Munchies Paradise

It’s amazing how little coverage Aji Ichiban has received in the local food media. The Rockville location of this Hong Kong based chain of snack emporiums is just two doors down from Bob’s Noodle 66, and according to the cashier, it’s been there for about three years already. Aji Ichiban used to figure prominently in our Chinatown jaunts back when we lived in New York, as this self proclaimed “Munchies Paradise” offers dozens of bins of Chinese-style high weirdness. So if you’ve been putting off that schlep out to Bob’s Noodle 66, Aji Ichiban’s proximity to Bob's easily transforms your expedition into a twofer.

While some of their candied and pickled fruit oddities can be found at Chinese supermarkets like Kam Sam, Aji Ichiban not only has the most extensive array of such snacks, but also offers samples of just about everything. And that’s extremely helpful since much of their bounty, though interesting in concept, is likely repulsive to the Western palate. Nevertheless, if you’re interested in experiencing the extremes of sweet, sour, and salty, then a little bag of goodies goes a long way. I once bought a small bag of their preserved ginger root that had been candied and pickled, and the intense spice of the ginger was so powerful that it took me about 6 months to finish gnawing away at a mere handful of roots.


Of course, Aji Ichiban does offer a number of gummies and other less off-putting candies that are appealing to the Western palate.



Directly opposite these appealing and colorfully wrapped candies, however, is a veritable oceanic atrocity exhbition featuring bins of Hokkaido shredded squid, dried Isoyaki eel, and crispy spicy codfish, among others. That’s just in case you forgot where you were for a moment.

Among Aji Ichiban’s less daunting treats, we’re big fans of their answer to the Peanut M&M: chocolate covered sunflower seeds in colorful candy shells just like Mars’ finest.

The strawberry plum is a dried plum that has somehow been so fused with the essence of strawberry, that I actually had to pull it apart to determine that it was, in fact, a plum. It's easily the sweetest and juiciest of all of the dried fruit snacks that we tried.

The wrinkled skin of the sweet and sour peach yields to a tender interior with the perfect ratio of sweet to sour. Just be mindful of the pit.

Interestingly enough, though the olive is most often associated with Mediterranean cuisine, Aji Ichiban offers a half-dozen varieties of candied dried olives.

The jumbo-sized “preserved spicy olives” are a deep chili red with a crunchy interior that has a nice bit of sweetness and mellow heat.

The licorice olives are greenish brown and smaller. The licorice and the olive taste combine more for a sweet and sour effect than anything approaching licorice.

By now, you can probably tell that the genius of Chinese snack makers is their ability to start with a standard item like a peach or a plum and somehow transmogrify it into something that offers almost no hint of its original state.

And lest you think that Aji Ichiban’s oddities only appeal to a narrow swath of humanity, their website proclaims:

Aji Ichiban is also recognized by many political leaders as one of the best munchies paradise. Their honored visits to our retail stores is yet another proof of our popularity.

Check out Aji Ichiban at:

309 N. Washington St.

Rockville, MD

(301) 610-7798

—AC