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.

15 responses total.

 I noticed that Ms. mates used proper capitalization for "English" (twice)
and Indian (once out of two usages), but not for "Chinese," "Japanese," or
"Thai."

        Ms. Mates *still* needs to attend some senitivity-training classes.

P.S. I meant to capitalize the 'm' in "Mates" in my first line, but it was
     an innocent oversite which I cannot correct due to not using a good 
     text editor here.  I have recognized the error, and I am very sorry for
     it, & would like to correct it -- Ms. Mates!

Time to stop, Augustus.  Nobody cares anymore.

I wonder if that is a new Sing Tong, or if the one over here by us has
moved to over there by you.  I hope it is a new branch.  One of the reasons
I was happy to move to this side of town was that Sing Tong was within easy
walking distance if I needed an ingredient for dinner at the last minute
and STeve had the car, or I wanted dumplings or such for lunch (they have/had
a small carry out restaurant in the back).

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

Mine mine mine mine mine!  Call me grocery thief!

This is the same store that was in Fox Village?  But that was little
and dirty!  Hm...

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!

 Mike, it must be an awesome responsibility to speak for everyone else...

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

["Nobody" is exclusive, not inclusive.]

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?

I believe that Tsing Tao is still around, over in Oak Valley shopping center,
but may be named something else now.  It has been a while since I have been
over there.  There is a great little Asian shop in Plymouth Mall near the
Evergreen Restaurant, a great good sized one on Washtenaw in the old Toyota
dealership spot, an Asian and an Indian and a MiddleEastern shop all in the
strip on Packard near Platt.  I have heard of a couple of other ethnic shops,
but haven't checked them out and would have to look them up to find where
they are located.

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.  

BTW, since Big Ten closed, I haven't seen as much Indonesian/Dutch
condiments and spices.  Anyone got a favorite Indonesian source?

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.]

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