Deck the halls
Hot Korean supermarket chain to open Northwest Austin's first food hall
The food hall craze continues in the Capital City. Two food halls already are in the works downtown, and now another one has just been announced for Northwest Austin.
In mid-January, H-Mart, an Asian supermarket chain, is set to debut a food hall concept called Market Eatery inside a 68,670-square-foot store at 11301 Lakeline Blvd., near Lakeline Mall.
H-Mart operates stores in the Dallas and Houston areas, but the Austin location will be its first to include the Market Eatery component. It will also be the chain’s first outpost in Austin. H-Mart eventually plans to roll out Market Eatery nationwide.
The Market Eatery in Austin will feature these food vendors:
- Sunday Bird (Korean fried chicken)
- Sunday BBQ (Korean barbecue)
- Snow Monster (Taiwanese shaved ice, boba tea, and waffles)
- Seoul Sausage (Korean barbecue and street food)
- Maru Maki (Japanese sushi)
- Sogongdong Tofu House (Korean tofu soup and comfort food)
- Lai Lai (authentic Chinese)
- Tous Les Jours (Korean bakery)
Noted chef Deuki Hong of San Francisco is the force behind Sunday Bird and Sunday BBQ.
Non-food vendors at Market Eatery will be The Face Shop (which will sell ever-popular Korean cosmetics), Cheong Kwan Jang (Korean red ginseng shop), Tori Gift (gift shop), Jessica Hair (salon), and JDX (blinds and curtains).
Market Eatery also will serve beer, sake, and wine, including makgeolli, a traditional Korean rice wine, and Korean plum and raspberry wine. Guests will be able to sip their adult beverages in a bar-inspired space with a stage along with projectors for watching movies and sporting events.
H-Mart, which got its start in Queens, New York, now has more than 60 locations in Texas, New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Fifteen more H-Mart stores are set to open in the coming year; about half of them will contain Market Eatery food halls. H-Mart says it’s eyeing Dallas for at least one Market Eatery.
H-Mart, based in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, currently has two stores in Houston, as well as one each in Carrollton and Plano.