I finally drove across town to Lee Lee Market

Eat globally at Lee Lee Market

on New Years Day.

There is no steam table with prepared foods to go. There will be two restaurants within the market — one a BBQ and the other a Vietnamese restaurant but they are not open yet.

My friend Kate came with me and we walked up and down the aisles in awe pointing at this and that, reading the labels. Aisles were labeled Thai, Korean, West African, Middle East, Japanese, Caribbean…I didn’t walk the whole store because I became hungry about an hour into it then hit sensory overload.

I’ll be back says me and the Governator.

The place is light, bright, huge, and sparkling with neon signs. Seventies music blared in the background. Green onions were only 29 cents/bunch.

I wish I had a tour guide. One thing I am going to be looking for soon is a Chinese or Korean or Thai cooking class as I’m jazzed to learn some new and healthy food techniques. If you know of a class, please let me know.

One thing I remember is — I never knew there were so many different varieties of coconut milk!

The photo above is what I purchased. Look at Karyn’s eclectic tastes. Let’s start from the upper left:

• Noni tea bags from Vietnam. I chose this tea because I have a friend named Noni and will give her the tea.
• The Noni tea is resting on a large tub of Springfield old fashioned oatmeal; it was such a low price I could not resist as I eat much oatmeal.
• Next the Taiwan raisin custard bun which was mostly bun but still yummy. It would probably be good with the Noni tea.
• I bought a big can of Middle East six beans. Beans are a dominant protein in my life and I eat them frequently.
• Some like it hot and I sure do — mango/chile/garlic paste from Thailand. A little dab will do you.
• Baby bananas from Ecuador called my name as they were like the puppy of bananas. I’m waiting for them to ripen a bit.
• Trans-fat free tropical cassava/yucca chips
• Ube cake, purple cake from the Philippines. This is a cake roll, should be pretty when sliced. I’m taking it to a potluck; I love the purple color. I hope everyone else will too (they did!).
• Fried soy bean cake or that’s tofu to you which was enhanced with black fungus and leeks. It tasted delicious heated with a smear of the mango/chile/garlic paste.
• Low-sodium soy sauce
• Two bottles of aloe vera drink with honey were refreshing and more delicious after we squeezed lime into it. The texture was a bit odd because of the slimy aloe vera pulp floating in the glass but we liked it.

I bought a virtual United Nations of food.

By the way, my kitchen counter is bright red laminate and the walls are painted green. It feels like cooking inside a surreal apple.

http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-wontons.html

I have no clue why I’m so excited about Lee Lee Oriental SuperMart opening. It’s across town and I’m sure I’ll hardly ever go there except when my snowbird friend moves back, Lee Lee will be conveniently located to her.

People have been hounding me as to the opening of Lee Lee. I have called the Peoria store so many times now to find out when Tucson will open that I’m sure they know my voice by now. (It’s her again.)

I used to login to Chowhound more frequently and troll the Southwest forum when I first heard about Lee Lee Oriental SuperMart. The folks from Phoenix raved and then, of course, I was curious.

Lee Lee Oriental SuperMart has won Best Asian Market in the Phoenix New Times so that does have some impact on my wanting to be there and especially check out the prepared foods on the ready-to-go aisle.

Lee Lee is located at 1980 W. Orange Grove, Tucson 85704, 638-8328.

I have driven past this market for years and years. Today my foodie friend Anne from Oracle, Ariz. was in town running errands and suggested we go since she is starting to make more Japanese food a la bento box style from the Just Bento website.

Sandyi is compact but neat. We walked up and down the aisles marveling at the packages written in another language. It was fascinating.

Anne bought a yam that looked nothing like the yams in regular grocery stores. She also bought various Japanese seasonings.

I was just sight seeing because I spent all my money on lunch and didn’t want to use plastic but I will be back.

I didn’t take notes so this is all from memory: There were bags of multiple kinds of rice — green rice, brown rice, instant brown rice, sweet brown rice, black rice, and many kinds of white rice. There was several varieties of barley and malt, even roasted barley tea and panko crumbs.

Who knew there were so many different kinds of sesame oils and soy sauces? 

In the refrigerated section, there was a rainbow of pickled items, tubs of miso paste, and Calpico soft drinks.

In the freezer section, we pondered over many of products but did notice two kinds of gyoza, green tea ice cream, and assorted fish. 

Produce was limited to unusual greens, not-the-usual mushrooms, oddly-shaped root vegetables, and very ripe persimmons.

There was a lot of ohhing and ahhing going on.

Is anyone reading this who is knowledgeable about these products and is willing to give me a guided tour? I’d love to know more about some of the products and how to use them.

Sandyi Oriental Market is located at 4270 E. Pima St. (at Columbus); 320-0389.

What’s your favorite Asian market?