Asian Supermarket Heaven

Imagine walking into a store, and seeing everything you could possibly want for less than 2 euros...

This is (almost) exactly what happened to me last night. My friend Jérôme and I decided to do a sort of cooking swap: he was going to teach me a Vietnamese recipe (his mother is Vietnamese), and I would bake a carrot cake (again! More on that later...). Perfect excuse, really, for a trip to Tang Frères. I hadn't been in years, and last time I did go I must have bought a lotus-shaped candle or something like that. 

With my experienced tour guide by my side, I got into Tang Frères 20 minutes before closing time, a short shopping list in hand. We strolled into the vegetable isle and Jérôme nonchalantly picked up a huge bag of cilantro...and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price. We ended up paying around 60 cents for something you would pay 2,50 for at any Monoprix or Champion.

As I got really excited about all this delicious-looking AND cheap food, Jérôme concentrated on what we really needed for our recipe--fresh tofu, tomatoes, and fish sauce. Meanwhile, I grabbed some Jasmine tea bags (58 cents for 20!), Jasmine loose tea (1,15!), candy, soba noodles, etc. Too bad Tang Frères is almost a half hour away by subway, otherwise I think I would go every day. Who doesn't need 10 different kinds of soy sauce??

Amazed by my purchases like I used to be when we went to the Sanrio store on our way to O'Hare airport, I had to take pictures of my shopping bag:

Lemongrass, Sesame oil, fish sauce, nougat, tea, soba, sesame... an Asian Supermarket Heaven.

Tang Frères: 48 avenue d'Ivry, 75013 Paris.