Viral fruit ice cream and strawberry Oreos at Sandyi Oriental Market

I was filled with wonder perusing all the products at this local, family-run Korean market, located at 4270 E. Pima St.

Hello Kitty-themed marshmallows, various flavors of Buldak ramen, kitchen tools and all kinds of ingredients to spice up your dinners line the shelves inside, each inspiring you to take a chance and try something new.

As I walked down the first aisle, I very quickly realized I should’ve grabbed a basket.

You’re welcomed in by a cooler filled with all kinds of icy treats, including frozen taiyaki filled with red bean paste or matcha filling. (Taiyaki is a fish-shaped waffle cake dessert that is yummy.)

Further down the store is where you can find all the kitchen and cleaning supplies, which is where I spotted the cutest teapot with a bamboo handle and a painting of a Maneki-neko (the Chinese lucky cat) on the front for $17.99. They had matching cups for $5.99 if you wanted to get a teapot and cup set for your kitchen décor.

Soon, you’ll approach Buldak heaven. Buldak is a packaged ramen dish that comes in all kinds of flavors and is usually spicy. They have gone viral on TikTok a few times thanks to the addicting flavors.

I had never seen so many variations of Buldak before. Usually, stores don’t have many in stock. It looked like a lot of them were priced at $1.69.

Sticking with the food theme, they had so many great frozen foods and ingredients for those who want to unleash their inner chef. One freezer has all kinds of frozen dumplings for $10. I love those dumplings for lunch.  

They also had little tubs of gochujang, hot pepper paste, for $5.99. A month ago, Tucson restaurant Ceres had a special that featured pasta with a gochujang sauce and kimchi that I keep dreaming about. This was a great find to help recreate it at home.

I’m a simple person: I see Hello Kitty, and I must go straight to the item, no questions asked. At Sandyi Oriental Market, they had the cutest chopsticks that were Sanrio-themed for $6.99. The Pompompurin ones were my favorite.

After browsing the entire store, I picked up a couple of fun snacks to try, and paid. For $18, I got a bag full of the following unique treats that I couldn’t wait to try:

Strawberry Crème Oreos ($1.99): Strawberry is one of my favorite flavors, so seeing it in an Oreo was groundbreaking. They had other fun flavors, but I had to try the strawberry ones. No surprise, I loved them. The strawberry was bright and sweet, complementing the dark chocolate cookies. I would definitely buy again.

Nongshim Melon Kick Corn Puffs ($1.99): The little melon character playing soccer on the front of this bag is what convinced me to try this out. Plus, have you ever heard of a melon-flavored corn puff before? Don’t let the pungent melon smell or Cheeto puff resemblance scare you away, these were good. They reminded me of the pink wafer cookies I ate growing up. Next time, I will try the banana ones.

Mango-flavored ice cream ($12.99): This was the item I was most excited for. A couple of months ago, fruit-shaped ice creams went viral, and now I was able to finally get my hands on a box. They had peach, grape and mango, which is the flavor I chose.

The presentation alone is a reason to buy some. It looks exactly like a mango, complete with a hand guard so you’re safe from unwanted stickiness. I thought the outside of the ice cream was going to be a hard shell, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was soft and delicate.

The ice cream itself tasted like creamy vanilla with bursts of mango flavor, very refreshing for the summertime. I would definitely recommend these for those who want a fun treat.

Banana milk ($1.99): Lastly, I picked up a little carton of banana milk so I could make myself an iced banana matcha at home. The milk had great banana flavor that wasn’t too sweet or artificial-tasting. Next time, I’ll need to grab three of the little cartons so I can continue to make my own banana lattes and cold foam.

Sandyi Oriental Market is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.