Haidilao the Supermarket Edition

If you're craving for hotpot on a budget, this is the solution

If you're hankering for hot pot, but don't have the requisite pot and a heating element, not to worry! Haidilao, the famous global hotpot chain has the answer.

Spotted at T&T Supermarket, which specialises in Asian food, Haidilao sells a giant plastic bowl with ingredients, soup base, and sauces -- and it self-heats too! For C$25.97.

Watched an Instagram video of a woman who bought one of these hotpot kits, opened it up and there is a plastic "pot" divided into two sections. One is tomato flavoured soup with plant-based luncheon meat, the other mala soup base.

She emptied all the packets, including ingredients, noodles and soup bases according to the two flavours and added water. Then she added water and the self-heating packs, which very quickly started to generate steam!

The hot pot got so hot that the fire alarm in her apartment kept going off and she had to take it outside.

It's a huge portion for even two people! 

Wonder how it tastes... but if you're desperate, it would probably suffice in a pinch?

Spot Prawns are Here Again

Plump and juicy spot prawns are here for a limited time

Spot prawn season has begun in Vancouver and prices are wildly all over the place.

These prawns have white dots on their tails, while their carapace (the prawn head exoskeleton) have red and white stripes.

Every year around 2,450 metric tonnes of spot prawns are harvested, and about 65 percent are caught between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

Over 90 percent of the catch are exported to Asia, and we get the rest locally, for about a six-week period.

Last week spot prawns were around $50 a pound at T&T Supermarket, which was quite the sticker shock, and it made us wonder how much restaurants would be charging.

So we were quite relieved to see the price cut almost in half when we went to T&T yesterday, at just under $26/lb. And many other people were buying spot prawns too.

We bought one and a half pounds of the prawns that were wrapped in butcher paper and then placed in a plastic bag. On the way home I could periodically hear their tails batting at the paper.

At home we placed them in a colander with a plate on top and put them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

The best way to retain their natural flavour is by poaching the prawns in boiling water seasoned with ginger and scallions to temper the fishy smell.

To prepare the spot prawns, using scissors we clipped off the long antennae, its legs and the bottom edge of the tails before cooking them in the boiling water.

After about a minute or so the prawns are cooked, their bodies curled up.

We also make a dipping sauce with soy sauce, a bit of sweetness (maple syrup or honey), oil and chopped scallions.

Remove the head and the rest of the shell, dip the prawn meat into the sauce and eat! The meat is firm and sweet!

Cravings for Beef Noodle Soup

The packaging and the reality

The last few years I lived in Hong Kong, my office was above a gourmet supermarket called CitySuper, which stocked food like fresh oysters, truffles and foie gras, but also miso paste, tomato sauce and rice. 

One treat I used to get was a box of the Regent Taipei's signature beef noodle soup from the frozen section of the store.

Inside was a vacuumed pack of frozen stock with slices of braised beef, and another of noodles.

The directions were to heat up the broth still in the packaging in boiling water, while cooking the noodles in another pot.

The best home version of beef noodles

Once they were ready then to combine them together and the result was so delicious that it was like a hug in a bowl. The broth was clear and yet so flavourful, the noodles soaked up the taste, and the beef slices were very tender.

A few weeks ago at T&T Supermarket I saw the store's own brand of stewed beef noodle soup and in the freezer section for $9.99 and I finally tried it today.

I briefly heated up the frozen broth in its packaging in warm water before emptying the pot and putting the block of stock back in it to melt over the stove. Once it was simmering, I put the packet of noodles in for a few minutes before pouring them all into a bowl.

First, the picture in the packaging is a bit misleading, as there are four small pieces of beef, but in reality there are only three! So the ratio of beef to noodles is quite low. 

Second, the broth is quite salty and tastes flat, not having much flavour. The saving grace are the chunks of tender beef and the chewy noodles.

Sadly this pack did not satisfy my beef noodle cravings -- will have to head to Din Tai Fung for that!

North Burnaby's New Shopping Malls

The mall at Gilmore Place is taking shape

Today I visited a friend who lives in Burnaby, which is the land of skyscrapers in Metro Vancouver. There are several towers that are over 60 stories high, many are walking distance to two SkyTrain stations, Gilmore and Brentwood. 

Like the MTR stations in Hong Kong, Gilmore and Brentwood both have shopping malls attached to them. Brentwood has The Amazing Brentwood, a large, partially open-air shopping mall, which has an airy food court offering mostly Asian food, from Japanese and Chinese to Korean, and Persian. 

It also has free-standing restaurants, and tonight I visited Bow & Stern, which is celebrating its first anniversary later this month. It offers mostly seafood dishes, and for Happy Hour (2pm-5pm, and 9pm to closing), freshly shucked oysters are $2 each! 

Meanwhile Gilmore Place is coming together now, with a few shops open like KFC, and Big Way Hot Pot will open, as well as a Thai spa, and Subway too. But my friend is really excited to hear that a T&T supermarket will open within a five-minute walk from her place!

I joked that with this Asian supermarket near here, she will never have to cook, as T&T offers not only uncooked ingredients, but cooked foods as well, including congee, roast meats, and noodles, so she has her "neighbourhood canteen" set up!

With so many people living and working in the area, and located next to the Skytrain station, it's no wonder that T&T has planned to open here, with many Asians living in the area.

However, while I was at tonight's dinner, one of the guests I ate with told me one of her friends lives in one of the nearby towers and said it was a nightmare getting up and down the elevator -- it takes 30 minutes just to get one, and when you have a dog that needs to go to the bathroom, and a wailing child, it can be pretty stressful!

Having a shoebox in the sky here doesn't sound fun at all, if there are only two elevators for so many units...

Picture of the Day: Scallop-flavoured Chips

Pan-fried scallop-flavoured chips, anyone?

This afternoon we had to pick up some groceries at T&T Supermarket, so my relative wandered the snack aisles while I went to stock up on some food we ran out of.

She came back with this bag of Lay's potato chips -- in scallop flavour.

Actually it's pan-fried scallop flavour. So precise.

We came home and she promptly opened the bag for us to try.

Sniffing the contents inside was a sweet seafood kind of aroma.

The thin chip also had a seafood taste, a hint of shrimp crackers, not specifically scallops.

Would we specifically buy this one? No, but it was fun to try!

 

Happy New Year of the Snake

Lion's head meatballs for Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's officially the Year of the Snake.

Last night we had a family dinner for New Year Eve and heard it was quite the ordeal to even secure all the ingredients for our dishes!

At T&T Supermarket in Chinatown, there was a long queue to buy a live fish -- an essential food to eat to ensure a good start and finish to the new year. Anyone who wanted fish, but did not want to wait could go into the line for fish that was previously frozen or already killed and on ice.

We also had a whole fish and roast meats

We also heard there was a two-hour lineup for roast meats in Richmond, probably the stall in Parker Place where there is always a queue regardless what day it is.

I made a contribution to the dinner with Shanghainese lion head meatballs (shizi tou), my second time making it. I basically used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen, and it's kind of funny seeing non-Chinese people research this dish and come up with a pretty much fool-proof way of making it.

The ingredients are: ground pork, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, salt, sugar, chopped scallions, white pepper (black pepper will do), grated ginger, baking soda, water, and a beaten egg.

This time I added finely chopped water chestnuts to give the meatballs a slightly crunchy texture.

To make the meatballs soft in texture, put the mixture in a standup mixer with the paddle attachment and have it mix for a few minutes until you notice the meat is thoroughly mixed.

Next wet your hands before making the meatballs, about as big as the palm of your hand. They won't be perfect round balls, but it doesn't matter.

Then heat up a large pot with four cups of chicken stock, and when it boils, carefully add in the meatballs one by one. When it boils again, adjust the heat to low and let it simmer for about an hour.

In the meantime wash and chop up a whole napa cabbage into quarters and then chop the cabbage into two-inch pieces. After about an hour, scoop up the meatballs onto a plate and then place the cabbage into the pot and then place the meatballs on top of the cabbage and let it all cook down in another half hour.

It's basically done by then, or if there is a lot of liquid, add mung bean vermicelli or rice vermicelli to soak up the sauce.

This dish is a great one-pot meal and even the kids like to eat it! 

Picture of the Day: Emerald Gem Melon

A small melon that's similar to honeydew

Yesterday we were at T&T Supermarket in Richmond and came across this mini melon called 绿宝石甜瓜 or emerald gem melon. It's so small that it fits in the palm of your hand.

When I Googled it I was surprised to discover it's a fruit! 

We chopped it open tonight and discovered the flesh inside really is emerald green with tiny yellow seeds. Once the seeds are scooped out, there isn't much of the fruit left.

The best way to eat it is to slice it up like a watermelon. We didn't know what we were buying so we didn't know how to choose a ripe melon, but overall it has a bit of sweetness. 

Is it worth it? Not really -- best to stick with a ripe honeydew or cantaloupe instead!

Asian Supermarket Chain Goes South

T&T is opening its first store near Seattle next summer

People in Bellevue, Washington State who like to eat Asian food are excited to hear that T&T Supermarket will be opening its first American outlet next summer. 

The Vancouver-based supermarket was started by Taiwanese businesswoman Cindy Lee in 1993 -- 30 years ago -- and it's the largest Asian supermarket chain in Canada with locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario.

Now it's opening its first store near Seattle.

Lots of fresh produce at good prices at T&T

"It feels like a big step because it's a new country," said Lee's daughter Tina, who is the CEO. She added they have noticed a significant number of shoppers from the US at their Richmond stores, particularly during American long weekends.

What's not to like about T&T? It stocks fresh vegetables and fruits at lower prices compared to other supermarkets, and has every kind of Asian chips, candies, drinks and other snacks you can think of, as well as fresh meats and seafood, cooked food, household items and even skincare products.

Experts say bringing T&T across the border near Seattle is a good strategic move to see if it can expand even further.

"They are moving into a new market. However, Seattle is fairly low risk for them, the cultures are fairly similar to Vancouver and the demographic makeup is fairly similar," said Jarrett Vaughan, adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business.

CEO Lee, daughter of the founder

"What they've done really well is they've understood their customers extremely well," he said. "They know who their target customer is and they've been able to cater to them really well."

The company is also setting up a regional office in the greater Los Angeles area, home to the biggest port in the United States, as CEO Lee says there are plans to open more stores south of the border.

Ever wondered what T&T stands for? Tina and Tiffany, Cindy Lee's two daughters, and the initials of two early investors.

Picture of the Day: Expensive Mooncakes

Mid-Autumn Festival is fast approaching on September 10, and Asian supermarkets are selling mooncakes now.

The ones I saw at H-Mart are starting from CAD$64 for traditional lotus seed paste with salted duck yolks, to CAD$84 for ones with mixed nuts.

However probably the most luxe ones are The Peninsula Hong Kong's which have finally made their way across the Pacific.

But you have to pay the luxe prices for it if you're dying for those famous egg custard mooncakes with a western pastry.

At Holt Renfrew, the Barney's of Canada, they cost CAD$118 to $180, but now I see at T&T Supermarket they're starting at CAD$99...

In Hong Kong at the Peninsula Boutique, the eight-piece mooncake box is HK$448 (CAD$74).

Shipping, inflation... highway robbery... any other reasons?

It will be very interesting to see if they sell out with mainland Chinese residents snapping them up -- or not.