Shop ‘til you plotz: Gerrard & Broadview
By Madeleine Greey
I love to shop. Not for shoes 0r diamonds, but frozen banana leaves at Broadview and Gerrard, my shopping stomping grounds. The signs, labels, language and odours transport me to the streets of Southeast Asia. OK, the vibe isn’t exactly consumer friendly… but the stores have the goods that make my stomach sing.
This is where I pounce on the greenest, crispest Shanghai bok choy and feel a flutter of retail rejoice when scooping a crate of 16 yellow, kidney shaped Ataulfo mangoes for a shocking $9.99 . Friends beg me to show them around so I’ve culled a tip or two for the food-obsessed among us.
Like earplugs. You’ll want a pair when browsing Fu Yao Supermarket. The current management plays sappy Mandarin pop CDs that skip — endlessly. Amid a repetitive blur of “Wo ai ni” (I love you), try to stay focused and rifle through the freezer section, where frozen dim sum lies in hiding. Best finds are har gau (shrimp in rice flour dumplings) or shiao mai (ground pork, open-faced dumplings). Heat in a cabbage leaf-lined bamboo steamer (sorry, best sets are in the other Chinatown at Tap Phong, see box) and be sure to blatantly lie about your culinary prowess whenever you serve them at dinner parties.
Fu Yao is also HQ for Thai cooking supplies. Pantry essentials include club-size tubs of Cock Brand Thai curry pastes (available in red, green or yellow), fish sauce (Gourmet mag recently gave Phu Quoc brand the thumb’s up) or Aroy-D coconut milk. For Chinese stir-fries, you gotta own a bottle of Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce (at very least, perk up some steamed broccoli with it) and a jar of LKK black bean and garlic sauce (perfect on stir-fried yard-long green beans). If you like to barbecue, you and hoisin sauce should be on a first name basis. Again, go with LKK and slather it over lamb chops or wild salmon steaks.
Bill’s Lobster usually has that politically correct, PCB-free fish, not to mention tanks full of live lobster, clams, mussels, West coast crab and once, alas, a sighting of shrimp, dancing like drug induced insects. Owner Bill Cheng breaks the Chinatown norm. He’s (a) friendly (b) informative and (c) will actually give you a better price if you smile the right way. Sushi-master-wannabes take note: this shop’s got supplies from wasabi to nori to sushi-grade fish.
I have to admit they also smile at Charlie’s Meat and Seafood but in a fiendish way. (I presume I would too, if I owned a butcher shop in the shadows of the Don Jail.) You’ll find some of the cheapest, freshest slabs of pork tenderloin and beef flank steak here, not to mention bins overflowing with chicken feet, wings, backs, necks and drumsticks. Unlike the rest of Toronto’s poultry fans, the shoppers at Charlie’s aren’t infatuated with chicken breast (Chinese chefs prefer those juicy, dark cuts) so you’ll leave breast-less but rich in stock (there’s nothing like a hen’s toes for a memorable soup). Poke your way into the freezers where Charlie keeps a good supply of exquisitely thin beef and lamb slices for hot pot parties. Also under ice are thin, bony blocks of short ribs: marinate, throw on the grill and wow your guests with “Korean barbecue”.
Due south is Sing Sing. Give the guy holding the cleaver a jolt by tossing in a thankful Cantonese “mm goy” once you’ve ordered half a roasted Peking-style duck. All those hanging birds and beasts in the window are not only safe to eat but pack much more flavour than supermarket-variety rotisserie chicken. Price is right, too. Check out honey-coated wings, buy a pound of roast pork (the crackly skin is sinful) but leave the heavenly braised duck livers for me (they always run out).
Across the street is the Rose where sweet but strong-like-bull iced Vietnamese coffee awaits, with no annoying line-up like Starbucks. Choose among eight different, custom-made banh mi or Vietnamese sub for $1.50 (extra hot peppers are free) and don’t miss the neon green 1,000 layer jelly cakes nestled beside the cash register.
But before you exit the area, head over to Maple Garden and get a flat to go. Pick out some sprightly Thai basil, Vietnamese peppermint and bitter melon plants to cultivate that Gerrard and Broadview feeling in your own backyard.
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The Straight Goods:
Fu Yao Supermarket, 639 Gerrard St E ; 416-778-1920
Rose Vietnamese Fast Foods and Desserts, 324 Broadview Ave (south of Gerrard).
Çharlie’s Meat and Seafood, 383 Broadview Ave. (north of Gerrard)
Sing Sing BBQ House, 351 Broadview Ave: 416-778-8029
Maple Garden Florist and Gift Shop; 673 Gerrard St E (at Boulton); 416-466-9811
Tap Phong Trading Co Inc; 360 Spadina Ave; 416-977-6364