Cheap Eats - Super H Mart’s food court sets a new standard

I’ve never been much of one to sit in and eat at supermarket delis and lunch counters — not even at the upscale organic ones. The seating feels so institutional, and the reheated, prepared dishes are never terribly exciting.

Enter Super H Mart. Its stylish and expansive food court boasts an impressive variety of cooked-to-order Asian meals and snacks. Like the mega-market in which it’s situated, the fast-food kiosks are thoroughly mobbed, IKEA-style, on weekends. Despite the throngs of humanity, tables are kept spotlessly clean, and the overall energy level of the place stays upbeat without descending into chaos.

EAST MEETS EAST: Food court offerings are divided into five little worlds: Cafe, Chinese/Dumpling, Korean, Sushi, and Snack. In place of Styrofoam containers and plastic plates, food is served in bento boxes at the Japanese and Korean booths, and on the ubiquitous thick white china painted with blue flowers at the Chinese/Dumpling kiosk.

BOX IT UP: The Snack area’s menu consists of Japanese and Korean favorites, including the tantalizingly named “chewy Korean noodles” that we’ll have to revisit to try. The Donkasu box ($6.99), served in a 2-foot square bento box, features a panko-coated pounded pork cutlet fried to astounding crunchiness and topped with donkasu sauce, a sort of soy-Worcestershire-ketchup Japanese A-1 combo. Other compartments are filled with sliced oranges; an iceberg salad topped with ranch; crisp, feathery-light shrimp, octopus, plantain and onion and carrot thatch tempura, and slices of soft tofu dressed with a hot fermented bean paste.

DUMPLING ROYALTY: In the Chinese/Dumpling section, the doughy little treats are hand-made throughout service. King Dumplings ($1.50), aptly named for their tennis-ball size, are chive-studded affairs similar in texture to the steamed pork buns that populate dim sum carts. The exterior may be Chinese, but the filling, featuring succulent ground pork laced with bits of vermicelli and nibs of kimchee, is thoroughly Korean.

Enormous, tempting bento box combinations are available at the Korean counter, as are enormous noodle bowls. The savory, seemingly bottomless #5 Jigae noodle bowl ($4.95) boasts sesame-kissed broth and six large, wrinkly dumplings filled with pork, kimchee, cabbage and rice noodles tangled at the bottom of the bowl.

COUNTER INTELLIGENCE: Hitting the counters on a rotational basis, it would still take some serious doing to exhaust the menu. Super H Mart’s food court isn’t just a place to take a breather or grab a bite only because there’s nothing else around. It is a thrilling destination in and of itself.