Random reviews from the Asian market

@riskybryzness on my list!

@RiotDemon I have a handful in my pantry because low key addicted to them.

@RiotDemon that sounds awful.

@Thumperchick it was pretty damn bad. I tried one sip and then forced myself to take a second one to see if I could stand it. Then I poured out most of the liquid to try and get a jelly piece. It was so bad.

@RiotDemon oh I like it. I like it even better with some rum and lime

@CaptAmehrican drown anything in enough rum and it might taste good.

@RiotDemon If you go into a real Chinese grocery store there are entire shelves full of canned drinks that I have no idea what they taste like and sometimes even what they are because no English, rather a variety of Asian and south east Asian languages with pictures. My kid likes coconut milk/juice but I think she tried this one thinking she’d like it and hated it as well. There is something with a ton of green little seed looking things in it that I think is also in coconut milk/juice that she loves.

@Kidsandliz I mean, it’s a real Asian grocery store, not sure what you mean by that.

It’s run by Koreans and has a lot of variety, not just stuff from Korea. There’s a bunch of stuff that they usually add an English label to. Not sure if that’s law here.

@RiotDemon Around here there is only one actual “real” asian grocery store with goods from a variety of countries. The other one has a lot of the usual stuff you see in the “USA style” grocery store and not much more than that - for example maybe only 3 kinds of rice instead of far more. What I was meaning is there would be far more choices. My kid also told me some of the stuff we bought in the grocery store wasn’t as good as the “same” stuff in the Chinese grocery store; other stuff was the same. I am no expert on this.

@RiotDemon Dirty Coconuts… Dirty Coconuts… There’s a meme in here somewhere, I’m sure of it. Or perhaps a 70s porn flick…

I’m going to have the phrase “Dirty Coconuts” bouncing around my, um, coconut, for the rest of the night…

@RiotDemon PS re-reading what you wrote creating this thread I see you are already doing that. Oops sorry for not reading carefully.

@riskybryzness I don’t normally like coffee. The bottled frappucchinos are about it because they are mostly milk and sugar with a little coffee. Used to drink the Dunkin coolatas. Now that they changed to frozen coffee, if I tell them to go light on the coffee syrup it’ll be similar to the old coolatas.

So if there’s any mild ones that you recommend, I’ll look for them!

@RiotDemon The ones that come to mind first are ramune (any flavor) and melon soda 10/10 would inject with an IV if the gods would permit it.

@RiotDemon ALSO if you want snacks or sweet things lemmie know, there’s a few tasty ones that are my go to options.

@riskybryzness oh, lol, I meant mild coffees. I’ve tried some of the ramune in the glass bottles with the ball and I didn’t like them that much.

Snacks, yeah, I’ll definitely take some recs. I thought about putting snacks in the reviews too but I honestly didn’t know if anyone was going to be interested. I have a bag of delicious rice crackers in the house at the moment. I love lychee fruit jellies. Milky brand chocolate.

Next time I’m there, maybe I’ll snap some photos of the snack aisle and fridges so I’m armed with ammunition for the next stop.

@RiotDemon @riskybryzness
Just noticed this after I posted about snacks below.

If you like lychee, this is absolutely a must to try:

https://www.amazon.com/Kasugai-Hard-Candy-Lychee-4-05/dp/B01DFU71HQ

@riskybryzness @ShotgunX I’ve had those!! They are great.

@RiotDemon @riskybryzness @ShotgunX OMG my kid loves the lychee (it also has a bunch of other fruit flavors in those individual cup things as well - she loves them all) that comes in those big bear containers with the slit in the lid so it can be used as a piggy bank after you’ve eaten it all. If I didn’t stop her she’d eat the entire container in about 2 days tops.

@connorbush glad to be of assistance.

@ExtraMedium that was on my list for next time. I was heading back to work and was already leaving with a giant bag, figured I’d save it for another day.

@ExtraMedium @RiotDemon I first read that as Pocari Sweet. Reread it. Wishing it actually did say Sweet.

@ShotgunX no way have I tried everything. I’ve been going to Asian markets for over 15 years and I’m not even close. They keep changing stuff up.

@RiotDemon
I just ordered two different sample boxes of Japanese snacks on Amazon because I missed trying all those things. I also bought “Bokksu” twice when it was sale - it had really good stuff, but very expensive.

@ShotgunX I’ve been lucky. There have always been really nice Asian markets around me wherever I’ve lived in Florida so I’ve never had to order any boxes. I currently drive by two different ones every day for work. One has an entire section of gifts and they have the nicest stuff! So many tea sets it’s ridiculous. I’ll have to take a photo next time I go to that one. The grocery section has these super cramped aisles where you can barely pass by a second person so I’m not too excited about going in that one right now. I have a big paper fan at my house that I bought from them because I saw it in the window. It has a tiger on it and called my name.

The Korean one is big and airy with a little food counter where you can buy pastries and boba tea. They have an entire section of sake in these pretty bottles. They don’t have much in the way of gifts.

@RiotDemon
As Japan got ultra-modernized after WW2, it learned how to take certain industries to a whole another level. Snacks/candy is one of those industries. The generic stuff alone is delicious, but their local, gourmet stuff can’t really be explained in words.

Japanese baking is also possibly the best in the world, or at the very least can go toe-to-toe with top-tier French stuff.

The gourmet stuff isn’t made for export, so you’d have to hunt down a shop that brings in small batches of it, unless you use a Bokksu-like subscription service. There’s a little shop I used to go to in midtown Manhattan that has stuff that you can’t simply buy on Amazon.

Anyway, here’s another recommendation, from Korea this time. maybe you haven’t tried it yet?

https://www.amazon.com/Crown-Couque-Filled-Cookies-Bundle/dp/B07GSGVRRT

https://www.amazon.com/Crown-Filled-Cookies-Hazelnut-Bundle/dp/B07GX6WQNB

@ShotgunX I haven’t seen those boxes that I recall. The second cookie looks familiar though. Maybe I’ve had something similar.

@jmoor783 uh oh. They have a frozen section. I’m going today.

@jmoor783 no frozen milkis.

@RiotDemon I tried that from an Asian store once. I wasn’t a fan.

I like getting the teas from the Asian markets they always have a nice variety of them. Also it’s kinda surreal seeing things like whole chrysanthemum heads in your teapot. Lol.

@OnionSoup boba is very hit or miss for me depending on where I buy from. I’ve had some that were super bitter like they left the tea bags in way too long and the tapioca pearls had no flavorings.

Regular tea I’m not really into but I have seen some of the blooming flower teas and they look pretty at least.

@OnionSoup @RiotDemon I bought a bunch of large sized tapioca from our asian market and made boba stuff. Tea, lemonade, whatever. It’s kind of a pain in the butt but fun. You’re getting me motivated to go back there. Ours also has some cool prepared stuff like these cold sort of clear rolls with shrimp and lettuce. But the meat and fish section scares me. Too many eyeballs.

@RiotDemon well the only boba I had was pre canned so that might be the difference.

@RiotDemon @sammydog01

Well sadly my homeland has dishes with fish heads on… Supposedly a requirement makes it taste better… Something to do with oils in the head.

I could never bring myself to eat it though.

/image cornish stargazer pie

@OnionSoup @sammydog01 No one told you that you have to eat the fish head itself.

@RiotDemon @sammydog01 no… But like Sammydog said about the market… It’s the eyes watching you that bugs me.

I’m sorry I’m eating your baked body Mr fish. Stop watching me while I eat you.

@RiotDemon my friend’s wife makes boba tea at farmers markets and festivals, and at home when they have parties. One I would never have tried by the name but will wholly recommend by flavor is taro root. What it really tastes like is cookies and cream, like crushed Oreos.

@RiotDemon I love bubble tea. We have a pretty wide variety of options to pick it up in the Pacific Northwest. I really like coconut flavor with rainbow or pineapple jellies.

@RiotDemon Oh, I love those! My mother’s Japanese so when I was a kid we’d drive to this little Japanese grocery in the next city and stock up on food that you couldn’t find in the regular grocery back then, like short-grain Japanese rice and nori. It was always a treat to get those with the pink mochi.

@RiotDemon These are hands down my absolute favorite thing.

@RiotDemon those are delicious. Absolutely wonderful.

@RiotDemon
I wish fresh lychee were easier to find in the supermarkets…

@chienfou I’ve only had fresh maybe three times and that’s when someone was sharing.
So good!

@RiotDemon
yep, one of my favorite things to get when we go to Europe…

@RiotDemon
My boyfriend was on a hibachi run for long time and I always saw that drink on their menu and asked them what the hell it was but none of the waiters (mostly white) knew what it was. I just put two and two together now in the post about the fruit from Florida

@RiotDemon I have had those. The main issue is I eat the whole box way too fast

@CaptAmehrican I had to put them away because they are so addicting.

@RiotDemon
They have stuff like that at the polish market I go to but most of the time it’s look at the picture on the product and take a chance bc everything is in polish. I have found some really good things there but it’s so hard bc it’s not like I can remember it’s name.

@Star2236 they sell a Princessa bar at my polish market that is basically the same inside, but with coconut on the outside. Also similar to a Ferrero raffaello, except that has almonds.

My polish market has little stickers in english. I buy chocolate there sometimes because it’s European, and European chocolate is better than US chocolate. I’m biased though since I grew up in Norway.

@RiotDemon
I love the polish market, (I am polish though). Mine has a great polish restaurant next door. I’m gonna have to go soon and stock up on some goodies. I always come out of there with way to many pastries.

@CaptAmehrican How big are the chunks of coconut? This sounds really good.

@sammydog01 small. About the size of tapico pearls but cubical

@Kidsandliz Are they pink? I’ve had shrimp chips that are really good. Kind a weird styrofoam texture but tasty.

@Kyeh I can’t remember for sure. I am thinking they are more french fry color.

@Kidsandliz Now I want some.