is similar to watermelon or cactus, it's not to my taste, though I do like it when it's made into a juice. To the right of the dragon fruit, kind of cut off from my camera are some star fruits, I adore star fruit!

The Beverton Uwajimayas has some kick-ass stuff hanging from their ceiling. I managed to snap one last picture in the store of their dragon before a check-out counter lady told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures in their store. Shhh! This blog post never happened.