T & T Supermarket

When I first heard T&T was coming to town I didn't really think much of it. Then the hype got to me. I figured a few weeks after the opening the traffic would be somewhat bearable, so I made my way over there this afternoon. As someone who doesn't enjoy shopping in large supermarkets to begin with, I'm surprised I actually had the urge to go there. I guess my love of Asian dishes had the final say in my brain. Until I got there. So crowded, as I expected, and except for a few unique plus', wasn't really that exciting. Remove the people and give me an Asian chef to explain to me what to do with everything and I may not have left in such a hurry. My total bill was less than $20.

My plate pretty much says it all – we've got some Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese going on here. My husband whipped this plate together in minutes. The best thing we picked up was the fresh cabbage bun. Unfortunately, the frozen gyoza weren't great. They had somewhat of a band-aid aftertaste to them if you can imagine what that would be like. I will never buy another dumpling from anywhere except Dong Ling. The kimchi was good and helped to mask the flavour of the gyoza. Shrimp spring rolls were so-so, but like everything else, cooked to perfection, thanks to my husband. I also made a side (yes, me!!) – peanut vermicelli, taken from the Whisk: a food blog site. It was great but I have to work on learning to cook vermicelli better. It always ends up mushy. After the fact I decided to look it up in my Vietnamese cookbook – pour cold water over the noodles for a few minutes after cooking. I should have looked it up sooner.

All-in-all, not a bad meal. I know this grocery store has a lot to offer and probably a lot of things Ottawa has been missing. But for someone like me, the little specialty shops on Somerset are all I need, and they're much more fun to shop.