3 H Mart Steaks To Buy And 3 To Skip

It's no secret by now that I'm totally obsessed with Trader Joe's, but there's another grocery store I always love to visit that doesn't get nearly as much hype: H Mart. Not only has H Mart transformed grocery shopping for Asian-Americans, but I'd also argue that it's transformed the grocery shopping experience for Americans as a whole. It would take me quite a while to detail all of the products the store has exposed me to, and I have fond memories of gobbling down samples at H Mart when shopping there with my parents as a kid. 

If you're unfamiliar with H Mart, the store carries unique international foods and ingredients that are hard to find elsewhere, and its prices are pretty good for everyday essentials. I love buying produce at H Mart because the store stocks exotic fruits and veggies and because I can snag a 10-pound box of oranges for $15. And, I always have to scour the meat section at the store, where the prices tend to be similarly enviable.

As with all grocery stores, H Mart can't hit the nail on the head in every instance, especially when it comes to its steaks. I tried all six steak varieties my store had to offer, and a shocking 50% of them were far from impressive, even considering their reasonable price point. Some cuts were tender and flavorful; others were too tough or too fatty, and inexcusably bland. Here are the steaks I would buy again, along with the cuts I won't be touching in the future. 

Don't be fooled by the "Kobe" branding on the package's price sticker; a steak cannot be both American wagyu and Kobe beef. So, no, you're not getting a stellar deal on a hard-to-find cut of beef when you pick up the wagyu beef eye round at H Mart, but you are getting a pretty good deal on a pretty good steak. I enjoyed this selection for dinner with a friend who's a private chef, and she agreed that it's worth buying. 

Though not quite as tender as pure wagyu (which is to be expected since American wagyu comes from a cow that's a crossbreed of a Japanese wagyu and an American cow), the steak was still flavorful and tender enough to be plenty enticing. The thick, even cut was also beneficial when cooking the steak — it was easy to get it to a medium-rare temperature throughout. And honestly, $16.30 for two sizable, tasty portions seems very reasonable. 

Unfortunately, H Mart's beef ribeye fared way worse. Though I didn't commit any irreconcilable mistakes when cooking the ribeye, it still underperformed badly, and I won't buy it from the store again. You may notice the not-so-great coloring on the beef, which was the first sign I was in for an unpleasant time. It tasted cheap in terms of its flavor, but the most egregious flaw was its texture. 

The amount of sinew present in this cut was unforgivable. I don't generally have a problem with finding some sinew here and there throughout a steak, but it made this ribeye a chore to cut and to chew. Even the parts of the steak without sinew weren't too tender, and overall, the steak was fairly chewy. And the worst part? I paid $16.49 for two definitely subpar cuts. Unless the ribeye at your H Mart is of noticeably higher quality (and cheaper) than the one above, I'd recommend skipping it. 

I paid $11.04 for just under a pound of H Mart's New York strip, and it was money well spent, in my opinion. I actually found this cut far more tender than the aforementioned ribeye, which came as a surprise. It hit the mark in every respect; perhaps I'm biased because I ate this one right after the disappointing ribeye, but I thought it was excellent.

Not only was the steak more tender to cut and chew than the previous, but it also had a way more robust flavor profile. It was juicy, rich, and meaty, without any of the "cheap" flavor that characterized the previous. In other words, this steak was exactly what a New York strip should be. It's an easy steak to recommend, especially when considered among the rest of this decidedly hit-or-miss H Mart steak lineup.

Though I'm suggesting you skip it, H Mart's flank steak wasn't the most disappointing of its offerings; in fact, I'd call this the best "skip" item on the list. Its $14.75 price tag gets you a ton of meat. If you need to add a kick of protein to a salad or wrap, this flank steak will get the job done. But I wouldn't suggest it if you want a steak to hold its own as an entree. 

Texturally, the steak was tender enough not to get stuck in my teeth, but it was still mildly chewy and didn't make for a tender, juicy flank steak. I definitely wouldn't want to take a big bite of it, though it wasn't nearly as chewy as the ribeye. The biggest flaw of this steak was its flavor — or lack thereof. The cut was hopelessly bland, and not even a tried-and-true salt and pepper combo could make it anything other than boring. 

Does looking at the above make your mouth water? Because, same. Everything I said about the grading of the wagyu beef eye round above applies to this steak — it's not genuine Kobe beef (though it claims the Kobe name on the price sticker), but it is American wagyu, and boasts some of the characteristics that make wagyu so sought after. 

If I had to dock points from this ribeye, I'd only deduct them because the cut wasn't evenly thick throughout. But that flaw wasn't nearly egregious enough to make this a "skip," especially in light of all its successes. Like the other American wagyu steak, this cut was very tender and had a robust flavor profile. It was, however, the priciest of the bunch — I paid $17.12 for just over ½ pound of meat. I probably wouldn't splurge on this cut regularly, but I'd easily go for this one again when I want a good steak for special occasions and without spending an arm and a leg. 

Now, I have to state the obvious — I didn't braise the chuck roast as one normally would, so I didn't expect it to be its usual fork-tender texture after cooking it. Indeed, it was chewy (well, chewy — I couldn't bite through a single piece!). I decided not to dock too many points for that, but I did dock points for its lackluster flavor. 

I'd expect to at least get a sense of the flavor of a chuck roast without braising it, and I got absolutely nothing here, which didn't give me much hope that it would give off more flavor after being slow-cooked for hours. In the package, it also wasn't as bright as I'd expect a chuck roast to be, and the meat looked like it was starting to oxidize. I'm not optimistic that this would make a particularly sumptuous roast, and I'd suggest you get your chuck roasts elsewhere. 

To determine which steaks at H Mart are worth buying and which you should leave on the shelf, I picked up one of each of the six cuts offered at my local H Mart. I chose the cuts with the most marbling to aim for a fairer comparison. I cooked each steak (or a part of each steak) to medium-rare on the stovetop in canola oil, seasoning before and after cooking with only salt and pepper.

When tasting the steaks, I took bites from different parts to see how they tasted overall. Steaks with tough bits that were hard to tear apart or stuck in my teeth were automatic "skips" — chewing my steak shouldn't be a chore. I also couldn't greenlight bland cuts. The three cuts I'd recommend buying were consistently tender throughout and had plenty of flavor.