City guide

Where to find salty plums in Sydney

Sydney has the country's widest spread of Asian grocery options, from the CBD's Chinatown to the large Vietnamese and Chinese precincts in the south and west. Your best bet is a big Asian supermarket with a strong dried-goods section, then the specialty grocers. We do not name individual stockists; here is where to look.

Interior of an Asian grocery store with packed shelves — Larger Asian supermarkets usually have the most reliable preserved-fruit sections.

Where to start

Cabramatta

The south-west's Vietnamese heartland and arguably the best single precinct in Sydney for Asian dried goods and preserved fruit.

Haymarket & Chinatown

Central and dense with Asian supermarkets and food halls. Handy if you are in the city, though often pricier.

Burwood

A busy Chinese shopping strip with multiple large grocers and snack shops.

Eastwood

Strong Chinese and Korean grocery mix; good for dried goods and Japanese umeboshi.

Bankstown

A broad multicultural food precinct with Vietnamese and Chinese grocers alongside Middle Eastern stores.

Flemington & Parramatta

Flemington's markets and Parramatta's growing Asian grocery scene are both worth a walk.

What to look for

Red salty plums — the Darwin-style scarlet plum, often bagged. See why they are red.
Li hing mui — possible in Hawaiian or specialty snack shops. See li hing mui explained.
Umeboshi — Japanese grocers and the Japanese sections of larger supermarkets.
Hua mei — Chinese herbal and dried-goods shops. See what hua mei is.

We cannot confirm current stock at any store. Availability changes week to week.

Next city

Salty plums in Melbourne