Where do you buy your deli goods?

[VanillaEssence]

Hey JSL,

I’m wondering where you guys buy your salami and cheeses when you get cravings? I’ve managed to track down some decent Camembert at reasonable prices -but no good cheddar (or Australian ‘tasty’) or anything else particularly fancy. Costco is the most cost effective I’ve come across but the cheese is still American style . Same for salami and other deli meats is Costco the best place? Hoping to hear where you all get your stuff

[Zasso Nouka]

Metro is only for business customers, so you don't get the insane crowds Costco gets on weekends and holidays and if you don't have your own business maybe ask a friend. They stock European cheeses and meats in larger packs, proper Emmental and Gruyere from Switzerland along with Italian, French and German cheeses. Not a huge selection but generally you can find some nice cheese. Their cured meat selection on the other hand is much better, prosciutto, salami, Jamon Serrano and Iberico ham is pretty wide ranging and varied. You buy either a small pack or a whole leg if you are feeling particularly flush.

A bit pricey but Takashimaya department stores has an awesome deli selection, the cheese store has a very extensive range of cheese covering just about every taste. The meat selection can vary and possibly not as wide ranging as Metro but still not disappointing.

One Kasumi supermarket near us has a good range of cured meats and soft cheeses but the other Kasumi super nearby has virtually nothing so may depend on the store manager or location.

Have you tried making your own soft cheeses ? Some like paneer for Indian cooking take maybe 1 hour to make and are super simple, even I with my limited skills make it, you can order rennet online easily enough.

[DocDoesFarming]

I miss just eating a massive slab of cheddar whenever I wanted.
Was planning on making Cheese and Onion pasties at some point but cheddar is just too expensive and sold in mega tiny packs where I live. Lame.
Are there any good shops on online that sell it at reasonable prices?

[VanillaEssence]

Metro is only for business customers, so you don't get the insane crowds Costco gets on weekends and holidays and if you don't have your own business maybe ask a friend. They stock European cheeses and meats in larger packs, proper Emmental and Gruyere from Switzerland along with Italian, French and German cheeses. Not a huge selection but generally you can find some nice cheese. Their cured meat selection on the other hand is much better, prosciutto, salami, Jamon Serrano and Iberico ham is pretty wide ranging and varied. You buy either a small pack or a whole leg if you are feeling particularly flush.

A bit pricey but Takashimaya department stores has an awesome deli selection, the cheese store has a very extensive range of cheese covering just about every taste. The meat selection can vary and possibly not as wide ranging as Metro but still not disappointing.

One Kasumi supermarket near us has a good range of cured meats and soft cheeses but the other Kasumi super nearby has virtually nothing so may depend on the store manager or location.

Have you tried making your own soft cheeses ? Some like paneer for Indian cooking take maybe 1 hour to make and are super simple, even I with my limited skills make it, you can order rennet online easily enough.

Thanks for your detailed reply Zasso. I am planning to do some mozzarella myself since I think it should be possible with pasteurised Japanese milk. Does Metro work if you’re a ‘sole proprietor’ or whatever the correct nomenclature is? The place sounds awesome.

[Zasso Nouka]

No worries, yes you can be a sole proprietor as far as I'm aware, unless the rules have changed since we signed up. We don't have a registered company or anything, you may or may not have to be in the food business, we registered as a cafe.

Bear in mind that they sell larger packs so you'll likely be buying kilo sized blocks of cheese. I'd say they are fairly similar in price to Gyomu Super for similar things, sometimes cheaper sometimes more expensive. Wouldn't bother buying vegetables there as they are often more expensive than local supermarkets but you can get out of season or unusual vegetables so that may or may not be something you are interested in.

The one in Chiba has a pretty good wine section and their seafood is quite varied but not sure what other locations are like.

We've made mozzarella cheese and it was pretty easy, you can make Ricotta cheese from the leftover whey but we've never done that ourselves, perhaps this winter. Halloumi and Feta cheese are also pretty easy basically being variants of paneer.

I miss just eating a massive slab of cheddar whenever I wanted.
Was planning on making Cheese and Onion pasties at some point but cheddar is just too expensive and sold in mega tiny packs where I live. Lame.
Are there any good shops on online that sell it at reasonable prices?

Maybe the new UK/Japan trade deal will bring more proper cheddar to Japan, otherwise it's Costco but and I mean no disrespect to anyone from America Costco's cheddars just aren't proper farmhouse matured cheddar.

[gonbechan]

A-price sells blocks of 500g cheddar. Its not cheap but its not sell your kidney expensive either.
They also have gouda but it tastes more like cheddar too haha.

find a store near you
http://tcc.to-ho.co.jp/shop/index.html

They also sell really nice frozen pie sheets, frozen brussel sprouts in decent size bags, large bottles of Cook Do chinese sauces... etc etc.

We often buy a shoulder of pork there to make slow roast pork too.

[donguri]

Most of the high-end department store food basements have an import cheese department, although may be pricey.

Not sure where you're located so this may or may not help.... in Nagoya the supermarket SAPORE has a nice selection of cheese, including 1kg blocks of several standards like English cheddar, gouda, cream cheese, German maribo.... the prices on those are great. Not sure if they would do shipping or not, I usually stock up for the restaurant when I go to the city once a month.

Supermarket Seijo Ishii also has some reasonably priced large blocks of standard cheeses. Not sure about their online shop.

The Meat Guy has a wide selection of sausages, import cuts of meats, holiday turkeys and other meat related items like tortillas and buns. They are online only and ship all over Japan. The owner is American and has been in biz for many years.

[gonbechan]

https://www.seijoishii.com/c/32 should get you to the cheese section Seijo Ishii

[gonbechan]

This seller on Amazon sells reasonably priced various cheeses. Their stock and prices vary I suppose with availability.

This seller on Amazon sells a range of cheeses in big blogs at ok enough prices. They also sell cured meats as well as a kg box of lamb chops (which we have tried and they were good)

[VanillaEssence]

This seller on Amazon sells reasonably priced various cheeses. Their stock and prices vary I suppose with availability.

This seller on Amazon sells a range of cheeses in big blogs at ok enough prices. They also sell cured meats as well as a kg box of lamb chops (which we have tried and they were good)

Thanks for the links. I’ve seen the amazon ones and the price would be decent if it’s weren’t for the shipping fee. Don’t think I can quite justify buying heaps of cheese at once to spread out the fee haha.

https://www.seijoishii.com/c/32 should get you to the cheese section Seijo Ishii

I love Seijo Ishii but the prices are fucked