10 Things You Will Find in Every Chinese Supermarket 

LOL! The seafood section! My husband is originally from England, and the first time I took him to a Chinese supermarket, he went exploring, found the seafood section by himself, and then he had to run and find me and drag me back there because it was SO AWESOME. Of course, I was like, "Yeah? What about it?" To this day, it blows his mind a little. We're too scared to buy anything from there though...

I live in China so shopping at Chinese supermarkets are my only option. I can tell you the one thing I can't stand is the NOISE. You think American stores are loud with crying babies and intercom systems now imagine the same 3 songs on repeat cranked to full volume and THEN workers screaming prices in your face and stuffing different samples into your hands of God-knows-what and watching until you put it in your mouth. And now add in the crying babies and people yelling into their phones sending messages on WeChat. But I still love every second. :)

The cashiers at the Chinese Supermarket out here are actually pretty smiley. I always try to gt into the same lady's line 'cos she's a sweetie, even though conversation tends to be limited to "You want bag?" "Uh, I brought a backpack" "You love Chinese mushrooms!" "Sure do." "Okay! I see you next time!" "Yeah!"

T&T in Canada has the best Chinese Supermarket. Is clean and well organized.

This is not just chinese market..its all asian stores..

Chinese supermarkets are actually pretty relaxed where I live.

Here in Madrid, Spain. a lot of the people working in Chinese supermarkets smile more than in other places that I've been. I try to practise my Chinese with a lot of them.

I hope you like and welcome to china :) 1.TOFU 豆腐 dòu fu 2.baby shimp 海米or虾米 hǎi mǐ or xiā mǐ 3.live sea food 海鲜 hǎi xīan 4.the smell 气味 qì wèi 5.fishballs 鱼丸 yú wán 6.bowls 碗 wǎn 7.teas 茶 chá 8.rice cookers 电饭煲 diàn fàn bāo 9.dumplings 饺子 jiǎo zi 10.smileless cashiers 严肃的收银员 yán sù de shōu yín yuán

1. those tiny fresh shrimps are called "school prawns" in Sydney. 2. Live stocks: you better get the ones frozen in vacuum packs. Because the ones sitting on ice or even swimming in the tank may be contaminated due to unhygienic tank and air condition. 3. Fishballs are made of fish fillet flesh mixed with various powder (how fresh they are and what fish is used, this will determine how expensive your fish-balls are), some of which are not good for health if its contained preservation chemicals in the mixing powders. My advice is to get the one in vacuum pack and read the listed ingredients on the packets. 4. Also get dried food in vacuum packs only and get the ones with minimum salt as you can. Read the acid level or percentage of vinegar in those vacuum pickle packets too. 5. Tea: never get slim tea since they are purely marketing. Get the organic tea you can, or at least try to get the tea with certificates since they contain lots of pesticides. 6. never buy single-use bamboo chopsticks since they were sit in chemical tank to make them appear white. .

We don't use rice cookers we use pots.......hardcore like that

As a Vietnamese immigrant, Chinese supermarkets are extravagant to me. Vietnamese street markets in Vietnam have EVERYTHING out in the open, you are literally standing on sewage water as you purchase raw meat with a bunch of flies flying around them. The smell would rot your nose, the vegetables are on the floor, and lastly there is no roof, so buying grocery in the rain is pretty normal too. But as a kid I love going to Vietnamese street markets with my mom to get grocery, it's like an adventure every time.

My Asian market have an aisle for sauce, teas, noodles, drinks. Like literally an aisle just for rice flours.

I went to an Asian supermarket for the first time today! It was awesome and things were so cheap! and so so so so so fresh! they had live seafood!!!!!!! and every type of meat!

I have never ever ever ever seen live frogs in a Chinese supermarket! Not in T&T in Toronto and neither in Hamilton. But I love fishballs, their the best! I always add them with some instant noodles so I'm not just eating plain noodles.

What do you mean you never find preserved vegetables in grocery stores? What do you think all those canned goods are? Canned peas, corn, beans, green beans, cabbage, kraut, beets, artichoke, olives, peppers, etc.

I dunno about Chinese markets, but I've been to a couple Japanese markets and a Korean market. They got smiles on, I can tell you that much.

FISHBALLS ARE DELICIOUS. The packaging-less style is fun, just rinse the stuff before cooking them.

Fish lips taste great tho… so does fish eyes… XD I'm serious tho

I kind of like the smell of real food; it reminds me of the days when mom and pop owned the grocery stores, before everything was pre-packaged, filled with so many chemicals that they have no smell for a decade. Fishballs are popular on the coasts, where fresh fish is processed and of course gefilte fish, a jewish (I think) delicacy.

THE TOFU THING IS RIGHT! My parents get this Mountain Water tofu type, and sometimes the firm type. And the shrimp tastes really good in 'egg pudding'. :D Also, sometimes you see a sliced in half fish, and you can see the heart still beating.

This sums up the Chinese market shopping experience very accurately. the cutting glare of a Cantonese cashier. When all I wanted was some mochi and dumplings.

I work in a Chinese Supermarket in the UK (well, technically an Asian Supermarket but we mostly sell Chinese stuff), the most popular Dumplings are 'Fresh Asia' and 'Hongs'. We also don't have Raw Fish stacked up all over the place!

I saw those frogs and I actually felt bad like they are stacked and idk how the frogs at the bottom would feel like

Never met a Chinese cashier that smiles? Come to Toronto, the cashiers at the T&T smile (kind of...)

I'm a poor man, so Asian & foreign groceries and restaurants are my way of "travelling". My most recent trip was to "Vietnam" I had Phó for lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant (oddly enough, named "Vietnamese Restaurant"), then I went to two Vietnamese grocery stores in town. The sights, sounds and smells, the products, the people... that's the closest I'll ever come to Vietnam, the closest I'll ever come to world travel. It's GREAT!!! I do get funny looks though, when I spend 2+ hours poking around a grocery store... Haha! Ramen noodles from Japan, Vietnam & China, Wasabi peas(Thai & Japanese! Not Chinese!), Vietnamese peanut and sesame candy & fresh tofu(from CA), Korean kimchi, Filipino coconut jels(!!!) & Sago(like boba) and banana sauce, Chinese boba and Bai Jiu liquor! My favorite things!! AND pepper/hot sauces!! EVERYONE in the World has their own P/H sauces!!! :oD

Sounds more like Chinese supermarkets in western countries rather than actual Chinese supermarkets. In Shanghai the supermarket I went to was huge clean and had polite cashiers and workers. People weren't allowed to bring their bags into the supermarket though you have to leave them in a locker and carry your wallet around to prevent shop lifting. Lots of sample stands and lots of cooked food in the "deli" section. Depends on where you go I guess.

can you please do a Chinese Supermarket survival guide for the people who very rarely go there, tell us what stuff to avoid and what to grab =)

It's not redundant, the high blood pressure tea is hibiscus tea. All tea naturally lowers blood pressure but white tea is the best since it's the lowest in caffeine.

i love these kind of videos. MAKE MORE XD XD XD

My ex is Chinese, and she took me on my first experience of a Chinese supermarket in Canada. Went to a T&T supermarket, and I was blown away by the seafood section. My then gf from the coasts of Zhejiang was just glad to find fresh seafood, while her white af Canadian bf was not mentally prepared for those live crabs we ordered lol. Got used to visiting there, and I still go bc T&T is my favourite place to get Chinese or other Asian foods, not just for its organization but its far less busy and far cleaner due to Covid-19 restrictions. Love your channel guys, glad I could revisit this old video from the future lol.

What do you like to get at Chinese Supermarkets? Follow Mike and Dan on Instagram: @mikexingchen @Gibbiedeano

Yung Chen Oriental Supermarket located in Fairfield, Ohio. Great service and the owner (I think) smiled! Very helpful & Very Friendly!

I'm a black guy with an afro so it's definitely not chilled for me at any Asian market when I go since a lot of people stare at me, lol :)

The Chinese grocery stores I go to are never crowded...

i was at my closest asian market for the millionth time and i went to the live fish part of the market and i saw a small fish in a bigger fish's mouth hey 2 for 1 price XD

Your videos make my days. I was feeling down today but your videos make me so happy. 😘

I really want fancy rice cooker ;__; but it's almost always in chinese or japanese.

This isn't just Chinese supermarkets, all of this applies to Korean supermarkets as well! In Washington, there are many Korean/Asian supermarkets and they are exactly the way you described.

live seafood?? thats amazing!!! iv only been to one asian supermarket in Manchester's china town UK it was fab

I love my local Asian Grocery. They are so friendly and smile and talk to me and help me out. The place looks and smells clean. I love shopping there.

I was eating while watching this >.< but whenever its reaaally smelly somewhere I say "it smells like G-mart" lol (gmart is our chinese supermarket)

a reason why i love chinese supermarkets is that being so far away from my family, it's almost like a small reminder of home for me and it's because of that reason that i actually like the various smells in them (yes, even the live seafood). another reason is because of all the food that you just can't find in western supermarkets and i generally love the packaging. they're either the plain, classic packaging that once again, reminds me of the stuff my mum buys but i never knew what they were called in english, or the asian snacks that have really bright, colourful, fun packaging.

chinese food is life

I miss not having a Chinese, or any Asian market around. My Chinese friends introduced me to so many things. I love the Chinese sausage and bok choy, pickled radishes and dried/ pickled fruits. They taught me to cook in a wok, make rice (without a rice cooker) and brew tea. I really miss the green tea that comes in a metal can with the goldfish on the front! Good stuff. Also, they introduced me to tofu and the benefits if cooking with ginger root. We have all since moved away and while I miss the Chinese markets, I miss my friends more.

Is it just me or can I please make out with Dan?? He's so cute!!

Depends on the supermarket I have found. In Australia there are different ones with Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese groceries. One supermarket even has toiletries from different countries for international students missing home.

ah man! You had to try and ruin fishballs :P oh well, I will forget about that by the next time I eat them hehe.

Agreed! I always want to go to the Chinese Supermarket because I LOVE Daifuku, steam buns, and many other Asian snacks but hate the crowds. You also have to add another one to your list - You'll find that is is always COLD in a Chinese supermarket - the cashiers are even wearing large coats! I haven't been to one that hasn't been cold.

I love ya guys so much ^_^ LOL! Always very awesome videos and they apply, no matter if you are mainland or armerican LOL!

in San Diego my experience with Chinese grocery shops has been considerably better than what they described, actually. They always had more stuff than “Western” Grocery shops, and priced a lot better as well (I’m a broke college kid, so I love that my food budget is still fully intact at the end of a trip to the store). And service at checkout seems really efficient, as well, so that’s a plus.

This channel is how I explain my asian side to all my white friends.

I lived in China for 2 years. 每天很想中国! It's amazing how much a little thing like this video can make me smile :D guys, this is awesome!

I've eaten frog legs they taste like chicken

I love going into Chinese Grocers on the weekend...You can eat your way across the store! They've got all their samples out and you can wander around and munch on your sample. And their samples are so big, it's like eating a meal in the store.

Why are you guys being such hypocrites? Unless both of you are vegetarian or vegan, I don't think you have the right to complain about these things. If you eat meat, then you are contributing to the cruel treatment of these animals. You talk about western groceries being all nice and "hiding" their butchering from plain sight - I think you like this because this relieves your conscience. Instead of knowing where your meat comes from - dead animals, you would much rather have that knowledge hidden from you and enjoy your post-butchered, nice and clean meat. I also eat meat, but I don't think you should be complaining about Chinese groceries treatment of how they sell fish/meat. They are truthful about what happens to the animals in order for us to enjoy their flesh. They don't dress it up or hide it from sight. You want to eat animal flesh? Then I'll give you animal flesh. Not some packaged bundles of protein that don't resemble animals, but actual flesh from a dead animal. If I am to eat these animals, and partake in an action that promotes the killing of animals, then I think some discomfort from looking at those animals soon to be slaughtered, seeing the action of slaughtering them and how bloody and cruel it is, is the least discomfort I should have. At least it shall constantly remind me of the pain that must take place in order to satisfy my enjoyment.

Your list is the truth!!! I actually went to a Chinese supermarket for the first time last weekend! And yes they have the smell and yes they have so many of the other things like live seafood and dumplings. They weren't big enough for pots and bowls but you were spot-on about so much other stuff it was actually funny!!!

as a vegan this makes me sick :(

I love going to Chinese markets because when i was younger, i would often go with my family and so i have a lot of positive memories involving Chinese supermarkets. Also, FREE SAMPLES AND DELICIOUS FOOOOOOD

I respect your opinions great wall but it kinda feels like you're ripping on the asian culture.... it's frustrating watching your videos because these are the things I grew up on and take pride in yet you guys are commenting on these things like it is a embarrassment. By the way you guys are asian so stop talking about your culture like an outsider...

Maybe the Asian supermarkets are different to the ones in Australia, but we don't have open stuff lying in the open and we don't have live seafood either, those are completely different stores.

It is a 5 hour drive through Oregon to get up to Portland. I go to FuBon. It is big. I am an old white lady who likes to cook Chinese. I buy stuff in bottles there. But what I really appreciate is the variety of fresh, well grown vegetables. And meats! I can't buy too much of that because I have to carry it in a cooler all the way back home. And yes, the clerks seem catatonic.

Every time I visit my grandparents in China I'll literally just drop my bag at their house and then just walk out the door and go to the supermarket that is like 5 minutes from there and get curry fish balls and lemon tea or bubble tea. H.E.A.V.E.N then like 20 minutes later my mom or grandma will come down and find me and make me go to the supermarket with them. There is two types of "supermarkets" in China. Number 1: there's those fancy one. With everything perfectly laid out and not many people. Pretty good. But the only bad thing is that nothing is like fresh. Everything is in cans, bags or boxes. And then there's number 2 the crowded one. It's the one Dan and Mike are talking about. Everything is fresh and good but it smells horrible. And it's like weird stuff all over the place, I always wear rain boots to the market even if it's 40 degrees Celsius. I don't care! And I especially hate when we have to get chicken. And when we get there, the chicken is still alive. So I have to watch the butcher kill it, chop it's head off, watch the blood drop and the chicken juice dripping. And then watch the butcher like break every single bone in that poor chicken. And I can't turn around because it's so tight. I almost threw up once...good memories. XD btw Mike and Dan from which cities in China are you two from?

There are very few Chinese markets here in denver but the two I've been to the cashiers smiled! And they were very helpful in finding what I needed. I'm starting to make Korean and Japanese food at home. Thanks for the vids guys they're awesome! Can't wait for the next one :)

9:14 I don't think I've ever been to a market in Asia or Asian supermarket in the USA without cashiers smiling at me :) just look adorable and you're all set!

Whenever I go to Vancouver, my parents go to Chinatown and supermarkets to stock up on Asian foods that aren't available where I live. At every supermarket I go to, not one of the cashiers are smiling. But they are pretty quick and getting stuff done. In Chinatown, there still aren't a lot of smiling people but it's very interesting to listen to them when they're trying to convince my parents to buy something. They're very enthusiastic sometimes xD I have the exact same rice cooker as the first picture you showed! Tbh, I haven't seen a one-button rice cooker before.. When you said it, I though you were just joking.

It's not easy to smile for 8 hours straight.

we have several "Asian" markets and my favorite one is run by Chinese and is the biggest - it is never crowded but always busy - I love the pre-packaged spices and things to add to your cooking like fried onions or garlic - some things (like agar agar) are cheaper plus can't be found in the regular supermarket - I get lost in the sauce section

I'm from Shanghai, when I go back to Shanghai for spring festival, the supermarkets are so empty, because like 80% of people go back to their home cities. I love Chinese supermarket,here in Vienna, the supermarkets always sell different products, if you want something, it can happen that you have to go to three supermarkets, time consuming and tiring, I wish we have Walmart here also in Austria and like not at one spot, should be around neighborhoods, in China ,all the supermarkets have all the same wide range of choices of products, also I love the convenient stores everywhere in Shanghai, it's every 50 meters there is one, here in Vienna, not at all, only at gas stations and big train stations. And Chinese supermarkets open until 10 p.m. In Vienna it was 6p.m then 7 p.m , now usually it's 7:30, one is maybe 8 ,but after university classes which end at 8 p.m, everything is closed, except one at a train station, but it still doesn't have everything I want , I can only wait until Saturday, but sometimes on Saturday I have class until 6 p.m ,then everything is closed again....ugh......overall, after so many years, I have gotten used to the European system, I kind stop eating much ,because I don't have anything, and I don't complain anymore, but still, wish the supermarkets are like those in China , maybe also like in the US.

oh, man, there is this one specific chinese grocery store that sells pig hooves! I have never seen them in other chinese supermarkets. it looks sooooo disgusting and those hooves are *HUMONGOUS*

My 1st time going to an Asian grocery store & the cashier smiled cheerfully....I had walked around the aisles & did buy a few things, it was my way of orienting myself to it. Going back to the 1 had went to do more shopping.

I went to a Chinese supermarket for the first time sometime ago. There was frozen whole frozen durian fruit. I ended up getting durian and red bean flavored popsicles (I could't even finish eating one popsicle, omg)

Every Asian Supermarket I've been to is so quiet. Granted most of them are the wholesale warehouse kind.

I like Asian markets, they have the freshest fruit, veggie, seafood and meats. I don't know about you but always go to a market that have a good turn over.

I have a Zojirushi rice cooker and that thing is the BOMB! I make everything from rice to soup to bread to cheesecake in mine!!!

Our local Chinese supermarket definitely has the best price on packages of roasted seaweed, my daily staple. Also, they have so many different sauces - I finally found black beans in chile oil recently, which i've been looking for for ages.

actually in the Philippines there are fishballs, squidballs, chickenballs and kikiam (kik-yam) which is pork. and even quail eggs wrapped in some orange-colored flour mixture. all of them are deep fried and served with different sauces as street food :)

i see alot of this stuff in the westrenish supermarket here. my city is called hongcouver for a reason ^^

I'm Albanian and when I was little I went with my uncle to a Chinese food store ( btw I was born in Ireland and we were visiting relations in the U.K. and I was 7) I ran to the live fish tank and was amazed looking at all the fish my uncle got me a bag of fortune cookies and I finished most of them in the car they were VERY good

you guys need to check out the markets at aus, we dont have te open air stuffs, on site butchers doesnt happen and live fish is only in the city

You guys are absolutely right about the chinese or asian supermarket experience. Way too crowded. In regular supermarkets, there are so much room. Not so in chinese supermarkets, you can't take a step forward or back or laterally and not bump into an old chinese woman with their buggy.

THANK GOD. Glad you brought it up. That SMELL. I'm not the only one. I set foot in a Chinese market and I was like "are you kidding me? It smells like fish DEATH". I found milk chews and fantastic sausages.

My Nana goes to a Chinese supermarket I believe, I only went with her once, to buy rice. It's like a huge bag of rice to use in her rice cooker, and then I knew why she never seemed to run out of rice. Also Chinese supermarkets are probably the place I'd seem to most likely go for rice, bowls, green tea (that's about the only kind I like though), a rice cooker, and maybe ramen. Who knows, maybe I'd try out some new things there.

LOL "tastes like Lipton" killed me.

In my childhood, the town closest to us had two supermarkets, but almost everyone went to their local corner grocery, where the butcher or fishmonger took care of individual customer's requests. They were ethnic markets, suited to the ethnicity that lived in the immediate area. Did you want excellent kielbasa (authentic Polish sausage)? You went to the Polish grocery. Did you want Roma tomatoes (for spaghetti sauce, because NO ONE bought pre-made sauce)? Then you went to the Italian grocery shop. What I remember from all of them was that each had a distinctive odor due to the types of meat that were butchered there or the types of fish that were available. You NEVER forget that smell.

This video perfectly describes Nam Dae Mun(an Asian market with products from around the world).

The first rices cooker they show was the exact one I have

The high blood pressure tea most likely has hibiscus flower as the primary ingredient because hibiscus teas have been clinically shown to lower high blood pressure almost as effectively as typical high blood pressure medicine if taken twice a day. It's not likely other teas, which have not shown to have a significant effect on blood pressure.

I grow up doing to chinese supermarkets with my mom on many occasions. It never gets that crowded like in that picture and i have a bunch of fun (because i load the cart with snacks)

You guys never fail to make my day! I'm from Singapore so I'm pretty much very used to all these stuff. LOLOL! Over here, they have crabs too , but they tie their claws up with raffia string so that those crabs don't chop off anyone's finger. And they also have like live cockles and mussels, and i usually just stand there and stare at them, maybe poke them every now and then. Oh and frogs look pretty disgusting, but if you know how to cook them well, they taste pretty darn nice. They taste like chicken, but sweeter and softer. But seriously, Chinese Supermarkets are already pretty okay.. You guys should see the wet market every morning.

Well, maybe every Chinese supermarket in the USA. Here in S. Europe even though the Chinese population grows year on year, I'm lucky to find the basics based on what they get sent from the capital. Live seafood and dozens of types of tofu? In my dreams.

I love the fact that the "Colon Cleansing Tea" box says, "New Size!" ! Fish balls are actually pretty tasty.

T&T Supermarket in Mississauga, Ontario. It doesn't stink, the cashiers smile, the food is bomb. It's my go-to supermarket for everything Asian. It makes me laugh how everyone looks in my basket. I guess they don't expect someone like me with jackfruit, gai-lan, longan fruit, and beef tendon. Oh.. and they also have fish balls in packaging.

Like a decade ago, lots of Chinese people opened up supermarkets here in Argentina. Like literally, EVERYWHERE. Though they feel more like regular supermarkets with a couple of asian stuff, and that's that. Would love to have an actual chinese supermarket in my neighbourhood

Wait, what kind of Chinese supermarket have a dozen types of tofu? All I know is that there's white firm tofu, soft tofu, fried, tofu and tempeh. We have live fish and a pick and mix area where people would choose their own food at the frozen section in the supermarket as well in East Malaysia. And I love looking at bowls, teas and rice cookers in the supermarket, so interesting to see.

Dudes, you should come down South, where traditional pickles include pickled eggs, pickled okra, pickled peaches, pickled pig's feet, etc., and I always make the cashiers smile at the Asian groceries.

I live in houston, texas... and the only things that usually aren't packaged are the fruits, the vegetables, the freshly made meat and the fish and occasionally some of the pastries..... Everything else is packaged, including the tiny shrimp, the tofu, and the fishballs.

I would love to see a definitive guide to all of the wonderful and (often) odoriferous things that you can find in Chinese supermarkets. There's so much stuff there I want to try but have no clue what is or what to do with it. While I am studying Chinese, my Chinese isn't nearly good enough to read cooking instructions. Any idea for possible resources on this stuff? A youtube channel would be awesome!

everything on this list...i love. all about that fresh authenticity. btw you forgot about the self serve fish cakes.

When Dan said he plays with the crabs, I was like HEY I DO THAT TOO :D

I studied in Shanghai for a while and I love watching your videos. Everytime you talk about certain things I'm like "Oh my god, yes! Finally someone said it! I thought those were just my thoughts because I'm a stupid westerner." It's nice to see that you also find some stuff weird every once in a while. :D I could talk to you guys all day about all those little things. But you're kind of on the other side of that little pond called the Atlantic ocean.