Sun Wah Supermarket

Sun Wah Supermarket, located at 303 King Street, (204) 944-9162, is one of a number of Asian supermarkets and it is one of my two favourites. While Lucky Supermarket cannot be beat for sheer variety of produce, and the fact that you can get your western groceries there too, Lucky is also invariably crowded. At Sun Wah it is generally easier to get around and they have those little things (like apple vinegar drinks) that you just can't find anywhere else.

The market is definitely no frills in the decor department, but if you want cheap quality ingredients, this is your place. I should point out that these Asian markets are often the best places to shop for ingredients that are not for Asian foods. Making soft shell crab Po' Boys? No better deal on those than Sun Wah.

Some ingredients for our dinner party from Sun Wah.

There can be a bit of a language barrier with the good folks at Sun Wah and they were apprehensive about allowing me to take pictures inside, so instead of showing pictures from the store, I am going to show what I purchased and what my wife Rhoda and I cooked with the ingredients. What did we do? We had a dinner party!

The selection of fish and seafood is unparalleled in the city. They also have amazing Dim Sum you can steam at home, which is great if you don't feel like cooking but want some exotic flavours.


I could go on at length about all the wonderful stuff Sun Wah has to offer, but you should just go down and browse! It's fun trying to identify all the mysterious wonderful ingredients. Grab something you've never heard of and make a dish with it! You all have the Internet, find a recipe, you will be richer for it!

Flavour Bundles

First we served flavour bundles, consisting of homemade Laotian sausage, dried shrimp, toasted peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, minced shallots, bird chilies, cilantro and minced lime with the peel all wrapped in lettuce leaves.

Papaya Salad

Next, papaya salad. A kitchen mandolin really helps with this one, but you can shred it with a grater too. Julienned with a knife works too, but is pretty painstaking. A little carrot, tomato, some cilantro and Asian pear make up the body of the salad. Next, dress it with fish sauce, sugar, chilies and lime juice and top it with more peanuts and you're ready to go.

Coconut Shrimp Soup

A chicken stock (preferably Asian, with lemongrass, ginger and cilantro as opposed to the classic french mire poix), a can of coconut milk and some fish sauce make for a great soup base. A simple mild soup like this, with some shrimp and noodles, makes for a wonderful contrast to the otherwise bold and spicy dishes. You can add all kinds of stuff, oyster mushrooms, bamboo shoots, whatever you feel is right.

Rice Buddies! Kids love them!

For the main course, we served grilled chicken marinated with garlic, pepper, salt and fish sauce with steamed sticky rice. Sticky rice is glutinous jasmine rice that you form into balls and dip in sauce, or press together with hunks of meat. You can make them into little snowmen for the kids.

Rice and Chicken with Table Sauces

Sharing is what a dinner party is about. Sharing conversation, experiences and ideas over a great meal is very rewarding, but all of these are perfectly complemented by sharing music. I love vinyl, the warm pop and scratch of the needle brings me a sense of connection that I don't get from digital mediums. I love to get guests to pick a record and spin a side on the record player. If you have vinyl, a side is the perfect length to let everybody at the party have a pick or two. You never know what your guests will pick, so it is also great for revisiting forgotten gems in your collection. Alas, if you have no vinyl, get friends to pick from your iPod or computer.

Like ethnicities of food, there is no truly bad genre of music, but the true connoisseur is very picky about what they call good within the genre.

Think about the Asian dishes you love, find some recipes in a book or online and head to Sun Wah for those otherwise hard to find ingredients and have a party! No, not just a party, a dinner party!