This New York Asian Market Brings The Flavors Of Asia Under One Roof

The best part of a big Asian market is how quickly one aisle can change your dinner plans.

In New York, shelves packed with noodles, sauces, snacks, produce, seafood, baked goods, frozen specialties, and prepared foods make a normal grocery run feel much more interesting.

You might come in looking for one ingredient and leave curious about five others. That is what makes browsing so much fun.

Take your time around the seafood counter, look closely at the produce, and pick up something you have never tried before.

There is no need to know exactly what you are doing. Half the experience is discovering what looks good and figuring out what to do with it later.

A Grand Westbury Welcome

The scale becomes obvious quickly, with grocery aisles, fresh departments, prepared foods, and a food court all sharing the same Westbury location.

The entrance opens into a space that runs about 45,602 square feet, which sounds like a number until you actually try to walk it. Carts roll past in every direction, and the ceiling lights make the packaging glow like candy.

99 Ranch Market opened here on April 9, 2022, becoming the chain’s first location in New York State and bringing its large-format Asian supermarket concept to Long Island.

More than ten thousand products fill these shelves. Some are familiar, plenty are not, and that mix is exactly the point.

The enormous selection encourages slower browsing, especially for shoppers comparing unfamiliar sauces, snacks, noodles, and pantry staples.

Grab a cart before entering, since more than 10,000 products can turn a short grocery list into a much longer browse. Some stores sell groceries.

You will find it inside the Samanea New York shopping center, once called the Mall at the Source, at 1500 Old Country Rd #112 in Westbury.

Pantry Aisles Worth Exploring

Rice comes in more forms than most people expect. Here, an entire wall proves it.

Fragrant jasmine sits beside short grain varieties favored in Japanese and Korean kitchens. Sticky rice, brown rice, and jumbo bags built for big families all share the space.

Noodles take up plenty of room too, with fresh and dried options representing several Asian cuisines. Current Westbury inventory includes fresh noodles alongside a large assortment of packaged varieties.

Sauces take over from there. Soy sauces range from light to dark to sweet, and the vinegar selection alone can rewrite your salad routine.

Chili crisp jars stack high, glistening with crunchy bits that make plain rice taste important. Fermented bean pastes, sesame oil, and curry blocks round things out.

The variety makes it easy to experiment with unfamiliar noodle styles without building an entire meal around one type.

Labels often include English translations, which helps beginners feel less lost. Staff may be able to help with product locations, while English labeling on many items makes browsing easier for shoppers unfamiliar with particular ingredients.

Live Tanks And Fresh Catch

Bubbling tanks pull kids in like magnets. Adults pretend they are not equally fascinated.

Live seafood is one of the market’s signature departments, with tanks and fresh displays carrying selections that change according to availability.

Whole fish rest on crushed ice nearby, arranged in tidy rows. Tilapia, red snapper, branzino, and shrimp share the display with clams and mussels.

Complimentary seafood services include cleaning and frying fish as well as steaming certain seafood, giving shoppers the option to take some purchases home already prepared.

That flexibility makes the counter useful for both shoppers planning to cook from scratch and those looking to shorten the work once they get home.

The preparation service can save work at home, particularly for seafood that can be steamed or fried at the market.

Fish-cleaning service is available at the seafood counter, adding convenience for shoppers buying whole fish.

Ask the seafood counter which cleaning and preparation options are available for your particular purchase, and bring an insulated bag if the trip home will take time.

Produce That Sparks Curiosity

Green things rule this corner of the store. Loads of them, in shapes you may not recognize.

Asian greens are a major part of the produce department, with current and recent Westbury selections including bok choy, ong choy, mushrooms, taro, and other vegetables that can rotate with availability.

Tropical and Asian fruit selections change seasonally, with items such as mangosteen and longan appearing in current Westbury inventory and durian, lychee, and jackfruit among the chain’s broader produce specialties.

Mushrooms deserve their own paragraph. Enoki, shiitake, king oyster, and beech varieties crowd together, each one useful for a different soup or stir fry.

Prices vary by item and weekly promotion, while the produce department combines familiar staples with fruits and vegetables that can be harder to find at conventional supermarkets.

Less familiar fresh produce gives shoppers opportunities to compare ingredients that are often encountered only in canned, dried, or frozen form elsewhere.

If you spot something unfamiliar, buy one and search a recipe later. Small experiments cost little and teach a lot.

The department regularly carries a broad assortment of Asian vegetables, though individual items can change with season and availability.

Butcher Counter Done Right

Hot pot night begins right here. So does Korean barbecue night, honestly.

Trays of paper thin pork belly and beef brisket sit ready to drop into simmering broth. No knife skills required, which is a gift on busy weeknights.

The meat department carries a broad range of familiar and less-common cuts, though exact organ-meat availability can change from week to week.

Whole chickens, chicken feet, oxtail, and short ribs fill the cases too. Marinated meats offer a shortcut when time is tight.

Lighting over the displays runs bright and clean, so the color of the meat shows honestly. That small detail builds a lot of trust.

Shoppers looking for a particular cut should ask the meat-counter staff which preparation options are available that day.

Thinly sliced beef and pork make the department particularly useful for hot pot, grilling, and other dishes that benefit from ready-cut meat.

The specialized meat selection gives Long Island shoppers access to cuts commonly used in hot pot and other Asian cooking styles.

Hot Deli Rescues Dinner

Aromas do the advertising in this corner. Roasted meats hang in the window, glossy and golden.

Char siu, that honey glazed barbecue pork, catches the eye first with its lacquered edges. Roast duck hangs nearby, skin crackling under the warming lamps.

The hot-food selection includes Chinese barbecue, dim sum, noodles, and prepared dishes, with individual choices changing throughout the day.

Rice bowls make an easy grab and go option when you skipped lunch. Portions run generous enough to share, though you may not want to.

Seating nearby lets shoppers pause for a meal, while the current food court adds options including pho, Shanghainese dishes, and bubble tea. Sushi availability should be checked because the sushi tenant is currently listed as temporarily closed.

The prepared-food counters make it possible to combine grocery shopping with a ready-to-eat meal in the same building.

The hot deli provides an easy alternative for shoppers who want a prepared meal alongside their groceries.

Bakery Treats And Sweet Ice

Warm butter smells have a way of rerouting your entire trip. The bakery sits close to the exit, which is either thoughtful or evil.

The full-service bakery specializes in Asian-style breads, pastries, cakes, and confections, with the exact selection changing throughout the day.

Sweet and savory buns are part of the broader 99 Ranch bakery tradition, though individual varieties at the Westbury counter can rotate.

Buns, pastries, cakes, and other baked goods fill the bakery area, with availability depending on the day’s production and stock.

Bubble tea, fruit drinks, slushes, and smoothies are available from the food court’s current drink tenant, with flavors changing by menu and season.

Trays and tongs sit at the entrance, so you build your own selection. The self-serve bakery format makes it easy to choose several different pastries in one visit.

Bakery selection can change throughout the day, so specific items are best treated as subject to availability.

A Community Gathering Place

Food does something that few things manage. It gathers people without needing an invitation.

The name carries several layers of meaning: in Mandarin, 99 is associated with longevity, while the founding family has also connected it to good fortune and the idea of always striving beyond 99 percent.

Housewares, wellness, beauty, and personal-care products add another dimension to the store, though specific brands and product origins vary with current inventory.

Beverage coolers hold teas, sodas, and juices you will not spot at a standard chain. Frozen aisles carry dumplings, buns, and full meals ready in minutes.

Doors currently open at 8:30 a.m. daily, with the store closing at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The market was designed to serve Long Island’s Asian communities while also introducing a wider range of shoppers to ingredients and foods from across Asia.

Since opening in 2022, this New York market has combined a full supermarket, prepared-food counters, bakery, and food court under one roof.