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| - This is an excellent store and a great addition to the Phoenix area. It is rather big, roughly the size a larger grocery store. The parking lot is a bit on the scary side and the store is often crowded, but the latter should be a good indication of what to expect inside.
Lee Lee has a nice produce section, full of staple fruits, vegetables, tubers and so forth like carrots, apples and potatoes, but it also has a wide array of specialty foods like Indian eggplant, bok choy, lemon grass and dare you try it, durian. As a vegetarian I can't fairly describe the seafood and butcher section, but I can it's large and inclusive, from catfish to pig uterus. Beyond that there are aisles dedicated to Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil/Caribbean, India, the Middle East, ramen noodles, dried noodles, imported liquor, hefty bags of rice and more.
Lee Lee can be a fun place, but it's largely practical. I find that I can get about two weeks' worth of groceries on one trip. However, I always have to go to my local grocer to get some odds and ends Lee Lee doesn't carry, like bagels, cheese and a few other minor things. Other than that I come out with a large amount of groceries for a reasonable price. Don't let the cultural barrier dissuade you. It's a great place to get nori maki arare, Japanese candies, Thai chilies, chicory coffee, tahini, instant Indian meals, crates of ramen, frozen samosas, chutneys, wasabi, incense, and much, much more, right down to bizarre eats: sake in juice boxes, cheese and corn ice cream, grass jelly, silkworm pupae, canned crickets and unnameable horrors from all corners of the globe.
With that in mind, remember the HSBC marketing campaign of cultural perspectives: delicious in one, disgusting in the other, etc. Give it a shot, try something new while also finding old favorites.
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