China City Supermarket

This is «the other» Asian grocery store on the east side of Spadina in Chinatown.
I buy some things here and others at Hua Long next door (
); you can tell the two apart because this one’s brightly lit, above ground and has the young Asian guy screaming at you to buy whatever prickly pear/​other random produce that’s in overstock and he’s trying desperately to unload. He yells with determination and purpose about all manner of produce, but I’m usually not familiar with what’s being advertised and wouldn’t dare approach the bin lest my limbs be bitten off by angry bargain shoppers.
The aisles are crowded and there’s lots of fresh stuff to be purchased inside — namely seafood (still alive), bottled/​jarred sauces and specialty teas and unlabelled greens. They also sell the best happy sponge cakes (that’s what they’re called) for $ 1.29/each, and I once bought a mesh bag of 40 knobs of ginger here for less than a dollar. I was giddy with excitement.

Since the 24-​hour Asian Foodmart quietly disappeared a month or two ago, I’ve been waiting for its successor so I can once again satisfy my late-​night sesame cake and iced green tea cravings.
It was really the one thing that made this place stand out among the other marts.
The brand new China City opened its doors recently, and I was pu-​umped. On a superficial level, this new store is way more organized and cleaner than its predecessor. However, they haven’t rocked the boat too much: the items are pretty much the same, the layout the same. In fact, everything seemed hunky dory…
Until I passed at 11pm and noticed that it was… OH MY GAD IT CAN’T BE… CLOSED FOR THE EVENING. I almost weeped, and probably stood there for a good few minutes just to pay my respects.
I mean, it’s not like I use a 24-​hour Chinese grocery store all that often, but it was always nice to have around. Metro just isn’t the same.