I have driven past this market for years and years. Today my foodie friend Anne from Oracle, Ariz. was in town running errands and suggested we go since she is starting to make more Japanese food a la bento box style from the Just Bento website.

Sandyi is compact but neat. We walked up and down the aisles marveling at the packages written in another language. It was fascinating.

Anne bought a yam that looked nothing like the yams in regular grocery stores. She also bought various Japanese seasonings.

I was just sight seeing because I spent all my money on lunch and didn’t want to use plastic but I will be back.

I didn’t take notes so this is all from memory: There were bags of multiple kinds of rice — green rice, brown rice, instant brown rice, sweet brown rice, black rice, and many kinds of white rice. There was several varieties of barley and malt, even roasted barley tea and panko crumbs.

Who knew there were so many different kinds of sesame oils and soy sauces? 

In the refrigerated section, there was a rainbow of pickled items, tubs of miso paste, and Calpico soft drinks.

In the freezer section, we pondered over many of products but did notice two kinds of gyoza, green tea ice cream, and assorted fish. 

Produce was limited to unusual greens, not-the-usual mushrooms, oddly-shaped root vegetables, and very ripe persimmons.

There was a lot of ohhing and ahhing going on.

Is anyone reading this who is knowledgeable about these products and is willing to give me a guided tour? I’d love to know more about some of the products and how to use them.

Sandyi Oriental Market is located at 4270 E. Pima St. (at Columbus); 320-0389.

What’s your favorite Asian market?