11/28/07

Excellent Pan-Asian Shopping in Austin

by melonpocky

Considerably larger and cleaner than other predominantly Vietnamese/Chinese grocery stores in the area, MT Supermarket rarely disappoints. Their produce section is ample, varied, and usually very fresh. A seemingly infinite variety of cabbages and greens are available alongside exotic fruits, mushrooms, and unique root vegetables. Rice from all over the world of different colors and lengths in all different sized bags are stacked to the ceiling, reminding you just in case you forgot that you were in an Asian grocery. MT also offers numerous kind of fresh, dried, and frozen noodles from various cuisines-- ranging from the vermicelli found in pho to Japanese yam noodles-- and from various levels of convenience, from cup noodles to parboiled noodles. There are aisles dedicated to sauces, preserved vegetables, fish cakes, steamed buns, dumplings, Japanese pickles, tofu, frozen seafood, crackers, cookies, tea, and a variety of cooking instruments and tableware. Freshly frozen and live seafood are available (and packed on ice for your convenience), and the guys at the meat counter are more than happy to slice your meats to your liking, or to grind it fresh right there for you. Most of my cooking is Japanese in style, and it's easy to find plenty of products that are made in Japan, ranging from miso and pickles to sake, snacks, and soy sauce. I would imagine that for the Asian cuisine enthusiast, MT Supermarket is the only grocery store they'll ever need.

• Pros: Convenient, Ample parking, Great selection, Decent prices
• Cons: Off-putting fish smell

09/05/07

Great variety, dont be fooled by the smell

by blueakuma

As soon as you walk in you will get slapped with the fishy smell that may throw you away, but that smell is what you get when you have live fish tanks. This place have everything for Japanese, Chinese and Philipino cooking and even to fullfill some Latino cooking. Great vegetable area, amazing frozen section with everything you can think about, i highly recommend this place even for cooking appliances and plates.

• Pros: FRESH
• Cons: SMELLY

A popular market on Lamar caters to Austin's growing Asian community and local food lovers.

by Contributor

In Short
Big bags of rice are piled to the ceiling near the entrance. Whole white bass, red snapper, mackerel and flounder are stacked in the meat display counter. Many Asian dishes call for dry, spiced or fried tofu in different degrees of firmness as well as noodles like banh bot coc (rice noodles) or man fon (egg noodles). Fish or pork dumplings and peanut rice balls tempt curiosity and can be washed down with a Tsing Tao beer.