Saturday, November 18, 2017

99 ranch market

The opening of this new Asian supermarket in August this year completely escaped my radar. It's called 99 Ranch Market. Evidently it is owned by Taiwanese. I only found out of its arrival to Portland while reading a local newspaper online. I was very skeptical but nevertheless I want to go and see it for myself ASAP. It is not far from my part of town.

Checking Google map I immediate remember that location used to be an Albertsons supermarket. I never shop an any Albertsons. I went there yesterday.

Walking into the store I immediately can tell they have a lot of items that I cannot find in any other Asian stores in town. It is quite large, though may be just a bit smaller than Fubonn Market on the East side of town.


Since ready cooked counters takes no time for me to size them up I checked them out first.

the usual greasy and sweet American Chinese food in this counter - I am sure is very popular

the roast meat section is OK, but nothing great - my char siu will beat theirs hands down

the dim sum is as good as you can expect from a grocery store

OK, these do look pretty good

I didn't go nuts checking everything out and took photos of everything noteworthy. "I'll be back" as Arnold said.

I bought a bag of these glutinous flour puffs. You will see what I do in a post to come soon.


they do have a good selection of cured pork belly

What I was really excited is seeing the fish counter. They have the most variety of fish I've ever seen in Asian supermarkets in North America. As I look closer, I recognized the store format and the merchandise and I know immediately that I have visited the same store chain in California, and may be in Arizona.

I have never see skate wings this good and this cheap - I bought 2 pounds

this clerk is wonder WTF - someone taking a photo; I compose to capture the immense length of the fresh fish counter

OMG, those pink grouper steak looks too good to pass over - I bought a piece



the smaller fishes are sold in whole



I haven't seen these alligator meat since I left Louisianan a few years ago in a road trip. I will come back for some of these in the future. I like alligator meat.

they are from US farmed alligators

they have some higher grade canned Mexican abalones


As I have a GoPro camera in the car, I didn't dwell long in the store. I bought a piece of skate wing, a piece of pink grouper steak, a bag of glutenous flour puffs, a bag of green baby pok choy, and just for gags, I decided to also bought a few pieces of dim sum. I have very low expectation with the dim sum.

this is the video of the store made by Oregonian


siu mai  (steamed minced pork wrapped in flour skin) and har gow  (steamed shrimp wrapped in rice flour skin)

It is impossible to find edible dim sum in Portland for over a decade now. I only have two choices. Take a road trip to Seattle, or better yet to Richmond, BC; or make my own.

the har gow is crap - two miniature farmed shrimps wrapped in exceeding thick rice flour skin and relies on MSG to fool ones taste buds

the siu mai is a bit better as pork is cheap

The prize of the trip is the two pieces of fish that I bought. In all for me, what most impressive in the store is the selection of fresh wild fishes. If you are into Asian snacks this place has the greatest variety that are not found in other Asian markets, especially products from Taiwan. But for some fresh produces I would still need to go across town to smaller stores that I shop regularly, especially for vegetable. It is a great addition to Portland for diversity. I'll be back.


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