MIDDLETOWN –- When the Asian Food Market next to Crown Palace restaurant moved to Route 79 in Marlboro after 17 years in operation, reg- ular customers lamented that there was no longer a local food market to buy Asian groceries not typically found in the area. Now, over a year later, a new Asian supermarket has opened in that same space at 1281 Rt. 35 South. SM Market, which car- ries food typical of China and Southeast Asia, recently cele- brated its grand opening. Chris Feng, the 28-year-old grocery manager of SM Market who moved from China to Edison eight years ago, said that SM Market has no affiliation with the Asian Food Market chain of stores. Feng also said that the employees at the store all came from the Kam Man Foods supermarket in Edison. “We are restarting our own careers,” Feng said. “All of the people here have a lot of experience.” While SM Market (the “SM” stands for “Save Money”) has a similar layout to the Asian Food Market that was previously there, the market has made a number of changes to the space. The bun counter, a popular point of interest at the previous store, is no longer there, but the space is now longer and deeper to provide customers with more foods and sauces. The seafood department was completely ren- ovated and everything from the produce stands to the flooring was refurbished. “The old one was small,”
Feng said of the old seafood department. “The new one is beautiful and bigger.” Lovers of Asian sweets can get popular Koala’s March cream-filled cookies. The pro- duce selection is vast and car- ries everything from bitter mel- ons and durian fruits to Dole pineapples and red apples. While an American butcher might provide popular cuts of meat, the Asian butcher at SM Market supplies that and then some, including chicken feet, black silky chickens, beef blood, and a whole roasted pig for around $100. Elizabeth Kelly, a 32-year-old student services generalist at the Brookdale in Hazlet, lives in Tinton Falls and had been com- ing to the old store with her mother for as long as she could remember. “I’m actually half Filipino,” Kelly said. “I come to the store to be able to buy Filipino foods and to pick up items for a Filipino dish.” Kelly, who was visiting SM Market for the first time, noted that she felt there was a larger produce selection than the other store carried and that although she loved the old store, she was happy that the void that the Asian Food Market had left when it closed its doors was now being filled. “It’s nice to know there’s somewhere in the neighbor- hood to go to,” Kelly said. “The markup might be higher at a regular grocery store. Some- times you feel more comfort- able buying it from here.” The market’s hours of opera- tion are 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
BY JOEY DOMINGUEZ
