Leto

A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to go to a local grocery store and thought that I would share some of the more interesting items that I saw there with fellow TFP'ers.

This store is a Chinese grocery which opened up in the portlands of Toronto (for locals, this is the old Knob Hill Farms store on Cherry St) and stocks some items that shoppers at a typical Dominion or Loblaws or Safeway would see.

Maybe Charlatan has some experience with these now, but here we go.

this is the store, as you can see, it was a rather dismal, snowy and gray day. Inside was a different matter:




The Toronto skyline from the inside (what you can see of it anyway):



As you go inside, the first thing that you encounter is a large, very large sushi counter, where 4 to 5 people are preparing packaged sushi. Yes there were samples too:




Walking past the sushi counter, and down past the take-out dim sum counter, there is the BBQ pork and requisite Chinese butcher:




There was a lady making rice cookies. Here is the machine she used. She would place a small amount of what looked like rice crispies into a holder similar to an espresso maker coffee holder, and the big red machine would slam out the resulting cookie like a frisbee.

I think it hot air popped it. They are quite tastey. $2.99 for a pack of 15.




The seafood had the usual tanks with the hundreds of live fish, eels, oysters, snails and what have you.

These scallops have got to be the largest that I've seen. 3 to 4 inches across. You could make a scallop burger with them:



There was also jelly fish. I bought 2 packs. It tastes awful. I didn't even try the second pack, it went straight into the green bin.




Everybody likes a little tongue eh? How about pig tongues? (so fresh!)





Or even smaller tongues, like duck's?




And, yes, ducks have hearts too:




But Pigs can offer up their stomachs. Maybe they are good in a soup:




Of course the old standby, chicken feet are available. I wonder why there are no duck feet?



After loading up on my meat, I checked out the various tropical fruit:






And ended up buying some passion fruit, grenadilla, dragon fruit and 3 types of Asian pears, all with different flavours:



By the way, the passion fruit tasted the best, the dragon fruit ... not so good.

The complimentary bowl of durian pudding was also a dud ... smelly, and I don't think that I could get used to the taste.



Hope you all enjoyed my tour of the local grocery!!!

Charlatan

Very cool. I love this area of Toronto and can't wait to see it fully made over.

Apparently T&T has a few branches in Toronto. What I find interesting is that there is enough of an Asian crowd to support this shop in its current location.

As for the food, I am always amazed what people will eat.

Great post!

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cadre

I'm jealous of you, I wish we had a market like that here. I miss real Chinese and Japanese food. Did you try the chicken feet? It may sound disgusting but they're actually pretty good.

Oh and it may be the wrong time of year for this but one of the things I always try to find at places like that is melon pops. I dunno what they're actually called but they're honey dew melon flavored popsicles (yummy).

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Starkizzer

Next time try the star fruit there in the middle. If they are ripe they have a mild, yet sweet flavor to them. Plus they look really cool all cut up. Like little stars.

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Fotzlid

the city i work in has had a hugh influx of asian immigrants over the past few years. there are at least 2 asian supermarkets that i know of now.
some weirld looking stuff there.
i'm especially curious about the cans that have just writing on them with no pictures. one of these days, i'll buy a bunch of them just to open them to see whats inside.

Daval

T&T is my favourite grocery store, the fresh fish and fruits/vegetables are amazing and the prices are far better than anywhere else. The meats can be good, but not usually as good as the western chains I find (and nothing beats a good butcher). I love wandering up and down the isles and just trying new stuff.

There is actually 3 asian grocery stores within about 1km of each other in the area that are all the same size and offer similar selection, but I think T&T is probably the cleanest. They have a better prepared food section as well (Sushi, hot table, etc)

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Leto

Thanks Charlatan.

If you remember the time that a few of us took in that display on the Filmport (?) development the new movie studio park that is in midst construction in the portlands, well, that's just a few blocks to the east of here. All the hoarding is in place, and it looks like construction happening, but with the dollar at par and sometimes way above the American buck, I worry that this project will strangle.

There wont be any business case for American producers to move their projects to Toronto based on the exchange rate alone!


so, most of the T&T locations seem to be north of the city boundary (Markham) but this is the first one that is so handy, and it is a lot cleaner than the multitude of Chinese groceries in the various Chinatowns.

yep, actually we get those starfruit at our normal store, so I was going for the hard to get items. But I agree, they are tastey and are a cool garnish.

I didn't buy them that day, but yes, we order chicken feet at yam cha (dimsum) quite often.


As for the popsicles, how about the red bean ones? they are good. I haven't had the honeydew ones tho, I'll look for them.

cadre

Red bean eh? I'll have to get them next time I'm in Phoenix, sounds weird but I'm up for new things.

Chicken feet are good, I remember when I was younger we couldn't get anyone else to try them.

And now I'm hungry.

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Charlatan

The locals here are always amazed when I tell them that we have at least three chinatowns in Toronto (Spadina/Dundas, Gerrard/Broadview and the swath that runs from Agincourt up into Thornhill) and can get much of the foods that they love.

Leto, I have been following the development of the portlands, especially that studio, in various Toronto Blogs and industry rags like Playback. I wouldn't be surprised to see the studio get closed down.

I can remember shopping that grocery store when it was a Knob Hill Farms (I think it also did some time as a flea market). For a couple years, a trip along Commisioners was part of my regular commute (allowed me to avoid turning left at lakeshore and carlaw on my scooter). I also loved going to Cherry Beach for fries with my son.

All of that aside, T&T looks a lot more organized than the three or four Asian grocery stores in the Gerrard and Broadview area.

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SexyCat

I've never been in a market like that before, thanks for the tour!

kutulu

There is an asian grocery store near my work in Phoenix. Very similar produce selection with many exotic items. However, most of the stuff is way past its prime.

They have all types of fish for great prices but the quality was suspect. None of it is kept on ice to provide drainage. The halibut was mushy. They do sell live dungeness crab. Some day I'll buy some of the live crab.

The real treat is in all of the asian ingredients. It is the only place I know that I can get fermented black beans. Soy sauce by the gallon for cheap and oil is cheap also.

Hanxter

we get those puppies here for about $60 a gallon or 8 pounds (price varies on how many drinks you bought the night before)

aberkok

I have been a big fan of this T & T, Leto. I've been there a few times now and it's the only place I've been able to find that elusive Thai curry ingredient: the lime leaf. Things are going to be a little different now that I'm going vegan, but the produce section is still great and the prices are great.

One thing that's not great? The ridiculous amounts of packaging.

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Leto

ya, I'm with you on the packaging thing. One thing that I've noticed about Chinese in general: conspicuous consumers all. Little concern for the "small is beautiful" concept. I know, I married into it!

Out of curiousity, why are you going vegan? That's something that I would only do out of necessity. I like non-vegan products way too much!


Very envious. How do you prepare them? I view scallops as the perfect sea food, no bones, no shells to contend with. Just meat.

Hanxter

use sea scallops and not bay scallops... i can eat maybe 2... if you are going to save them in the fridge leave them in their liquor and store them in a glass bowl coverd with saran wrap - never use a metal bowl!!!

what i like to do is simple...

don't rinse them... just pat them dry
remove the knuckles (the muscle that looks like a half moon on it's side)
wrap each one in bacon
line a baking sheet with tin foil
place each scallop arranged evenly on the sheet with the bacon on the side
drizzle maple syrup over the tops
broil till the bacon is done or do them on the grill

another...

in a nuke proof bowl place the scallops, 1 tbs butter and minced garlic
microwave 1 minute on high
eat

Leto

OMG.... this is an amazing concept. I've always like bacon wrapped scallops, but this will be great. I'm thinking of preparing them for a Christmas or New Year's Eve side dish....

thanks!