It’s always a good day to shop at a small grocer. I checked out Maligaya’s Oriental Market, a Filipino grocery, at their new location on North Prospect where the store moved to this past March.
Where is it? Maligaya’s is located off North Prospect on Anthony Drive near Rural King, and there was plenty of free parking available in front of the store. When I visited, there was one other shopper which is quite the difference from our big box grocery stores. I really enjoyed my visit — and I took my time to see what all was sold here.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
The first aisle in the store has personal hygiene items, herbal soaps, cleaning supplies, kitchenwares like pots and containers, and drinks.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
There were cans of juice, bubble tea, coconut juice, and glass jelly drinks. My son is obsessed with pineapple juice, so I had to grab one of these.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
On the far right, there was a wall of coolers which held a variety of cold drinks and fresh produce plus freezers full of frozen food. There, I found noodles, tofu, Hopia kundol (Filipino pastry), kimchee, balut, ensaymada, dumplings, Eden cheese, pork in a variety of cuts, cocktail hot dogs, and more.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
Why am I just now learning about yam jam for the first time? And from a brand called Tasty Joy? This store has everything I didn’t know I needed.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
There was a snack aisle as well which was full of breads, chips, cookies, and other snack options. I saw chips with spicy prawn flavor, cracklings, potato chips, egg cracklets, puffed sweet corn, and a variety of nuts.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
I spent some time looking at the different sweets on the shelves at Maligaya’s. There were chocolate filled crackers, chocolate covered marshmallows, fruity sweets, and matcha treats.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
There was an aisle of colorful noodle packs: chow mein, angel hair, Canton noodles, and more.
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
In the very back, by the small selection of fresh produce, there was a final aisle of sauces, flours, and baking items. Bottles of sugar palm fruit, banana sauce, Ginataang Tulingan (a Filipino curry dish made with tuna), sesame oil, ube (a purple yam originally from the Philippines) extract, sardines, dried herring, smoked shrimp, and more fill the shelves. If you want a sauce to spice up your cooking, you can find Filipino style spaghetti sauce, jerk marinade, Menudo sauce, Galdereta sauce, and Afritada sauce. Plus Maligaya’s also sells dried banana blossoms, dried mushrooms, fufu mix, flours, dried spices, lye water, and huge bags of semolina flour.
So what did I buy?
Photo by Alyssa Buckley.
I bought a pack of Shanghai choy (which the cashier said tasted a lot like bok choy), pineapple juice, Yan Yan chocolate (little crackers with a chocolate creme dipping sauce), Ding Dong hot and spicy mixed nuts, a jar of fried onions, and a bottle of pad Thai sauce.
I got all of this for only $12, and it made me question why I’m haphazardly grabbing stuff off the shelves from Meijer to spice up my cooking when I could be here, in this little grocer, trying out some of these cool items.
Maligaya’s Oriental Store
1006 W Anthony Dr
Champaign
M-Sa 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Top image by Alyssa Buckley.
