Sam's Seafood Market

Where can I get Green Fish and Pork Belly Ham, Sam I Am. At Sam's Seafood Market! Thank you, thank you, Sam I Am.Don't worry. This isn't a children's story with hidden negative messages and innuendos.Sam's Seafood Market must be the biggest stall inside Kekaulike Market in Chinatown. It's in the center portion on the right side of the entrance. All three sides offer a variety of seafood as well as raw meat! So it's not just a seafood market. You can find pork belly, chicken belly, pork tongue, beef tendon, whole chicken, and etc. There's also packaged seafood items such as Fish Tofu, fish balls, and the like.It's run by a very friendly couple. Every time I come by just to take a look, they'll always come by and ask if I need any help and inform of what's fresh, what just arrived, and etc. It's hard to not buy something here, but when in Chinatown, you always need to check and double check the freshness and prices from other stalls.The prices here are always kept at exactly the same as other stalls. But you'll never find anything that's better priced than other places.I normally purchase chicken feet from here as they often have more plump pieces, and they also defrost everything, so you can choose the pieces yourself. I recently purchased a lean pork belly for the meat to make dumplings. It looked nice and smelled fine as it was still mostly frozen, but after defrosting and mincing, there was a slight off putting smell which meant it's not that fresh.Overall, Sam's Seafood Market is a decent one stop shop to get your meats and seafood. Customer service is great. Prices are on par. Quality can be hit or miss. For some items, it's nice they defrost it so you can choose the good ones and the amount. However, it's obvious a lot of the meats and seafood are all defrosted and then frozen again for the items that didn't sell that day. It's okay to do that, as I'm sure everybody does that, but the quality goes down each cycle. All about timing to get the good ones! And Sam's usually have the good ones at any time of day.

Sam's Seafood is my go-to shop for fresh fish. The owner is very friendly and the quality of the seafood sold is excellent. The man behind the counter asked which fish I wanted that was on display. I chose the pompano, which is a favorite of mine to steam with ginger and scallions.I asked for the fish to be cleaned and cut. Within minutes he had the guts mostly cleaned out and the fish quartered. If I had attempted to do this myself it probably would have taken me an hour. Best of all the fish sold here is so much cheaper than buying fish at the supermarket. The pompano was only $2.99 per pound. You can't find customer service, freshness, and affordability like this at the big box stores. Support local mom and pop business and stop by Sam's on your next visit to buy groceries in Chinatown.

As a frequent shopper in Chinatown I pretty much see new businesses pop up. It's tough to run a business as you need to make sure there's enough revenue to cover your expenses. New businesses pop up and sadly you see some of them go.For those who follow me I patronize Maguro Brothers often. Next to them had a vacancy and I joked with the Tsuchida brothers why don't they take over that space as well. They got a good laugh from that.Fast forward several months and now this space is occupied by Sam's Seafood Market. It's a large space that sells fresh and previously frozen seafood as well as meats (chicken, beef, pork and lamb).I pretty much have my go-to places for certain items but recently my regular stall was sold out. I decided to give Sam's a try and scoped their offerings. Beef, pork, chicken and fish looked very fresh so I gave them a shot.I found the staff here with sub-par English skills so I opted to speak to them in Cantonese. I asked them if they had pig's tongue and the female staff directed me to that section. She advised me irhe tongue was fresh and I took her word for it. How does one tell if raw pig's tongue is fresh or not? Ummmm.....can you show me your tongue? pIt was cooked that day and well perceived. Indeed the tongue was tender and delicious. Great first impression.Recently I was also in search of salmon heads. A handful of Chinese chefs mentioned Chinatown has some great stalls in Maunakea Marketplace and in the CQ Yee Hop Building. I decided to pass on the suggestions and walked straight to Sam's again. Low and behold they were in stock and checked the salmon's eyes and gills for freshness. The eyes were clear and had a nice gloss so I asked for 10 heads. You should have seen her facial expression in response to my request as you don't have patrons asking for so many heads in a day. I had them cut the heads in half and gills removed. They were all cooked that evening and tasted so fresh with dried beancurd and fresh tofu. Sam's is another great stall in Kekaulike Market. Next time you're in Chinatown stop by and check them out.

This is one of the best places on island to get various types of meat at a good price. From whole catfish to frozen Basa filets, goat, oxtail, chitterlings, and chicken feet..you can find everything here. We park at the municipal parking lot off Nimitz before River street and walk over. This market is located off a pedestrian walkway where you will also see fresh fruits and vegetables. It's a shopper's delight! Bring a shopping bag and ask the owner for ice if you will be out for a while.