I love East Asian supermarkets. I could literally spend hours in them. I like discovering new and unique items and now I also feel like I have a personal connection because of my time spent in China. Whenever I see something I used to have over there, it is nostalgic for me and brings back good memories.
Tian Tian Market is one such supermarket born in London, but proving East Asian goodies. At the moment of writing, they have four stores around London. We recently visited the Aldgate branch and picked up some new, adventurous and nostalgic items. In this post I will detail what we purchased and our thoughts on them. I will list the purchases by dividing it into departments.
Crisps
Lays taro crisps lime flavour £2.19 – it was okay, but didn’t really feel like crisps – prefer potato all day.
Lays avocado crisps mustard flavour £3.49 – this was a game changer. The two flavours complimented each other so well.
Drinks
Tiger sugar brown sugar milk tea £2.19 – basically brown sugar flavoured bubble tea, but without the tapioca pearls (with the flavour but without the actual pearls). Genius.
JDB herbal tea 99p – a popular drink in China. Had it there a few times. I like it – it’s like a mix of grape juice and honey and a hint of herb.
Ocean Bomb Pokemon Pikachu drink – not a fan of sparkling water – didn’t realise that these drinks were this.
Melon milk – first time I heard of this was when Mike Chen shouted it out. When I tried it… WOW. It is basically melon but the liquid version. Another genius item!
Master Kong jasmine honey tea £1.29 – my favourite drink out there in China. This was nostalgic and brought back a lot of memories. You have to like jasmine tea to be honest to like this. It has those floral notes. I wasn’t a fan at first, but jasmine tea is so common out in China especially in the cold drink bottle form. There are so many different brands and flavours doing it. Naturally, it grew on me and I liked this one the most as it was sweeter than the others.
Snacks
Potato ramen – combine this with the famous hot Korean ones and have it as a watery/soup noodle dish and you have yourself a winner. You’re welcome.
Brown sugar boba ice cream bar £8.29 (4 ice lollies) – the find of this shopping trip. This is bubble tea but in the form of ice cream. Plus there’s real tapioca pearls inside! Absolutely genius. Ridiculously expensive, but I think it is THAT good that it kind of almost makes it worth it (almost).
Daifuku mochi £3.39 – forget the teenager-hyped little moon stuff – this is the real deal.
Black sesame cereal £3.19 – this is porridge but with a focus on black sesame and that flavour. A nice healthy start to the day. It is a popular dish in parts of China and Taiwan either had as breakfast or even dessert. I remember having this in Beijing and loving it. I have been searching for that flavour for a while and have had a couple of failed attempts (black sesame ice cream and a black sesame cake), but this hit the spot and the flavours were almost there. The black sesame flavour wasn’t as strong as I remember it, but it was still good nonetheless.
Getting there
Nearest station: Aldgate East
Nearest mosque: East London Mosque
Parking: Most if not all the roads behind the East London Mosque are free evenings and weekends, but there is literally a competition for parking spaces. So, be prepared to drive around in circles and wait till you find something to pounce on.
