Chinese supermarket

[beguilingeyes]

We have a massive Chinese supermarket/cash & carry nearby. I popped in for a look yesterday and was a bit overwhelmed by all of the choice. Loads of frozen stuff...dim sum, seafood.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Definitely get things like soy sauce and garlic from there, it's so much cheaper.

I'd just try some things, Dim Sum is always a good start

I wait until there's space in my freezers, then have a big shop as mine is about 15 miles away.
I stock up on gyoza & dim sum, clams, scallops, soft shell crabs, & other seafood, various sauces.
I've eaten all the bits of chicken when I was in China, but don't bother with the feet - not awful, but CBA to cook them.

I've skipped the pigs' uteri so far, but there's a recipe on YouTube.....

I buy big bags of 50 pieces of frozen siu mai. I defrost and steam them, they’re fab! Also as pp mentioned, sauces such as chilli sauce and soy, they have lots of interesting ones in the supermarket near my work. Also Chinese sausage (frozen) which are a bit like chorizo and are good in a homemade fried rice dish.

I buy the rice paper pancake things for making vietnamese summer rolls, kikkoman soy sauce in litre bottles, big jars of black bean paste, all kinds of noodles.
I would check dates carefully, maybe it's just my local supermarket, but I have bought stuff in the past that is way past its best before date.

It obvioulsy depends how much Sth East Asian cooking you do and what ingrediants you are either familiar with or willing to try?

• I agree with buying sesame oil, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce etc as they are generally cheaper, for a larger sized bottle

• Tubs/jars of various curry paste bases. Thai Green, yellow, red and panang curry paste

• Noodles such as egg noodles or vermicelli are cheaper

• Rice

• Rice paper, for making Vietnamese summer rolls

• Sushi rice and nori sheets

• Kaffir lime leaves in the freezer section, which keep for months. I use them in Thai or Vietnamese cooking which adds such a fresh flavour.

• Frozen dim sum. I like Char sui pork buns, custard buns and red bean paste buns. Also Japanese mochi.

Is it a Wing Yip? I love it.

Frozen tuna steaks, never found anything that remotely compares to supermarket/local fishmonger.

Prawns in bulk, whole chicken, pork loin. All pork in fact. The Wing Yip have a fresh meat counter.

Packets of obscure dried mushrooms.

Ready roasted crispy duck.

Foil trays in bulk too, cheap as chips. I also bought a wok years ago. It's probably about 20 years old and I use it all the time.

I need to go soon!

*in the supermarket

Edamame beans

The goldfish japanese curry paste to make delicious katsu curry

All veggie gyoza (they’re better fried than steamed imo)

Fresh green peppercorns
Thai eggplant

Sticky rice

Sushi ingredients

I am having a thing for the fermented beans, dried mushrooms and chilli sauces atm.

World of Wok have a really good blog of things to buy ...

Well, what do you want to make?

I alway grab high % coconut extract coconut milk from Thailand and fun-looking instant ramen.

The seafood balls are great, you cook them in a broth

You've reminded me we need a trip to Win Yip.

We buy an absolute ton of ramen, sesame oil, soy sauce, dimsum in the freezer. Partner likes the fish balls to make soup. My wok is from there, as are all my bowls for pasta and noodle type dishes.
Check out the bakery if they have one. Some delicious things to be had there.

The one in Oldham used to have a restaurant on the top floor that sadly closed. Most beautiful Chinese food I've very eaten. And must have been fairly authentic because I only ever saw Chinese families there and it was always packed, even during the day. Sorry for the tangent, I miss that place.

I loved that restaurant above Wing Yip umbridge

We live near a wing yip. I love the fresh noodles for making chow mein - much nicer than the dried. I also buy lots of instant noodles - so many flavours and DD lives on them. Get all my soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce etc there. From the freezer the pork xio long bao, char sui buns, pancakes, duck, mochi. There is lots I want to try but not enough freezer space at the moment.

@Hoppinggreen

I loved that restaurant above Wing Yip umbridge

It really was the best. They did a vegetable dish that had bok choi in that was just divine. And the little roving carts with the dim sum in.

Carts pushed by scary ladies who would slam the dishes on the table while muttering at you in Cantonese as if you had just ruined their day.
Still worth it for the food though

We
Love a hotpot and I'm very lazy so I buy spicy seasoning for the hot side, then fish balls, dumplings, very thinly sliced meats (they are all rolled up), daikon, garlic, greens, golden mushroom.
After that anything I'm short of; sauces and seasonings, instant noodles, p'uer, Pocky, mochi and any other treats we see on the way round, depending which dc comes too.

Ocado do a mochi ice cream now. The chocolate is just wrong but the mango and passion fruit is delicious

Frozen bao buns, thai curry pastes (really good value and last ages), sesame oil, big bottles of soy and kecap manis, korean chilli paste, fish sauce, belacan, sambal olek, dried chilli, cumin, coriander, kaffir lime leaves, green papaya. Tins of creamed corn, rambutan,

WE usually buy a few different ramens and some curry or tom yum pastes to try - last time we were there we bought some dried lime powder and it's great - no more wasted limes because you have to buy a net when you only need one.