by Frédéric Lacroix

Heading to the 5th arrondissement of Paris and Place Maubert to discover a small Japanese grocery store that I regularly visit to buy some Japanese products for cooking, as Kanae offers a very wide range of Japanese and Korean products.

While most Japanese and Korean grocery stores in Paris are located on the right bank of the Seine in the Opéra district, Kanae is located on the left bank. There are two Kanae stores. The first is in the 15th arrondissement at 118 Rue Lecourbe, and the second at 29 Place Maubert in the 5th arrondissement. This is the store I regularly visit for shopping. Kanae is actually the Japanese grocery branch of the Vietnamese group Thanh Binh Jeune (which has a store right across the street). The Place Maubert store is very small but offers a wide variety of products—sauces, fresh items, noodles, tea, sake, etc. At the checkout, two lovely Japanese ladies, Yuko and Hitomi, are there to give you great advice.

The store is tiny, but you can find some fresh products like vegetables, sweet potatoes, daikon, Chinese cabbage, taro, chives, mushrooms, tofu, miso paste, pickled plums, etc. There is also a frozen section with fish, seafood, natto, and prepared dishes. There's an alcohol section with some excellent sake, and a tea section. Of course, there's a large section for sauces—soy, yuzu, miso-based products. Finally, there's a wide range of noodles and a section for sweet treats.

I often stop by to pick up a few items. For example, I find at Kanae a preparation for miso dengaku (even though I often make the recipe myself) and an excellent miso tomato sauce. I also get two ponzu sauces I like—one with yuzu and the other with mikan (Japanese mandarin), as well as two nice miso sauces, one with yuzu and the other with basil. I also find a sake I really enjoy, the Tokubetsu Junmai Nigori from the Rihaku Shuzo brewery in Shimane Prefecture. And of course, there are plenty of other items like matcha cakes and onigiri.