Sing Tong

Oct 26 00:58 UTC 1993

So today as i stopped at video watch to drop off my books on tape, i
noticed a new store next door.  it seemed to be open and interesting,
so i wandered in.  coolness -- a unique and interesting store has finally
come to my cookie-cutter bland and yuppified side of town!  this place is
called Sing Tong, and they've got oodles of variety of oriental food.
mostly the food seems to be chinese and japanese, but they've also got thai
and indian foods.  there was lots of food i couldn't identify, though many
of the hard-to-identify foods had stickers with a clear English explanation
of what they were.  also, the person who rang up my order (probably the
proprietor) seemed to be a native speaker of English, which helps a *lot*
when you're looking for that obscure foreign ingredient.  i found obscure
Indian beans i'd been looking for for months!  and the store is still
sparkling clean and new.  they've been open since Saturday.

even if you're not excited by heaps of obscure ingredients (all of which you
could probably buy at Manna anyway) you might be interested to stop by just
to check out the doors, which cheerily say hello and goodbye to you as you
enter and exit.

Sing Tong is located in the heap of new shopping malls by Ann Arbor-Saline
road.  Start near Target, head south toward Video Watch, and just beyond
Video Watch is Sing tong.

response 2 of 15:

Oct 26 12:57 UTC 1993

Time to stop, Augustus.  Nobody cares anymore.

response 4 of 15:

Oct 26 16:30 UTC 1993

Sorry, glenda, the one at Fox Village is closed.

response 6 of 15:

Oct 27 13:30 UTC 1993

I'm glad somebody else noticed it! I was returning videos Monday and saw it, 
but was too tired to explore. I figure it'll be a great place to explore
with Peter. Thanks for the initial scouting!

response 8 of 15:

Oct 28 14:41 UTC 1993

["Nobody" was a bit inclusive, I admit.  It was a chance I
had to take, and I took it.]

response 10 of 15:

Jul 11 01:54 UTC 2007

I don't know if this cool little store is still there or not [as this
item was posted in '93]...  But even if it isn't, what are some other
cool little food or kitchen stores in the area?  I  now slynne mentioned
a new mexican market in Ypsi that she talked about in another  item... 
Any other places we can take 'field trips' to?

response 12 of 15:

Jul 11 02:49 UTC 2007

The Korean shop, Manna, is still at the intersection of Plymouth and
Broadway.  They've moved to the small strip mall.  I like their kim chee
better than the Chinese and Japanese brands.  

I love the Chinese store at Plymouth Mall.  You can get fresh meat,
fish, and vegetables, as well as multiple options on standard stuff. 
They also have bulk versions of dried mushrooms, and other stuff that's
usually pricey.

They really are pan-Asian.  I found a well-recommend Thai fish sauce
there along with a favorite Vietnamese brand.  And I found galangal,
which I use in an Indonesian dish, and in a medieval meat pie.  

response 14 of 15:

Jul 11 20:17 UTC 2007

After an appt this morning out near Briarwood, I stopped at World Market
[I think that's  what its called].  I love browsing through that place,
it has so many really cool things  from all over the place--food and
non-food stuff alike.  I ended up spending a couple  hours wandering
around [and of course, I did buy a few things].  Some of my food-
related purchases include a few spices, some coconut-ginger soup,
coconut milk to try  in making some other dishes, scone mix, devon cream
for the scones, and some cool  sounding tea by 'The Repbublic of Tea'.  

The tea is called Acai Green Tea, with the acai being a 'superfruit' in
the form of a  berry. From the back of the label:  "Acai (ah-sigh-ee)
berries are one of the most  nutrtious fruits in the world. For
centuries, inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest have  gathered these
berries from the Azaicero Palm tree for its powerful health benefits.
This  deep pruple fruit has the rich flavors of concord grapes and ripe
blueberries."   It  definitely warrants a try [I bet it would be great
as an iced tea.]