Many More Asian Market's new Strip District grocery is a cornucopia of culinary delights

By Hal B. Klein / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The approximately 24,000 square feet of the recently opened expansion of Many More Asian Market on Penn Avenue in the Strip District are a wonderland of ingredients.

There are fresh noodles galore in the enormous refrigerated section. You’ll find dried noodles made with the same expansive assortment of carbohydrates nearby in one of the myriad aisles of packaged goods filled with spice, pulses, rice and grains. On the other side of the brightly lit, high-ceiling building is an entire section dedicated to hundreds of instant noodles and packaged ramen from across the globe.

One minute, you’re pursuing an immense collection of jarred pickles and sauces. Turn the corner and you’ll find an incredible array of frozen ingredients: fish cakes, dumpling skins, ready-to-heat dumplings, aromatics such as lemongrass stalks and galangal, soups and even some fusion-style treats like crispy mozzarella fish-cake corn dogs.

There are so many varieties of vacuum-sealed frozen proteins, ranging in size from thumbnail-sized pea crabs to giant cuts of beef. With so many choices, it would be challenging to run out of options for what to cook for dinner.

Many More is operated by siblings Xianfang and Xianhui Chen, natives of Fujian Province in southeastern China. They own the company with the rest of their family, which immigrated to Ohio approximately 20 years ago. They launched the first iteration of the market on Smallman Street in late 2013.

“I felt like I was missing all of my hometown food. That's why we first opened the store in Pittsburgh,” says Xianfang Chen.

She handles purchasing for the business. She says it was challenging early on because suppliers already had relationships with more established Asian grocers in the neighborhood such as Lotus Food Company and Wing Fat Hong Oriental Market.

“A lot of them turned us down at first. We don’t have that problem now. We built a good reputation over the years.”

They sure did. Over the past decade, Chen developed relationships with suppliers from across the globe as the family grew their business to include robust retail and wholesale operations. Eventually, she says, they grew too big for the original space, which will remain open as a wholesale hub.

“We had no more room to grow,” she says. “The aisles were too narrow and overstocked in the old store.”

Chen traveled to larger Asian markets in Virginia and New York to find inspiration for the expansion.

“I studied their business models so that people around here could have better shopping experiences. That’s our goal,” she says.

There is plenty of free parking in the two lots, which is convenient for customers with cars, though installing a bike rack would expand ease for city-based shoppers. (Chen says many of their regular customers come from several hours away to stock up on ingredients they can’t find closer to home.)

Many More is also built to cater to Strip District and Lawrenceville residents in search of a neighborhood grocer. To that end, there are plenty of items like frozen pizza, ice cream, tater tots, dairy milk and cheese that you’d find at a typical American mega-mart.

The store’s in-house butcher offers a cross-cultural selection of meat, and you can shop for a vast array of fruits and vegetables in the large produce section.

“I want to have all of our neighbors shop here. I want people to come here for one-stop shopping,” Chen says.

The fresh seafood offerings, some of which are pulled from live tanks, are another major appeal to Many More 2.0. While most of it comes from a New York City-based supplier, seasonal specialties like spot prawns and geoduck are flown in from as far as Seattle. (Don’t stress if you’ve never shopped from live tanks or purchased whole fish; the store’s fishmongers will ready it to your liking.)

On the other side of the grocery is the hot food section, which is the only part of the market that’s still a work in progress following a three-year journey to get the location running.

As of press time, Cantonese-style roasted meats including char siu (marinated pork), crispy pork belly and duck are offered every day of the week except for Wednesday. The family just opened its second location of Teachana, the boba tea and ramen outlet that also operates at Novo Asian Food Hall.

Xianhui Chen says he’s in the process of recruiting chefs to round out the prepared foods offerings, which will include a hot bar, grab-and-go lunches and sushi.

“Eventually, customers can purchase ingredients across the store and we can cook it for them while it is at its best,” he says. “And the fish for the sushi will be as fresh as possible because it will come directly from here.”

2736 Penn Ave., Strip District