Wing Lee Hong Chinese Supermarket

Ok; bear with me – I’m going to get to the point soon enough.

You may be thinking “What is this guy doing putting a piece about a Chinese supermarket on his blog for? It’s neither independent nor local!’. You may be thinking "Does this place, huge as it is, need any further publicity?"

Well, I guess you’d be right on both counts; but, like I say, I have a point to make.

I didn’t even see it get built. It just popped up, a multicoloured, unashamedly modern chinese supermarket in the middle of grey old Leeds. But it changed me; it really did – the Chinese supermarket was no longer a place to fear – it was a place to indulge yourself, to find all those arcane ingredients that your Peter Gordon cookbooks had been blathering on about for years. Galangal. Nam Pla. Tamarind Paste (hang on – isn’t a tamarind a kind of monkey?! ). Yep, all those things are here, and in bountiful quantities – fresh veg and fruit with names you have never seen in print before are laid out before you the way Cox’s apples are at your local Blandermarket.

The freezers ache and groan with fish, meats, dumplings, rolls, any kind of oriental treat you could think of. And did I mention the noodles? There’s a whole wall of them – every colour, shape, length and province you could imagine – and a few more besides. You wish your condiment larder looked like the aisles of this place – jars filled with crushed chillies, ginger, hot sauces, pickled things, small fiery things for sushi – everything you want, at super reasonable prices.

But that’s not all!

Oh no. it’s the only place I can think of in Leeds where you can pick up one of my personal faves – Kirin Ichiban Lager. This stuff goes down so well with Dim Sum it should be made compulsory drinking at every oriental-themed meal time. The next time you see a great recipe on tv using things like Pancake Rolls or Miso Stock – don’t sigh and turn the channel. Go here.

The point I’m trying to make is this; I want this place to exist. I’m glad it does. So, it’s going on the blog!! The more people that know about it, the better!

Oh, and the website has some pretty good recipes on it, too.

Wing Lee Hong Co.Ltd.
Hereford House,6 Edward Street
Leeds LS2 7NT
www.wingleehong.co.uk