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By Heather Murphy

(April 2, 2004) Variety is not a high point of Chilean cuisine-aji and mayonnaise can only go so far. There is a solution, however to the culinary problems produced by living in Chile: ASSI Oriental Supermarket on Antonia Lopez de Bello in Recoleta. Once you’ve witnessed the hundreds of Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and Chinese food products available, you will never again be able to excuse white bread and mayonnaise sandwiches.

ASSI market is filled with row after colorful row of exciting sauces: Green Curry Paste imported straight from Bangkok (makes exquisite chicken stir-fries, 2500 pesos or US$4 for a container that lasts 30 plus meals), sweet and sour red soy bean sauce from Korea (does amazing things for beef as well as grilled vegetables, 1500 pesos or US$2.50 for a small starter pot) along with dozens of varieties of soy, oyster, hoison, teriyaki, and wasabi sauces and pastes.

There are tasty solutions for time-pressed people. Ottigi tasty black bean and yellow curry meals need only a few minutes of boiling before devouring (1500 pesos or US$2.50 for a box large enough for two people).

And of course there is the sushi, prettier and tastier than that sold at most of Santiago’s faux-Japanese joints (2000 pesos or US$3.00 for a large box)

Other wonderful offerings include Wasabi peas, Japanese rice crackers, frozen won tons, crab dumplings, and slabs of tofu so fresh they are still warm when they are placed on the shelf. In the back, alongside the stacks of hundreds of Korean and Japanese videos, there are also numerous products to help you prepare and consume it all: rice cookers, woks, dainty sushi plates and elegant chop sticks.

The woman, responsible for this grand infiltration of flavor is Soon Ok Kim Suh who has lived in Chile with her husband for 25 years. Despite a rather un-suave sense of public relations (my inquiries about the store where met with the question:

“Newspapers, newspapers, why are they always writing articles?” and a back to my face), she tapped into something important seven years ago when she began a small Oriental market on the other side of Patronato. It did so well that she decided to expand it to its current location. Now, even on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, it is bustling with customers from around the world.

The store owners have labeled numerous products in Spanish and those that are made for export mix semi-sensical English with Asian characters. Still, perhaps best part of the ASSI experience is bringing home a complete mystery, like a container of pickled orange and green vegetable-something or a violet can of ?? juice.

ASSI Market is located at 326 Antonia López de Bello Street, in the Patronato area of Santiago, accessible from Metro Bellas Artes or Universidad La Catolica (simply cross over to the other side of the Mapocho). It it open Monday to Saturday.