Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Saigon!

This post is not about the city of Saigon, which doesn't really even exist anymore, at least not in name. Actually neither does the Saigon Supermarket I'm about to write about. It's now called Total Oriental Foods, but I always refer to it as Saigon much the same way people eschew Ho Chi Minh City.  Total Oriental Foods (TOF) is one of the undiscovered gems of Raleigh. Unlike the other Asian markets in the area, it is Thai owned and has a large concentration of Thai goods with a touch of stuff from other Asian countries thrown in. It is also much smaller than the other Asian markets in town, but is packed floor to ceiling. I like going and just exploring every aisle and usually end up discovering something new each time.

The reason I love TOF is that I can find a lot of Thai items here that I can't anywhere else, including the other Asian markets in Raleigh. Some of the things I regularly buy include sticky rice (of course), holy basil, yard long beans, fish balls, fish sauce, Shark brand sriracha sauce, pad thai sauce, rice noodles, guava, solar dried finger bananas, thai sweet & spicy sauce, coconut milk, preserved radishes, green papayas, and coconut water. They even have some hard to find kitchen accessories like sticky rice baskets & steamers, julienne peelers good for making som tum, and ceramic/wood mortar and pestles.

TOF is located right near the Wal-mart on Falls of the Neuse and New Hope Church Rd. The address is 1629 Ronald Dr. Raleigh 27609. Check it our if you are in Raleigh!

View from the parking lot. Look for the Saigon sign!



Plenty of instant noodles to choose from.

Sauces!





Shrimp Snacks if that's your thing.
  More picture on their own blog page: http://totaloriental.blogspot.com/

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