For years, if you wanted dedicated sushi or Asian groceries in Middlebury, you drove to Burlington. That changed in the summer of 2025 when Hero Sushi & Asian Grocery opened at 21 MacIntyre Lane — the same tucked-away corner that's long been a lunchtime hub for working folks, home to Greg's Market, Nino's Pizza, Taco de Town, and Middlebury Discount Beverage.

The shop is family-owned and family-run. Owner and chef Aung Oo — who brings over ten years of sushi experience, including time in Albany and most recently at Hannaford in Middlebury — makes all the sushi himself, and you can watch him work from the counter. His niece Twal Tar Su and her cousins handle the grocery side, curating the snack and beverage selection from across Asia: China, Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, and beyond. The selection reflects their actual tastes, which means it's genuinely interesting rather than generic.

The sushi is takeout-focused and seriously good. The dynamite rolls and the spicy tuna are standouts; the crunchy California roll has become something of a signature. Platters are available with an hour's notice. The pickled ginger that comes alongside is always fresh, plentiful, and noticeably good — a small thing that signals care. There are also big, doughy pork buns worth trying.

The grocery side fills a real gap. The freezer section alone is worth a visit: bags of small spring rolls (around fifteen for six dollars, enough to feed a family of four) and dumplings of every variety, all at prices that make stocking up easy. The drink selection is genuinely fun — iced coffee in a can, boba teas, aloe vera drinks, coconut waters, and Ramune, the Japanese soda in the glass bottle with the glass marble in the neck that kids immediately need to have. The candy and snack selection draws younger visitors too; my daughter Azalea, twelve, has made a ritual of picking out something unfamiliar every visit. On the way out, we've more than once been sent off with an extra piece of candy pressed into each kid's hand.

There's also a freezer section of fruit-shaped ice cream novelties — soft white-chocolate shells molded to look exactly like a peach, a mango, or a raspberry, with a creamy sorbet interior — that have become a family favorite and are nearly impossible to find anywhere else in Vermont.

The place is clean, well-stocked, and carries almost exclusively things you cannot find anywhere else in Middlebury. A year in, it has settled into the community in the way that only genuinely good places do: the kids ask to go.

Hero Sushi & Asian Grocery 21 MacIntyre Lane (opposite Greg's Market), Middlebury, VT | (518) 560-2430 Mon–Sat 10am–7pm