Liverpool’s newest speciality supermarket recently opened just off one of the city’s busiest streets
Emilia Bona reviews eJoy Asian Foods on Devon Street
Some of the city’s best restaurants and cafes are the ones you’ve got to seek out – hidden down historic arcades or tucked away on winding side streets that don’t get a huge amount of passing trade. When searching out my Friday lunch spot, I had to closely follow Google Maps in order to locate eJoy Asian Foods.
The supermarket recently opened on Devon Street, and it sits between the busy main road of Islington and the bustling London Road. This location in the middle of two busy city areas means many customers would be forgiven for missing eJoy entirely, unless they knew it was there to seek out.
The team behind the popular eJoy Asian Foods on Myrtle Street recently opened their second dedicated outlet, featuring elements from the original site, including its food kiosks and supermarket department, but with an added seated area to enjoy food on-site. Among the street food style vendors is Mala Town, a self-service noodle kiosk offering freshly cooked hot dishes.
There is also a WokToGo branch and Happy Lemon bubble tea, as well as eJoy Dim Sum which offers handmade Cantonese treats including fan favourites such as siu mai and roast duck.
After seeing the supermarket’s café pop up on my TikTok ‘For You’ page, I decided to head down to try it out on my lunch break. The supermarket is about a 25 minute walk from the ECHO’s city centre offices, and despite being familiar with the surrounding area, I was a bit confused about how to access it.
But once I reached the top of Devon Street I couldn’t believe how big the site is – offering shoppers the same sort of choice as a larger supermarket metro store. There are shelves dedicated to instant noodles, quirky crisp flavours and harder-to-find ingredients for home cooks looking to make authentic dishes in their own kitchens.
When I visited the supermarket, the Mala Town outlet was unfortunately closed for the day, so I wasn’t able to build my own bowl of piping hot noodles by picking out different meat, fish and veggie options, along with a sauce. The street food outlet allows customers to build their own bowls which are priced by weight before cooking up all the chosen ingredients in a fresh dish.
However the WokToGo branch was open, and the staff member working on the street food counter told me I could pick whichever dish I wanted from their ‘hot box’ options and they’d make it for me with my choice of noodles or rice. I opted for chicken in a satay sauce, along with my favourite thick udon noodles. I’d brought a serious appetite with me, so I also ordered a chicken noodle soup to enjoy as a starter.
While the chef at the noodle outlet got to work on my order, I headed over to Happy Lemon bubble tea to buy a drink. I can often get a bit overwhelmed when ordering bubble tea because there are so many options and I’m not necessarily familiar with everything on the menu. But the lady who was serving on Friday talked me through some of my options and the flavour combinations which she thought would work best together.
Lunch at eJoy supermarket in Liverpool
I ended up opting for a brown sugar milk tea for £4.40 with chewy boba in it, which she made up fresh in front of me. I chose to have it cold, which I thought would be more refreshing to accompany my meal. The bubble tea was the best I’ve had in Liverpool – it wasn’t overly sweet, the boba were perfectly chewy and squidgy and the tea itself was a wonderfully mellow blend.
By the time I’d worked out how to stab the giant bubble tea straw into my drink and taken a few sips, my food had arrived, with a member of staff offering me the choice between chopsticks or a fork, and delivering a much-needed box of tissues to help clear up any messy eating.
The noodle soup was piping hot, with a rich chicken flavour and plenty of crunchy greens to offer a textural difference. But the star of the show was my main course – the create-your-own noodle dish which arrived in a massive takeaway container. I had to be patient before tucking in, because this freshly prepared dish was steaming hot and couldn’t be eaten right away.
If I’d had room for a dessert there were plenty of options
Packed full of crunchy vegetables, beansprouts and onions, the dish had generous helpings of chicken and loads of thick udon noodles, all coated in the deep orange sauce. The satay tasted like it had been freshly prepared on site, rather than being bought in from outside, and it was moderately spicy like every good satay sauce should be.
When I was first presented with the tray of food I asked the staff member for a bag so I could take my leftovers home, because I didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to finish it all. I was wrong. I polished off the lot in under 15 minutes, and practically needed to be rolled back to the office to finish the rest of my shift.
Speaking shortly after the store’s opening, eJoy Asian Foods owner Kent Gu, said: “We are so proud to have opened our second site in the great city of Liverpool. Not only have we created many new jobs in the process but also we are happy to bring our brand to an up and coming new residential part of the city centre. The feedback has been fantastic so far and long may this continue.”