Yugi Shoten

If you’re interested in making authentic Chinese food at home without running up a huge shopping bill in the process, this is the place to go. Spacious supermarket Yugi Shoten stocks all things Chinese – from fruit and veg to fresh fish, frozen foods, seasonings, spirits, dried foods, confectionery and pretty much anything else you can think of. Most of the customers are Chinese and the price tags are written in their native language, so it's about as close as you're going to get to China without leaving Ikebukuro. Wander the aisles and you'll find a range of enticing seasonings, such as Sichuan chao tian jiao (facing heaven pepper) and ao (unripened Japanese pepper), as well as sets for making traditional Chinese medicinal soups like tang (‘four-divinity soup’) and shi quan tang (‘ten-complete soup’). Other favourites include the various types of frozen dim sum; shop-made stewed pigs' trotters and pigs' ears; and chicken thighs pickled in onion, ginger, Sichuan peppers and a range of other spices.