Win Choy Food Market
“The service is a little rude but that's probably the case for most of the businesses in Chinatown.”
“I've found other fish markets here in LA, but nothing's quite the same as my favorite fish market on Walker.”
Win Choy Food Market
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Inexpensive
4 reviews
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The prices are really awesome here – that is until you bring the seafood home, and have to try to eat it, and realize it tastes like it's been sitting out all day. And I mean ALL day… Maybe getting here early in the day would help, I was browsing here after work around 6pm, but nonetheless… there should be a "if it ain't fresh, don't sell it" policy here!
Their process here is confusing if you never bought fish from Win Choy before.
Here's the gist of it:
1. Tell a random guy who seems like he's loitering around what you want.
2. Specify to guy if you want your fish gutted, cleaned, or cut.
2. Guy gives you a piece of paper with dollar amount.
3. Take piece of paper to lady at cash register.
4. Pay and get paper stamped.
5. Give paper back to old man to get your seafood.
Be careful you note down the dollar amount on the paper and what the woman tells you to pay. I realized she overcharged me by $0.50. How sneaky and dishonest. Also since the old men just write down the dollar amount on the paper after they weight it pretty sure they also add a few extra cents or dollars to the actual amount.
One man complained that I wanted to buy less than half a pound of shrimp. The other man took my side and said it makes sense that I'm buying for one person. I don't understand why I need to validate why I'm buying the amount I want to buy. But just ignore them if they try to make you buy more than you need.
Even though the people here complain at you a lot and are probably cheating you, I'd still come back. The fish did seem fresher than the fish at Deluxe Food Market or Hong Kong supermarket. There was also more variety of seafood. I was looking for golden pomfret which is a flat wide white fish with a golden tinge on the scales. The golden pomfret at HK supermarket had sunken red eyes and the ones at Deluxe were wrapped and frozen so I couldn't take a look at the eyes. Most of the fish here had bright, clear eyes which is why I eventually chose to come here. They will also gut or clean the fish for you.
The market is not the cleanest. I saw a bunch of shrimp fall on floor, and they just picked it up and put it right back. This is Chinatown so I expect nothing less.
This place is usually a mad house with people clambering to pick up fresh seafood to take home and cook. Be prepared to wait in line, be confused because you realize you're not actually in a line, find out that sometimes you need to pay before you pick out your seafood and sometimes you should pay after you pick it out, feel like you're unable to communicate with some of the staff because they act like they don't speak English but then you find out they speak it flawlessly… it's utter confusion just like that long, run-on sentence I typed above =) Yet, there is a bright side to all of this confusion–that is, Win Choy features some of the best priced, fresh seafood around NYC. So, is all the craziness worth it? I'd say it is. But, just be warned, it takes a bit of work to walk away happy… but you'll have some mighty tasty shrimp to cook up when you get home.
It's not on Canal, it's on Walker, but close enough.
Plenty of fresh seafood here… turtles, fish, abalone, and more. They'll descale (though you will need to do a bit of cleanup around the edges) and gut the fish for you if you want. Relatively cheap, compared to the grocery store.
Lots of people looking on the street, though, it's right beside where all the tourists are running around, which is annoying, actually.