· Madrid Resorts · Neighborhood · 2 min read
Asian supermarkets in Usera: what to buy and how to find your way
Usera's super Asians are the best assortments in Madrid: sauces, noodles, fresh vegetables and sweets that you won't see in any other neighborhood. Practical guide to shopping (and cooking) like a local.
If your accommodation in Madrid has a kitchen, Usera is a gift: here are the largest and best-stocked Asian supermarkets in the city. This is the guide we use to purchase.
Why buy here
- Actual assortment: This is not a four-shelf “international section.” There are entire aisles of sauces, noodles of all kinds, spices, seaweed, fresh tofu, Asian vegetables and frozen foods (gyozas, steamed buns, wan tun).
- Price: competition between neighborhood supermarkets keeps prices low.
- Fruit and vegetables: pak choi, choy sum, bean sprouts, fresh mushrooms and seasonal fruit at neighborhood prices.
What to buy the first time
- Pantry staples: soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste.
- Frozen foods that always save: gyozas and steamed buns (in 10 minutes, dinner).
- Noodles and rice: rice noodles for homemade pad thai, fresh ramen, jasmine rice.
- Sweets and snacks: egg tarts and buns from the Cantonese bakeries in the neighborhood for breakfast.
Neighbor advice
- Look at the labels in two languages: almost everything has a name in Chinese and Spanish; If in doubt, ask — the staff usually guides well.
- Early morning = better vegetables: the replacement is first thing in the morning.
- Take a bag: like in almost all supermarkets in Madrid, bags are charged.
- Combine it with the food market: fish and meat, better at the neighborhood market.
From shopping to cooking
All our accommodations have a kitchen (own in the two-bedroom apartment, shared in the rooms). A 15-euro purchase at a Usera Asian supermarket turns into two or three homemade dinners — the cheapest and most fun way to “eat Chinese” in Madrid.
Cover photo: Curlyrnd, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Usera
- shopping
- food
