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| - I love grocery shopping. As a chef, there's nothing more inspiring than walking aimlessly down the aisles of a really good grocery store to see what kinds of new ingredients or fresh produce offering I can create with. I love Asian markets even more because there is always something new and interesting that I've yet to try.
Enter T&T Supermarket. This Asian supermarket chain, now a part of Loblaw's, has a vast selection of items and ingredients from all over Asia. Each region is represented with their most common items, though there are times when you may not be able to find something specific. All in all though, I seem to be able to find most of the things I'm looking for.
T&T also features a full-service bakery, hot ready-to-eat food, Dim sum, noodle bar and a Chinese BBQ. Both locations in Calgary also have seating available so you can enjoy your food right there.
I have found the folks at the meat dept. very patient and helpful, despite the odd communication gap from time to time. I was there one time shopping for the restaurant to take advantage of a sale on short ribs and asked the meat cutters for 50lbs. They went right to work getting me freshly cut meat and 15 minutes later presented me with 15 lbs of ribs. oops. It was all good. They were understanding and never got short with me, even though I had this huge request with practically no advance notice. My bad.
I am very impressed with the quality of the produce that T&T has. Being a part of the Loblaw's group, I was afraid that the quality would decline, but it has stayed the same. You can find all sorts of Asian produce, some selections are only available at one or the other location depending on the day. (ie: Taro leaves) The leafy vegetables are most often in pristine condition, neatly bundled and packaged. The foot traffic during the week is a good thing, insuring that the product is always new and fresh. Busy produce market = very good product.
My only gripe about T&T is that they really need a location in the South. I live near 22x which means that I have to make my visit to T&T as a planned event. I enjoy spontaneous grocery shopping, and yes, I do think grocery shopping is fun. Always wondering what new and exciting item I'll uncover next keeps me on my toes and T&T is never a disappointment.
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