I was the adult equivalent of a kid in a candy store – a 31-year-old surrounded by food she’d never seen on the shelves of her local Asda or Aldi, that she suddenly wanted to try more than anything.

There were instant noodle pots of every flavour imaginable, Korean hotpot kits, spices I’d never cooked with before, freezers packed with dumplings featuring adorable characters on the packets, unusual flavoured teas like ‘black sesame cereal’, strawberry-flavoured KitKats among other quirky kinds that had sold out, and coffee-flavoured crisps.

Oseyo, the UK’s largest Korean supermarket, recently opened its newest store on Birmingham New Street and stock has been flying off the shelves as shoppers rush to grab popular products from across Asia that are harder to find over here in Britain.

Read more:New Birmingham store draws crowds after opening in long-empty New Street unit

You wouldn’t typically head to that side of town for your weekly grocery shop or to grab a snack on your work break – the Bullring clothes shops and sit-down restaurants are the main draw in these parts – but now it seems plenty of people are doing just that. Oseyo was packed when I visited mid-week.

Staff were frantically moving through the crowd to restock shelves as shoppers piled up their baskets with cute-looking confectionary, colourful lunch pots, frozen goods and chilled treats.

GALLERY – Inside new Korean supermarket selling viral products on Birmingham New Street

There was a little homeware section at the back selling kitchen utensils, colourful bowls, chopsticks and the like, plus a few shelves showcasing K-beauty, K-pop CDs, novelty socks and toys.

No doubt influenced by TikTok, people have been travelling into town to try Oseyo’s viral ice cups. I recognised some of the other items on sale from my travels around southeast Asia and Japan – pandan rolls, Japanese cotton cheesecakes, mochi and cat-shaped jiggly jelly.

Not since the opening of trendy London cafe EL&N has there been such a buzz at this end of the high street, where the old Zara womenswear remains empty after moving inside the Bullring and the recent closure of fashion brand Monki leaves another large vacant spot needing to be filled.

Typically, the Bullring gets all the fun when it comes to new openings, the huge queues for the launch of K-beauty store PureSeoul last year revealing a huge appetite for Asian culture here in Brum.

And there are signs of more exciting things to come. Boards have gone up outside the old Zara menswear, where Japanese casualwear giant Uniqlo will make its Birmingham debut later this year.

Until then, I’d argue Oseyo has been the best thing to happen to this end of New Street in years.

It’s brought a long-empty unit back into use, diversified the retail offering and it’s drawing a different clientele to this side of the city centre. Plus, I’d challenge anyone to find a better place in town for a lunch break snack raid.