A & F Market

Man, I’ve been coming here since I was kid, during those times I would run here to buy some packs of Basketball cards, and try to shell out every penny out of my measly little pockets and those damn merchants wouldn’t even slide me a few cents when I was little.
But hey it’s still up and running like your typical rundown asian crammed market that smells like dried squid. Do you need ingredients to make Sinigang soup and Longanisa for dinner? you can get that here! Oriental snacks from the Philippines like the Nagara peanuts you can get that here! you can even get a pack of Big League Chew shredded bubble gum here if your in the mood to get a piece of American at this market.
But for the win, you’d want to get here some Roasted Garlic Peanuts they display on the counter.
A&F ?!? American and Filipino Market? name says it all.

Quick trip for filipino goodies.

Oriental market in westside Long Beach. mostly fipino crowd here. you can pretty much get the same stuff as you can across the street at Tambuli. But I go here to buy Lottery Scratchers !!! :))

Why is this place so great?
How about you need a huge (about the size of a 5 gallon water jug) pot to make soup for an army. Yup! it’s here.
SO is the portable stove that operates off of butane cans to keep it warm at your tailgate party.
Need some sitaw for your kare kare on Christmas Day?
Need some oxtail to go with it? You bet!
Have a craving for shave ice and need:
an ice shaver, jackfruit, or condensed milk — you’ll find it here.
How about some ube ice cream to go with that halo halo?
You can also buy mayo for your baked Mussels, Spam for your Masubi, and calling cards, so you can tell your parents how much you miss them now that they live in the PI again.
The A & F stands for American and Filipino, though you can find a few other Asian and Latin Staples here.
This Market has only ever been operated by two sets of owners the Older Filipino Gentleman, and a 1^st Generation Chinese Family. I have only ever known the Chinese family that is now in it’s 2^nd generation of operators.
They have been such an integral part of the neighborhood for over 20 years. The entire staff seems to be the same for 20 years as well. The owners speak, Chinese, English, some Tagalog and some Spanish. Many of the employees are Latino but speak Spanish, Tagalog and English. Why is this relevant? Because if you have ever brought anyone here who only fluently spoke one language, and perhaps you have no idea what ingredient they are talking about, bring them here, one of them will know what you need!
They have a great array of spices too for any type of American, Italian, Mediterranean, Latin or Asian thing you need.
The minus one star is only because the walkways are 2 narrow for even a handbasker sometimes. :(
Please stop in and see what the modern take of the «old fashioned general store» (yup they sell some clothes too).