When you walk into this sprawling supermarket filled with aisles of items that Cary me home to the motherland, the first thing you’ll see is a high-school-cafeteria setup boasting bins of ready-to-eat entrees. And despite the fact that you’re in a grocery store, you’ll always wait in line for these.
It’s hard to believe that a little less than eight dollars will buy you a triplet of home-cooked entrees over a lot of steamed rice. My trifecta of Beef Tripe, Stewed Beef in Tomato, and Beef Tendon always hits the spot, and you just can’t argue the merits of three types of muscle in one fabulous Styrofoam box. (Although technically tendon serves as the connective tissue of striated muscle…Yes, I’m a nerd.) The tripe is soft but stays chewy with a hint of spice, the stewed beef is tender but unremarkable, and the tendon is impossibly soft when combined with sweet carrots.
In case the idea of eating cow parts makes you squeamish, this little veggie trio will be music to your ears. The “Tofu Puffs”, or deep-fried porous purses of tofu that sop up all the sauce sit next to a soft, steamed Eggplant. Before you haters of the bulbous Italian eggplant dismiss this dish, remember that the sleek Chinese eggplant maintains a firm, less slimy texture when cooked. The Szechuan Tofu was a little disappointing, with all the flavor of the famous chilies but none of the numbing burn that heats up this resilient region.
At Grand Asia they don’t bother selling soy sauce in small bottles, there’s an entire aisle just for stir fry sauces, and all the fish come with heads firmly attached. On the rare occasion that I do come home, I sure as heck don’t come home for Chinese food lite so try to understand what you're getting yourself into before you pick up your fork. Grand Asia does NOT have the patience for seekers of sesame chicken, and frankly, neither do I.
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