The moment you walk into the supermarket, you will be greeted by the Fruits and Vegetables section. The fruits here are way cheaper compared to the regular supermarkets. For example, we bought a Honeydew Melon for $1.99!! It would cost around $4.99 if we were to get it in one of the regular supermarkets. You can also get tropical fruits like durians, coconuts and manggis (mangosteens) here.
You can get quite a variety of fresh seafood from the seafood department. It's not as cheap as the seafood you can get in Chinatown but they are cheaper than the regular supermarkets. You can also find all kinds of seafood that would be hard to get in regular supermarkets (things like mantis prawns, octopus and cuttlefish).
They also have a good meat section. You can get all the 'weird' cuts and parts of the pig that you cannot find in regular supermarkets. They range from large intestines to pig stomach to whole pork knuckles and pigs blood. You name it, they have it there.
Of course they also carry my favourite IndoMie!! In fact, the Indomie we get here is better than the ones we get in Malaysia. I think it's because they import it direct from Indonesia and Indonesian IndoMie taste different compared to Malaysian IndoMie. They do not have Maggi Mee here. I would have to go to Chinatown for that.
One of the best things are 555 Asian Supermarket is this! They have a 'chap fun' section serving hot food to either eat in or take away. If you were to eat in, drinks are on the house. They also have a small dim sum section as well as roast chicken, roast duck, roast pork and bbq pork for sale by the lb. I tried their roast pork and roast duck a while ago and I think it's not as good as the one you can get from Kam Man. Kam Man still has the best Roast Pork ever!
I bought one pack of 'chap fun' home to try. You can either pick 3 dishes and 1 white rice or 2 dishes and lo mien (fried noodles) for $5.55. I chose the braised chicken with mushrooms, ma po tau foo (Sichuan bean curd with mince pork) and ko lo yoke (sweet and sour pork) with white rice. The portion was really huge, lots of rice and they were generous with the dishes too. The taste? Very very nice! I love how they just gave me lots of 'chap' (sauce) without me even asking for it. Reminds me somewhat of the chap fun from the hawker stalls near my parents house in DJ :D
We also bought some siew mai and sesame rice balls. The siew mai was just alright, I guess maybe it's been steaming since the afternoon and that's why it tasted a little bit odd...haha. Mental note: do not buy any more siew mai's from here in the evenings.
The sesame rice balls are great though! They were freshly fried when we bought them. We bought half a dozen, 3 sweet and 3 savoury. The sweet sesame ball had tau sa (black bean paste) in the middle and the savoury had some sort of mince pork, dried shrimps, chives and something else inside. Whatever it is, it tasted great! Really really yummy.
We have been going to 555 Asian Supermarket because it's near to our apartment. Their selection is pretty limited compared to the other Asian grocery stores. If I want to look for something out of the ordinary, I would still go to either Hong Kong Supermarket or Kam Man and if I need some specific Malaysian groceries, then I'll head down to Chinatown. However, today I found out that 555 Asian Supermarket serves really good chap fun. I guess I'll be doing more of my Asian grocery shopping in 555 from now on!!
555 Asian Supermarket
555 Tonnele Avenue,
Jersey City, NJ 07307
Tel: (201) 876-3200
7 comments:
Your blog is interesting. I wonder if the 555 in Cantonese means Quick Quick Quick? Smart owner!
Thanks for dropping by my blog. I'm glad you like it. Hahaha, it would be cool if it was but I think it's called 555 cos the address is 555 Tonnele Avenue.
are the durians and mangosteen fresh or frozen ones?...pls pls say it's fresh one..
we have a kam man in the Boston area too, not a big fan to shop there, as it's slightly further and i find that though it's big ... i have to keep a watchful eye on the expiration dates
Frozen ler :( However, I know where to get fresh ones in Chinatown. Gimme a call la the next time you are in town, I'll show you where!!
I always loved to visit Asian grocery stores and that's where I learnt to cook curries and all the Chinese dishes coz it was a survival period to learn cooking back then.
Word verification: ducks!
Which Asian grocery store did you go to in Pittsburgh back then? Lotus at the Strip District? I think thats the largest one in Pittsburgh now.
If you want an Asian store that has a much better selection. You should try the Phil Am in jersey City. Defiantly blows that place away.
Post a Comment