Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield – Destination Shopping for Cincinnati’s Serious Foodies!

Welcome to the Jungle!

Where can you feast on a lunch of fresh smoked salmon sushi under a giant, pink elephant head?  Where can you watch the enormous can of Campbell’s Soup enjoy a good time on a giant swing?  What other grocery brings shoppers in to shop, in a tour bus?  It can only be Jungle Jims!

Jungle Jim’s location is 5440 Dixie Highway (Route 4) in Fairfield, but going there feels like a shopping vacation!  Depending on where you live in the Greater Cincinnati area, it can be a bit of a drive.  From Milford or Eastgate,   it’s about 30 – 35 minutes.  From points in Mason, it will be perhaps 20 – 30 minutes.  If you live in the Hyde Park, Mt Lookout area, again, about 30 minutes.  But seriously. What else do you have to do on your day off? Laundry? Wash the floors? Nope….plan a trip to the Jungle.

The lively animated characters will entertain the kids, and the food selection will knock your socks off.  We can take a ½ hour just looking at the cheese selections. As Jungle Jim’s boasts over 1400 cheese selections in just the International Cheese section alone, before you even hit the deli, you can see why we get stalled! The bakery is just painful to enter if you have a sweet tooth.  So many dessert options. So little time.  There is an outstanding deli of course.  Select one or two of the overwhelming number of delicious prepared salads to enhance your main course.  There is a Natural Foods section, International Foods, and fresh Seafood.   You just have to go.

Soup on a swing? Why not!

We had our smoked salmon sushi lunch, and were treated to a complimentary taste of the hot cider.  We found the free samples of an outstanding fresh antipasto, and then tried the sample of whipped salmon mouse on a flat pretzel. Yes, if you are lucky, you can graze your way through the store.  Saturday and Sunday are the big sample days. 

There are more than just groceries here of course.  The Shasta store is fun. As in “She Hasta Have That”. Clever. If you have errands to run, there is a bank, post office and pharmacy to help check those chores off the list.  Be sure to check out the 2009 America’ Best Bathroom award winner.  I don’t generally recommend any particular locations “comfort station”.  Just trust me on this one.

There isn’t enough room here to discuss this place. I haven’t even mentioned the monorail, the humidor or the wine selection. Visit their site for all the latest information, including cooking school information and the online flyer of weekly specials.