Right across the street from the terrific Thanh Nga Nine is Minh Phat Supermarket. Though it's not specifically targeted to the vego crowd like Vincent or Global Green, this huge grocery offers an amazing array of Asian groceries for veg*ns as well as omnivores. Having recently stocked up at Global Green, I resisted the large freezer dedicated to mock meats and most of the sauces and pastes. The wackiest items we located were probably the mushroom-based veg alternatives to pork floss and jerky, but we left them on the shelves for now and grabbed some foods that appetised us as much as they amused.
We were dazzled by the huge selection of dried fruits. Who knew there were so many varieties and preparations of plums? After much deliberation we chose dried sweet mango ($3.40), sugar-coated tamarind ($1.35) and chilli guava ($3.40).
We also took home Brinjal (eggplant) pickle ($3.80), potato crispy biscuits ($3.40), cashew nut cookies ($1.50), garlic crackers ($1.80) and coloured tapioca pearls ($2.35).
That $21 is going to make for a lot of interesting snacking - we'll report back as we munch our way through these goodies.
Address: 2-8 Nicholson St, Abbotsford
Ph: 9429 4028
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Minh Phat has also been blogged by Bear Head Soup, melbournemaniac, Melbourne Vegan, Melbourne Places, MEL: HOT OR NOT and Abbotsford Blog.
How good is this supermarket? It's such a hiden gem! How were the tapioca pearls?
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Minh Phat!
ReplyDeleteOh how much do I love Minh Phat? One thing I have discovered up here on the Gold Coast is that the asian supermarkets just do not cut it in comparison.
ReplyDeleteI still remember the first time I walked into the Vic Market shop - I just assumed it would be a poky little place and then it's OMG THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!!!
Still my favourite Oriental Supermarket even though I have shifted out of that area. Still tends to pop in to stock up my pantry when I have the time.
ReplyDeleteThey do the best frozen "vegi meat" dumplings, I had a look at global green, but they didn't seem to have the large bags that minh phat does.
ReplyDeleteI became weirdly addicted to their $1.50 bags of pre-boiled mushrooms (against the wall on your left as you walk in) and dried black fungus.
ReplyDeleteAlso good: frozen vegetarian banh cuon, peanut mochi balls, vegie krupuk crackers, green tea pumpkin seeds, wasabi broad beans and spicy roasted chickpeas.
Glad to see a good supermarket gets y'all as excited as it does me. Thanks for the tips on your favourite goodies!
ReplyDeleteI'm the same, have to travel over an hr to get there but is well worth the drive... have to try the peanut mochi balls next time I think...
ReplyDeleteThose garlic "prawn chips" look awesome. I'm an hour or so away, so question - do these items have palm oil listed in the ingredients?
ReplyDeleteNope, they don't - just tapioca flour, garlic, salt and sugar. :-)
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy a trip to Minh Phat. It is such a good place to browse and wonder and buy things to experiment with. I'm looking forward to reading what you thought of the things you bought.
ReplyDeleteEm
Em, we've tried just about everything now, and written about it in two posts.
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