Hawaï 5-0

fig. a: I'm all lost in the supermarket

If you're going to go on a full-blown Asian kick, you need your sources. Local supermarkets may be carrying more and more Asian specialty items all the time (our local, the Greek-owned Supermarché P.A., being a perfect example of this trend), but you can't find things like Chinkiang vinegar, Thai crab paste, Chinese cooking wine, kecap manis, dried cloud ear mushrooms, and, our favorite, "seasoned lavers" (dried, super-tasty seaweed sheets that we like to call "the quicker picker-uppers") just anywhere. So it pays to know your Asian specialty stores. In our post on soto ayam back in January we mentioned a few places that come in handy when you're looking for things like kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, and rice noodles, but we thought it might be useful if we made the list a little more official and expanded it somewhat.

The biggest, most impressive Asian market we've found thus far, and today's featured "Asian Market of the Day," is the place you see above: Hawaï. Not only does it have a great name, and beautiful décor,

fig. b: Hawaïan Tropic

but it's the biggest Asian market I've seen since the last time I was on the West Coast. How big? Take the picture up-top and multiply it by 10. No joke. And as you can tell from the bright yellow signs in the photograph, Hawaï prides itself on offering a complete range of Asian specialty products, from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, to Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Filipino, and so on.

Of course, Hawaï's also the most out-of-the-way place on our list, assuming you're based somewhere in Montreal's central core like we are, but it's absolutely worth the pilgrimage to Ville Saint-Laurent just for the beautiful packaging alone.

fig. c: MeriLin pickled cabbage

The management thought I was kinda funny because I was snapping pictures left and right, but I know a good thing when I see one.

Ville St-Laurent:

Marché Hawaï, 1999 Marcel-Laurin, 856-0226

fig. d: Kien Xuong vs. the Green Men

Chinatown:

Kien Vinh, 1062-1066 St-Laurent, 393-9030--Asian grocery

Heng Heng Chanchaya, 1075 St-Laurent, 861-4550--Asian grocery

Kien Xuong, 1076 St-Laurent, 866-0941--Asian grocery--quite possibly Kien Vinh's sister store

Marché Pap Pap, 1025 St-Laurent, 878-8080--Asian candy store

Plateau:

Eden, 3575 Avenue du Parc, suite 4115, 843-4443--Asian grocery store (and a good place to pick up a chocolate bar before you go to the Cinéma du Parc)

Sakaris, 4393 St-Laurent, 844-5143--Portuguese grocery that still carries all your Portuguese staples, but which has gone seriously Asian over the last couple of years

Jean-Talon:

La Dépense, 7070 Henri-Julien (at Jean-Talon Market), 273-1118--world specialty food shop with a particularly strong selection of Asian items

Olives et Épices, 7070 Henri Julien (at Jean-Talon Market), 271-0001--Montreal's (North America's?) best spice shop is a fantastic source for harder-to-find Asian spices and higher-quality versions of Asian spice staples (like their killer Imperial Sichuan pepper)

Marché Oriental St-Denis, 7101 St-Denis, 271-7878--Asian grocery store

Thai Hour, 7130 St-Denis, 271-4469--Asian grocery store

This is by no means a definitive list. These are just some of the places we've frequented over the years.

Got your own favorites? Drop us a line and tell us about 'em.

aj