Yumei’s Asian Marketplace

The best asian grocery that you will find in CR. Prices are better than even the coralville asian groceries with plenty more selection. Frozen seafood is a better price with brands I’ve been familiar with on the east and west coast. No korean markets around, but this place has plenty of korean products to accommodate me in CR. Saigon market has some good stuff too but is smaller and has more different types of instant noodles, but Yumeis has plenty of sauces, different types of rice noodles and plenty of frozen items to choose from. They also have some produce in the back, but I usually only get bean sprouts or cilantro. Good price for items, great selection.

After having a few bad experiences at Jojo’s Oriental Market (rotten produce, expired can goods, poor customer service, and irregular hours) I finally decided it was worth the trek across town to find a decent selection of Asian pantry items, as I’m a vegan, a foodie, and I love Chinese, Thai, Korean, and Japanese food.
I was pleasantly surprised when I came to Yumei’s; everything was clean, spacious, and they have an excellent selection of fresh Asian produce that is impossible to find anywhere else in Cedar Rapids. I was so happy to see loads of bright purple Japanese eggplants, they are my favorite and a huge bag of Thai basil for like $ 2.
As far as stocking an Asian pantry, they have you covered for many types of cuisines: Thai, Korean, Indian, Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese, although I couldn’t find fresh or frozen lemongrass (it’s possible I missed it though since the store is huge). They carry Kimlan Soy Sauce, which is the best tasting, naturally brewed soy sauce on the market, in my opinion.
Very affordable, great freezer section for harder to find fresh items like bamboo shoots and young coconut meat. They have a large bulk rice selection as well if you have the room in your pantry and want to save some cash.
I wasn’t as interested in the gift shop section with the animé, pillows, and trinkets, but I’m sure they appeal to many customers.
Customer service was also good, very friendly owner. We will be back! Check out my photo to see the massive selection of items I was able to stock, a huge boon for vegans and vegetarians in this area.

I love specialty and ethnic grocery stores. So I’m not sure why I hadn’t stopped in here earlier as it’s perhaps the largest Asian market in Eastern Iowa. They started out in Westdale Mall as Yumei’s Boutique and moved to this location on 1^st Ave SW next to Family Dollar in May 2013. In addition to Asian décor, housewares, animé and games they now have a huge grocery department. I stopped only for a few minutes on my first visit but was very impressed with the selection and prices. I complemented the owner and she said they plan to get even bigger!
The parking stinks, pretty much a wide ally on the side of the store but it’s well worth the minor inconvenience. I hope Eastern Iowa embraces this store as we really need the diverse offerings they have. Also, be sure to like their active FB page, «Yumei’s Boutique» for tips when new product arrives. This store probably won’t be nearly good enough for our culturally superior friends from the coast but for us slack-​jawed hayseeds from Iowa… shucks, this is purdy good eatin’!