Seoul Mart

I went there to buy Kimchi one time. It turns out very smelly at the time I opened it. At the time I bought, the package was bloated already. But one Korean Lady ensure me that it should be okay. At the time I reach home, I opened and wanted to eat it with my whole family. But it was extremely smelly, until the whole room smells terrible. I check with the other Korean market, they said a bloated package of Kimchi could lead to a deadly food poisoning.

About 3 days after that, I came down again to Parkway, to make my complain to them regarding my case. The same Korean lady keep pushing me for the receipt and say that the smells is highly normal and IT'S FINE!! I insisted them to refund my money, but that Korean Lady and one male cashier refused to do so. Another Singaporean young lady finally agree to exchange with another product. So, I turn around their store for about 2 times to find the replacement. But after 2 turns, the Korean said if I cannot find what I want, just come back later or another day cause it will disturb their shop. What a humiliating treatment from a staff.

Finally, I grabbed a very expensive snacks cause I've had enough with their shop. The snacks are 2.50 SGD, to replace a 7.90 smelly kimchi! Luckily the same young lady who allows me to change my product, introduce me to take their tea. She told me the tea is good for health. And it turns out not so bad.

Having said that, I tried to come to another Korean shop at Marina Square. They manage to sell exactly the same product with a surprisingly lower price compare to Seoul Mart. They sell Kimchi at around 3.50 SGD. and that's nice!

After all, my review is, I'm very disappointed with the treatment from Seoul Mart staffs. Their after sales service is extremely bad. Their staff mostly can't speak proper English, and very unfriendly.

Thanks to Korean TV drama series such as Winter Sonata, 大长今, 朱蒙神话 & the like, Korean grocery marts have been popping up all over the place.

& one of the newest ones in town is Seoul Mart, located in Parkway Parade's Basement 1, right next to Cold Storage.

Much like any other Korean mini market, they stock a variety of instant noodles, various condiments, prepackaged Kimchi in varying sizes, etc. at pretty affordable prices. As their shop space is quite small, other marts may offer more products in comparison.

The first box of Kimchi I purchased happened to suffer from an uneven spread of spices, resulting in certain portions being zestier than the rest. This problem could be rectified oneself simply by mixing the Kimchi up before serving, I suppose.

Their selection of frozen meats for BBQ purposes come at around SGD 6 per pack (depending on the type/cut of meat), which is really cheap compared to how much you'd pay for a much smaller portion at a Korean restaurant. Do note that you have to purchase the marinade (SGD 10 , good for roughly 4 packs of meat) separately & DIY at home (just dump them together in a container & leave them in the fridge overnight). They may also run out of stock at times, so it's probably a good idea to call ahead & check to prevent a wasted trip.

The staffs are Koreans, which makes understanding them a tad difficult at times, but nevertheless they are friendly & helpful. One of them even taught me that the simple addition of a bit of kiwi fruit to the marinating meat would result in a much tastier dish.

Lastly, do remember to visit the ATM first if your purchase is gonna add up to less than SGD 30 - that's the minimum amount required to be able to use NETS at this joint.

If you're hankering for a bit of Kimchi to go with your beer, why not give them a visit?