The Triangle’s International Grocery Markets, and What to Actually Buy at Each
Skip the empty middle aisles. Here’s the produce, the hot-food counters, and the exact items worth crossing the county line for.
Chain supermarkets in the Triangle have gotten better about their “international” aisle — a sad shelf of hard taco kits and a lonely bottle of fish sauce wedged between the pasta and the rice. Forget it. The real ones are the standalone markets, the places where the parking lot smells faintly of roast duck, where the produce turns over so fast it’s never sad, and where you can buy a whole snapper, a bag of Thai chilies, fresh masa, and a box of Pocky in one trip. These are the stores worth building a Saturday morning around. Here’s where to go, and — more importantly — what to actually put in your cart at each.
Grand Asia Market — Raleigh
1253 Buck Jones Rd, Raleigh
If you only ever visit one international market in the Triangle, make it this one. Grand Asia is enormous, spotless, and covers most of Asia under one roof — Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, all of it. But the reason people drive here from three counties over is the hot food counter at the front. Get the roast duck. Get the char siu (barbecue pork) with the lacquered red edges. They hack it to order, weigh it, and hand it over in a foam clamshell that’ll fog up your car windows on the way home. There’s also a bakery pushing out pork buns, egg tarts, and sponge cake for a couple of bucks apiece.
Once you’re past the counter, hit the seafood department — live tanks, whole fish on ice, and shrimp that actually looks like shrimp. The produce is where you’ll find Thai basil, lemongrass, daikon, bok choy in four varieties, and durian if you’re feeling brave (or vindictive toward your housemates). Grab a bag of frozen soup dumplings and a case of Vietnamese coffee on your way out. Go on a weekend morning if you want the fullest hot-food selection; go on a weekday if you hate crowds. Either way, bring a cooler for the drive back.
H Mart — Morrisville
Around Village Market Place in the Park West Village area, Morrisville — check ahead on exact suite and hours
H Mart is the Korean superstore that’s become a national obsession for good reason, and the Triangle’s location anchors the Morrisville/Cary corridor where a lot of the area’s Korean and broader Asian community shops. The move here is the prepared-foods and food-court situation — depending on the day you can grab freshly made kimbap, banchan by the tub, marinated galbi and bulgogi ready for the grill, and hot bowls of things that’ll fix whatever’s wrong with you.
What to buy: the marinated meats. They do the hard part — the marinade, the slicing — so you just sear it. Load up on banchan (the little side dishes) if you don’t want to make them yourself; the pickled radish and the seasoned spinach are worth it. The produce section runs heavy on Korean pears, perilla leaves, Napa cabbage, and Korean chili peppers. And the snack and instant-noodle aisles are a genuine event — this is where you stock up on the good ramyun, roasted seaweed snacks, and honey butter chips. Their house-brand pantry staples (gochujang, doenjang, soy) are cheaper and better than anything at a chain. Hours and the exact suite have shifted over time, so it’s worth a quick check before you go.
Patel Brothers — Cary
In the Cary/Morrisville area — the Triangle’s Indian grocery hub; confirm the current address before you drive
Patel Brothers is the national Indian-grocery heavyweight, and its Triangle store sits right in the middle of one of the region’s densest South Asian communities. This is a pantry and produce store, not a hot-food store — so come with a plan. The lentil and rice aisle alone justifies the trip: toor dal, urad dal, moong, chana, and 20-pound bags of basmati at a price that’ll make you laugh at what you’ve been paying. The spice section is the real treasure — whole and ground everything, fresh curry leaves, asafoetida, cardamom, and pre-made spice blends that turn a weeknight into something.
What to buy: the frozen section for parathas, samosas, and a wall of frozen produce (grated coconut, chopped spinach, methi) you can’t easily find fresh. Grab paneer, a tin of ghee, and a stack of papadum. The fresh produce leans toward Indian vegetables — bitter melon, Indian eggplant, okra, green chilies, bunches of cilantro the size of a small shrub for about a dollar. If you’re new to cooking Indian food at home, this store is the cheat code. If you’ve been doing it forever, you already know.
Compare Foods — Raleigh & Durham
Multiple Triangle locations, including along Capital Boulevard in Raleigh and in Durham — check which one’s closest to you
Compare Foods is the Latin American and Caribbean anchor of the bunch, and it’s where the Triangle’s Mexican, Central American, Dominican, and broader Latino communities do their real grocery shopping. The energy is different here — bustling, music playing, a carnicería (butcher counter) doing the heavy lifting. This is your spot for cuts you won’t find pre-packaged: thin-sliced beef for milanesa, whole cuts for carne asada, chicharrón, oxtail, goat, and everything for a proper caldo.
What to buy: the tortillas and fresh masa if the location makes them, plus a bag of dried chilies — guajillo, ancho, árbol — for actual salsa. The produce is where Compare shines and undercuts everyone: plantains at every stage of ripeness, yuca, chayote, tomatillos, nopales, fresh chilies, and tropical fruit like mamey and guava. Hit the aisles for Maseca, Goya everything, Mexican Coke made with cane sugar, dulce de leche, and a shelf of Central American and Caribbean pantry goods a chain wouldn’t touch. Prices here are consistently the lowest of any market on this list — it’s a working store for working families, not a destination for tourists, and it’s better for it.
A Few More Worth Knowing
- Li Ming’s Global Mart — Durham (around Westgate Drive, off Route 55): the Durham-side answer to Grand Asia, with a strong pan-Asian selection and its own hot-food and bakery corner. Convenient if you’re on the Durham/Chapel Hill end and don’t want to fight I-40 to Raleigh.
- Cary and Morrisville’s smaller specialty shops: the corridor around Chatham Street and Cary Parkway hides Middle Eastern, Persian, and additional South Asian grocers worth exploring once you’ve got the big four down. Ask around; these communities know their spots.
How to Actually Shop These Places
A few rules learned the hard way. Bring a cooler — the whole point is the fresh meat, fish, and hot food, and none of that survives a long summer drive home. Go early on weekends for the fullest hot-food and bakery selection, or on a weekday morning if you want the aisles to yourself. Bring cash or at least expect card minimums at the smaller counters. Don’t try to hit all four in one day — pick one, wander it slowly, and let the store teach you something instead of speed-running a list. And talk to people. The person restocking the fish counter or bagging your masa knows more about what’s good today than any article ever could.
The best thing about these markets isn’t the savings, though the savings are real. It’s that they make the Triangle feel bigger than it looks — a region where you can eat your way across four continents without leaving the county. Go get lost in an aisle you don’t recognize. That’s the whole point.
The Path Best Traveled is a local insider’s guide to the Triangle. New stories weekly.
