BEST & WORST Foods at a CHINESE SUPERMARKET Taste Test

[Music] i really wanted to get it right [Music] trying to find some balance in my life but i never really put up a fight didn't follow my dreams and now i'm losing sleep [Music] what if i [Music] somehow wish that someone could say it'll all be okay just hey good morning it's mike chen coming at you from this beautiful parking lot ever since i started doing videos on grocery stores and supermarkets a lot of people been asking me what to get at a chinese supermarket what kind of foods should they get what kind of frozen foods what's good what's not good now i already did a video like this about sauces and spices i'm linking down below for you guys but i know how a chinese supermarket might be really intimidating really confusing if you've never been to one before and to be quite honest like there's a lot of foods i haven't even tried in there and today our lunch is gonna be whatever we find in there this is the asian family mart here in bellevue and the thing with chinese supermarkets is typically the items they sell are very very very similar and i think the most popular chinese supermarket is ranch 99 but the rich 99 around these parts that's no good this i found is the best chinese supermarket around the greater seattle area this is something really good to have right as you walk in i always keep hot pot seasoning in my fridge and little lamb is great great great broth you can also make your own with the recipe i have but as soon as you walk in the supermarket gets all up and saucy in your face obviously oyster sauce these are all like really important chinese sauces vinegar oyster sauce soy sauce whoa what is this i've never seen this before oh really meal kits oh this is new vegetarian though i'm gonna try it this could be really really good [Music] oh my god that is a giant mountain of jackfruit this stuff is great though every chinese supermarket will have an entire section dedicated to pots and pans all sorts of chopsticks if you guys ever come to a chinese market and you're shopping for chopsticks always get wooden chopsticks never get these these are the plastic chopsticks never go for them because they will melt in your food this is where you get your clay pots really useful tool for stewing and braising everyone should also have a hot pot pot if you don't have one go to your local chinese supermarket and get a hot pot pot the meat section in the chinese supermarket i love a lot because you're gonna find a lot of meats that you won't find in western supermarkets you won't find all these different cuts like look at that it's just a straight-up pig bone big slabs of pork belly and these guys over there they'll cut whatever type of meat you want every single chinese supermarket will have a hot pot meat section so here it's all your thin slices of beef and pork and lamb and every single chinese supermarket has this this is very important to us if you have a chinese friend if you look in their freezer more likely than that they'll have a box of thinly sliced meats just for those hot pot emergencies and trust me those emergencies pop up quite often and the fatty ground pork if you want to make dumplings come here and get your filling you can always tell where the seafood section is because as you inch closer to it the smell will start punching you in the face but that one's pretty clean snack aisle oh this is a great aisle this is where you find all the different balls in the world you got your fish balls and cuttlefish balls and fried fish balls and beef balls some people like baseball some people like football basketball chinese people those are our favorite balls that also must have for hot pot going to a chinese supermarket it's kind of like going to the aquarium at the same time so bring your kids oh century eggs oh i haven't had these in a while love these instant bubble pack what's the difference here instant bubble pack black tea flavor brown black one of each i don't even know i i've never seen this before well little cha ball these are my favorite sweet dim sum buns a lot of people might be yelling at me already that i'm getting like ice cream when i haven't finished my shopping yet see ice cream melting isn't my biggest fear my biggest fear is forgetting about it chinese sausage best sausage you'll ever have that's cute and of course the dumpling aisle so many dumplings wontons baos see most people don't know that the best noodles to get at a chinese supermarket is actually in the freezer aisle so you have all sorts of ramen so if you ever want to make homemade ramen or any sort of noodle soups at home come to the frozen island in china supermarket you got yang su men those are thin shanghai noodles you got the thicker wider noodles here you have the even more thicker me in here you got the super thin chanchome and you got your egg noodles so all sorts of noodles this is definitely where you should get your noodles and these are fresh noodles too these are my favorite noodles chia noodles these are not good even if they're like one day old so we'll see how they are this is the best thing ever if you ever see this at any chinese supermarket get it this is called a chingo it's a sticky rice cake more cooked foods so we have chicken neck big trotter pig ear chicken feet gizzards duck head yep that's a head this is the best type of chicken feet let me get one of these if you ever want to try a very traditional chinese food these are mochi balls huh baba oh my god this thing has like all cooking nuts in there i'll get a matcha one too oh this is interesting these mini ones have three different flavors gallium pancakes if you're lazy you don't want to make your own [Applause] ooh chai pockets this looks good look at these frozen chinese meals i've actually never tried these before fortune avenue hong kong mia we're open okay spicy noodle soup let's see what's a gildan japanese rice ball oh my god my childhood caramelized sugared candied hawk thorns what we all love this stuff these coconut milk drinks amazing get some of these preserved veggies shredded spicy radish these will go with anything korean markets will have their kimchi we have our pickled vegetables do yourselves a favor get some pickled cucumbers chinese fanta much better than a regular fanta another important part of my childhood if you love rice krispies treats you got to try the chinese version of that the shatshima this stuff is insane it's good brown sugar one if you're into like snacks like peanuts or sesame seeds go to a chinese food market and get this hong kong home spicy peanuts trust me you will be wait actually i do have a disclaimer you will be addicted so if you want another addiction in your life then get this you know that crack you hear when you open up peanut shell yeah that's this right here peanut crack this is also so good garlic flavored roasted peanuts and any one of these sesame seeds more addiction stuff i just got to walk away i can't even i don't want to relapse i really don't heck yeah baby come here that's also something you'll find in every single chinese household i gotta show you guys this what bulba flavored crackers and cake oh a pineapple cake but let's try this so we got enough for lunch let's go home i think this is going to be good lunch i'm putting on a pot of rice as we speak because some of the stuff we're eating today with a little rice perfection let's start off with the already cooked stuff this is the yum pea cold skin noodles you guys seen this a lot of my videos i love eating this dish like i mentioned the store you cannot even leave this overnight it turns really hard so let's see what what it tastes like from the supermarket soy sauce vinegar and of course hot oil so far so good the noodles are coming apart really nicely there's good bits of cucumbers and carrots and sprouts in here and then of course giant pieces of gluten and right here i feel bad for those of you who can't eat gluten because this this is the delightful edible sponge of the food world and it is absolutely amazing especially when you pairing it with some great seasoning and sauce because it soaks that flavor right up 10 seconds later i learned my lesson whenever i use noodles now you gotta have an apron all right these noodles are good but i can tell that these are not the freshest noodles they still got good texture but it's not as spongy and as chewy as they would have been if they were made on the same day still not bad the texture is nice it's just not as extremely nice as it would have been if you went into a restaurant and ordered this off the menu i do wish there's a little bit more sesame sauce in here otherwise the seasoning is on point i love the crunch from the veggies and of course that spongy gluten overall though if you can't be bothered to go to a xi'an restaurant where there's none in your area this is a pretty decent alternative 7.5 out of 10. the next one we're eating is this i have no idea what this is the first time i've ever seen something like this before lately a lot of restaurants have been popping up a lot of chinese restaurants where they're doing barbecues and they're doing like hot pot meats and vegetables on skewers and this looks like one of those hot pot skewer things made in citroen that kind of scares me a little long journey you've had over here kopi flew business vegetarian spicy flavor meal done in two minutes this is kind of like instant hot pot just a different version of it so we got one two three four five five packs of vegetables and seasoning chopstick and i guess they ask you to cook it in here i really don't think i want to be pouring hot water into this i still don't quite get it so uh pour seasoning bag add water mix veggie marinade for five minutes and eat so the instructions are really confusing here like i don't know if i'm just supposed to put in like hot water and just soak everything where am i supposed to boil it it doesn't really tell you i just said add in water to be on the safe side i'm just gonna boil it [Music] they call for just a little over half a cup of water it's not a lot of water and i definitely think this is the right decision to actually boil it [Music] looks like some potato seaweed lotus roots in here so basically the same stuff you find in the instant hot pot package and then they give you this little bag of dipping chilis you can taste it [Music] that's pretty good [Music] that's even better get this this is delicious vegetables are actually nice and crunchy and fresh and the marinade is already delicious but then you dip it into this dried chili [Music] it becomes even spicier smokier more of that citron numbing flavor this could be something really good if you go camping or go on a picnic bring this boil some water add some spammy here or little bits of hot dogs dip it in that fantastic oh definitely recommend [Music] solid 9 out of 10. this is again one of those items where if you bought it from the supermarket and i went into your restaurant you served this to me i give you a good yell preview next up let's try this got a couple gyodongs from a chinese supermarket it's not very chinese but yodo is one of those dishes that i really can't walk past without getting it oh oh no no no i heard it snap crackle and pop it in the microwave the instructions said four and a half minutes on high so that's exactly what i did this oh yeah i fried the heck out of this i mean luckily i like my thin slices of beef toasty well gil don't listen to the instructions so maybe just do it for like three minutes or something but really nice thin slices of beef onions underneath bit of rice see how it is beef jerky too so much this bowl offers flavor is good though highly recommend guild don't microwave this as long as i did but definitely guilt do get this wow i thought the cuts of beef is perfect with a nice amount of fat the onion brings just a tad of sweetness rice is good i love how the flavor is soaking into the rice beneath this is so good it deserves some hot oil today only the good tasting dishes get hot oil oh 100 recommend solid 9 out of 10. this almost tastes like the gilda i would get at the 7-eleven the meat is so tender and tasty 100 satisfied your girl don't fix this could only be better a little bit of pickles chicken feet i know that seems weird but trust me this thing is a great compliment to saucy rice dishes pickled chicken feet is very different than the chicken feet you typically get at dim sum so these are going to be much chewier and they're pickled so they're going to be a little vinegary and spicy [Music] all right here's your guy by the chicken feet [Music] by the gildo my day might not get much better than this which is kind of sad next up let's try this so this is sichuan flavor spicy beet noodle soup it's my first time having a noodle soup of any sorts from a chinese supermarket so this one the instructions are very strict on this one so apparently i think there's raw beef inside of this so fill the water to the line and then microwave for six minutes this looks good thin slices of beef beautiful looking noodles and really nice pieces of beef with a tendon running through it i'm kind of worried because this is the first time i ever saw a warning on one of these things that says you have to measure the internal temperature of a beef noodle soup i think they mean the internal temperature of the beef but there's really no way to measure such a thin little slice well that's not very good but the noodles are this soggy really tasteless let's try the soup wow that's incredibly bland what in the world happened to you i mean you look good you smell good i see the nice chunks of beef that beef tastes really chemically like someone putting a dehydrated piece of beef jerky into this ramen ball it really shouldn't taste like that that doesn't really taste natural this is really not a good bowl of beef noodle soup oh wow that is just no all right my last ditch effort to save it this is called beef noodle soup cpr or crap load of chili peppers rehabilitation see if this works oh there's some kind of veggies in here i mean it's better i think if i add some chinese vinegar this might be more edible no that piece of beef is not too bad it's actually kind of good the fatty piece but the lean piece got this kind of off-putting flavor to it yeah i do not recommend this is jose jose so chai pockets and this is a scallion pancake normally i would just say make this kind of pancake at home but they do make it so easy for you after you buy these and they come in a pack of five and they're raw so you just fry it up yourself which i really like i don't like it when they give you cooked ones these will taste much much better that doesn't look bad at all all right we're not done here after it comes off the pan take your chopsticks and just squish the ends together and this will make it more fluffy and flaky so it's kind of like fluffing your pillows except it's a scallion pancake nice and flaky multiple layers that's crap then flaky nicely seasoned if you want you can make some dipping sauce for this little soy sauce little vinegar but for me just a bit of chili oil very very nice so this is a chai pocket this is also a very very popular breakfast item in china [Music] that's not bad if you go on the streets they definitely stuff more chives into the pocket but there's nice and crispy on the outside still a ton of chai flavor drizzle some hot oil something else i love doing when eating these chai pancakes you don't have to do this but we do this back home in china take a raw garlic just take a bite and then buy the dish it just brings a different type of spicy whenever chinese people are eating buns or beans or some kind of pancake or even noodles raw garlic never far away i'm telling you the only people vampires hate in the world are asians and taylor swift because asians we love our raw garlic and taylor she just has bad blood all right let's try this fancy pack jam i'm like really nervous when i see really nicely packaged noodles after what i'm gonna call the notorious halo incident of 2020. you guys don't know what i'm talking about watch the japanese supermarket video so here this is the mala ball so this is the spicy numbing packet so many packets seasoning sauce preserved veggies peanuts and the noodles all right so basically all this will go inside a bowl and then i just gotta cook the noodles and put it in oh my god even the packets have packets inside this is like the russian doll of noodles [Music] oh smells looks so good all i want to say to you is please don't break my heart i don't know if i can have another needle dish go all bad on me today let's go this is a noodle meal spicy nummy a little crunch from the peanuts and the preserved veggies the noodles are super thin so they absorb that chili sauce and all the ingredients packed so well every bite is so delicate yes satisfying i do feel like it's missing something the chinese sausages we got guys trust me if you never had a chinese sausage before go pick some up like now these things go well with everything noodles rice buns and they're so easy to prepare just slice them up and fry them up exactly what i needed a little bit of meat with that nice slightly sweet smoky aroma seriously chinese sausage the rolex of food accessories oh you know what might make this even better i'm getting all sorts of crazy today so this is one of my all-time favorite snacks i'll tell you guys about this the crack peanuts these are fried peanuts and chilies inside little peppercorn perfectly fried peanuts little bits of chilies that you can eat these are the perfect snack so crispy and spicy there's so much flavor and they i think would be amazing in these noodles i should have threw that peanut pack that came with the noodles away and just added these things what was i thinking that's like asking russell brand to karaoke when you got beyonce sitting right next to you some peanuts some noodles some sausage they should really make a show called noodles makeover come on who wouldn't watch that give me a plain bowl of noodles and let me just dress it up i don't do this often guys but i'm gonna go ahead and take a bow but seriously thank you thank you to the peanuts thank you to the chinese sausage for adding so much more texture and a deeper flavor to this already lovely bowl of noodles oh by the way new plushies are in plus dumpling slippers store link down below oh next up i'm gonna show you guys the guilty pleasure of the chinese community and i'm going to let the secret out because just like kim kardashian the secret is in the can all right so sometimes when i don't want to go out i just look for what's available in my cabinet and what i can cook in the fridge a lot of times the answer is your noodles or just rice and if i just want to use some rice i'm going to show you guys what i do here you get some salted duck eggs i know a lot of you watching this may never have had this before this is one of the most glorious things you can eat with your rice so these are all boiled and ready to go sometimes you get ones that are not boiled you gotta be careful don't wanna crack a raw egg over your rice all you gotta do open it up and just stab through and cut and this is what it looks like on the inside and it's called salted eggs because well it's really really salty and the texture of these eggs are going to be different than what you're used to some sausage and here we go this can of fish is so amazingly good it's dry days may not look that impressive when you first see it this thing all right and scoop on the bottom these fermented beans right here add some of that on your rice as well do not judge this fish by the way it looks it is canned by the food gods themselves everything is edible including the bones if you want extra calcium and this is what i would eat not the most healthy thing if you want cook some greens and put it in here as well but bite at the fish so much flavor all that great fermented flavor from the beans are just completely soaked in through the fish take some salted eggs and this is going to be really salty okay gotta be careful oh yeah the salted duck egg i love the texture of the yolk it's briny and milky and the yolky flavor just electrified add one of these salted eggs to the rice your meal is going to be better oh also i have some of these preserved vegetables too shots high like i said you should always keep like several packs of these in your kitchen again most chinese families will always have multiple packs of this just sitting around just to add to our rice for noodles and just makes everything better changes the texture gives it an extra kick back when i just moved to new york i was living in the basement in brooklyn and no money i think i was making like 200 a day filming weddings i was only filming weddings like once a week so only i could afford were like this can of fish which is which is really not expensive at all and this is what i would eat and i was pretty happy all right just a few more things to try i want to try these mochi balls honey mochi balls strawberry peanut sesame all right i'm going to share with you guys another secret amazing dish that not a lot of people eat that you can buy at chinese supermarkets this thing right here this is called it's fermented rice so it's basically a bit alcoholic but when you cook it obviously the alcohol evaporates it's rice sitting in some wine take some of this mix it in some people also like to break an egg in here to have a little egg flour everywhere but for me i just like it as this give it a little taste okay add some sugar to taste a little more perfect this is called basically fermented rice with mochi balls mmm strawberry mochi balls is nice mmm all right your pre-nut one this is the mochi sesame ball oh my god these mochi balls are so good [Music] we chinese people have a holiday for them we get together with our families and we just eat mochi balls because it's round and it symbolizes unity and reunion and family and circle of life but yeah this is very important to our culture all right next up let's try this bulba pineapple cake what in the world is a bulba pineapple cake not bad it's like a bubble cheese pineapple cake so they basically took all these really popular snacks like these scallion crackers and they put boba in the middle apparently so it's you can't really see the bubble like like you can see on the pictures excuse me this is something you should definitely buy if you want to prank someone i mean i taste the bulba but within the sky and crackers this is no bueno this i'm really excited about i have no idea what this is instant boba pack so heat plus milk plus ice i don't really have ice oh so you can make your own bubble tea and straws are included all right this thing you you cut it open put it inside a bowl oh this is hot so bubba goes in and said about half a cup of milk don't really have ice cubes you know what in a pinch this is really not bad it would be much better if i did have ice cubes bubbles are chewy oh sorry one last thing like i said if you are a big fan of rice krispie treats this is like the chinese equivalent and these come in a ton of different flavors there you go give this a try not a bad food there today i feel really excited what i'm sharing with you guys a lot of the stuff at the chinese supermarket because growing up in the u.s i still remember going to my first ever chinese supermarket in boston because i used to live in the midwest i was never close to a chinese supermarket so when i went into one for the first time it was just so welcoming and seeing all the food items that i've been eating since i was a kid and be able to try new stuff it's always like a sense of comfort for me whenever i go shopping with them one and like i said i know they can be very intimidating if you've never been there before okay like not everything is labeled in english and even if they are like a lot of things are kind of mysterious so hopefully this guide can give you a good idea about what to eat and maybe what to avoid those noodles and to encourage you to go inside my happy place all right hopefully you guys can go try out some of the foods i highlighted today let me know how you like it again thank you all so much for watching until we eat again see you later

Channel: Strictly Dumpling

Views: 1,377,574

Rating: 4.9023466 out of 5

Keywords: chinese market, chinese supermarket, chinese, supermarket, chinese food, chinese market food, chinese grocery store, chinese store, market, store, china, grocery store, grocery, chinese noodles, noodles, gyudon, taste test, asian food, chinese cooking, cooking, boba tea, milk tea boba

Id: _Mp1USvQtoU

Length: 29min 29sec (1769 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 30 2020