Global Food Hall & Market Experience In Madison

Contrary to the popular expression, it appears something can please (almost) all people all the time: the new generation of food halls cropping up all over the place, redefining both retail and food service.

In the 1800's food hawkers and pushcarts flooded the city streets, turning them into food bazaars with barely enough room for pedestrians. Then came one-stop shsp ,mercantile stores, grocers, supermarkets and mass merchants mall food courts and the ultimate expression of mobile marketing- food trucks.

All have contributed to the evolution of food service and consumption. All contributed to the rise of food halls- often considered the next step of restaurant contribution.They are run by entrepreneurs, local chefs, and some of the next-generation creative chefs, and are turning what was once an urban phenomenon into a nationwide trend with everything from comfort foods to gourmet fare worthy of any white tablecloth restaurant.

Last Saturday, me and the hubby went to Madison to try out this new food place that I have discovered through word of mouth. (shout out to a friend from work who told me about this food hall!) So it's called The Global Market and Food Hall located in the East Town plaza. The place is a one stop shop for all food choices Oriental and Asian and while you wait for your food to order, you can shop in their grocery that mostly caters to Asian food products that I'm sure my fellow Asians out there will go 'gaga' about. Like me, personally, I feel excited and giddy everytime I go there and shop at their Asian grocery because I not only have the choice to shop for my favorite Filipino food products but also from other countries like Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Singapore and Thailand. This also gives me the opportunity to try food and food products that are made from other countries.

After living in the United States for 3 years now, discovering an Asian food hall and market is like a breath of fresh air and brings some kind of familiarity and comfort as well as nostalgia from when I was a child living back home in the Philippines. It's like having a piece of home in a foreign country.

There food hall opened in Madison to shoppers in 2020 with the mission of spreading love and incredible food and the finest ingredients as widely as possible. There are 115 gourmet stores that will surely satisfy whatever Asian food craving you may have.

Captain Franc Seafood Boiler- One of my favorites! This is actually the first dish me and the hubby tried out since I have been wanting to eat seafood for quite a while now. We ordered a 1/2 pound each combination of lobster, shrimp, crawfish and clams sauteed in butter with sweet potatoes, corn and sausage.

Taiwan Street

Dumpling House

I love dumplings and I always tell my husband that I can eat it all day. My favorite at The Dumpling House is the pork dumpling.

Hsinchu Rice Noodle

Hmong Kitchen

Instant Noodle

Kawasaki- Ramen! This food store specializes on ramen and one of the food stores that I gravitate towards everytime we go there. You can tell I love Ramen! I love the Tonkotsu Ramen which is pork belly, egg seaweed, and tofu with ramen noodles. Zach's favorite is Ramen Inferno which is pork belly, beef chasu, tofu and ramen in tonotsu broth and ramen noodles.

Nice Flavor Stir Fry

Red Lion Singapore Grill

Sir Fry House

Saucy Rice

Sweet Hut Asian Bakery and Bubble Tea

Gao Ba Dou Noodle

C Coffee

Saigon Vietnamese Rice Noodle

Zen Zen Taste

After our eating galore, we shopped at the grocery store which is also located inside the same building- convenient, right? There are an array of food products that you can choose from whatever Asian country you came from and the prices are considerably reasonable.

Food halls are becoming a favorite among mall operators and real estate developers who seem them as part of an experiential retail strategy, and among consumers who are eating out more than ever and want authentic dishes to satisfy increasingly sophisticated palettes. I personally think that having food halls like this is one of the best models of working -class diversity to fight the impression that America is a racist country. Now more than ever, when sensitive issues of racism and cultural and racial differences are the hot talk of the town, global markets like this one is a perfect example of the acceptance of melange and heterogeneity of race, culture and backgrounds.

XOXO,

Karen