we headed over to nearby Richmond to an all Asian shopping complex......
We were curious to check out several shops and eateries...
The first of which was this, Hong Kong Snack House, which was recommended by Jinxi of Jinxi Eats.
The mall complex itself was kind of sad and depressing looking. There were lots of little random businesses (travel agencies, medicine, makeup, candy, etc...) along with a big dim sum place (where we were originally supposed to go, but went to the more picturesque Hong Kong East Seafood in Emeryville instead), Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese eateries...
Jinxi recommended the egg puff which seemed like a good snack to have that afternoon.
We also saw the fresh sugarcane juice sign so we ordered one of those as well.
I thought this sign featuring a "Barack Obama stimulus package" was kind of funny. What a totally random and very colorful sign!
The shop itself was practically papered with signs advertising snack and drink specials. There was a cold case near the register which held both conch and octopus meat as well as frozen durian. Hmmmm, what an interesting combination there!
TC bought this bag of pop rocks-like candy to share with her classmates. For $3.99, you get 20 mini packets of strawberry flavored popping candy. Personally, I don't like pop rocks. The sensation is so wierd and I hate the feeling of the popping sounds in my ears. I always think like it's little bugs crawling in there (weird phobia, I know, but hey...).
Our chocolate egg puff and fresh sugarcane juice drink which was refreshing but supersweet.
This was so much fun to eat, just piecing off the egg shapes. As we were eating this at the plastic table out front, a group of teens passed by and commented to each other, saying, "Oooh, they have Eggettes!" (the name of a popular egg waffle shop in the Outer Sunset (which we visited back in 2011). These were crisp on the outside but nice and cakey inside.
We liked that we could taste the coconut milk in the batter...
Walking through the mall, TC wanted to see this candy and gift shop called Candy Box.
It was jampacked full of cute toys, shirts, doodads, Asian snacks and candy...
She ended up buying a few cute posters for her room, featuring characters from "My Neighbor Totoro".
Within this mall complex was a Ranch 99 which was packed with shoppers since it was a weekend. Across from Ranch 99 was Sheng Kee Bakery...
They had all kinds of interesting pastries and cakes in there...
In this glass case were savory pastries filled with chicken, bbq, and curry beef.
I totally wanted it all, but alas...only got these four pastries, in which only one was sweet. These would be for breakfast the next day.
The long stick on the left was a bacon and cheese pastry, then we had the hot dog bread for TC, then a pork sung and green onions stick for Bert. The squarish sweet pastry was this item that they called a chocolate twist. I didn't really like it because it was a bit too moist inside and tasted too "eggy".
Before leaving, I spotted this amusing sign in the bathroom...
Although Thane's wife didn't think this mall was that special, for us, it was neat seeing a whole mall filled with Asian businesses. Everything was in one enclosed space. We are so deprived in San Diego. I guess places like this are common in the Bay Area and parts of Orange County (Westminster in particular).
Pacific East Mall
3288 Pierce St.
Richmond, CA 94804
www.pacificeastmall.com
Hong Kong Snack House - Suite 111
Sheng Kee Bakery - Suite C-133
It was time to walk off the calories. We would next go to the Solano Ave shopping district to windowshop and browse one of my favorite Bay Area bookstores...
4 comments:
I totally want to try one of those egg puff snacks someday!
hi mary - E & Drink has those egg waffles (it's an eatery in Ranch 99), but i heard their version sux.
:( if you go to the bay area, i would recommend getting those egg puffs at Eggette's, located in the Outer Sunset district.
You can get the egg waffles at several of the Hong Kong cafes by me. I like pouring condensed milk all over the waffles. When you said egg puffs I thought you were going to get this fried choux pastry that I ate in the South Bay. Those were good!
I remember when this mall opened. I was living in El Cerrito at the time. It was a big deal because before that I'd have to go to Oakland Chinatown or Milpitas if I wanted to get Asian groceries. It was so packed on weekends. There was a Filipino bakery, Goldilocks? And a Malaysian restaurant just outside of the strip mall that was really good. That was a loooong time ago though!
hi wc - you have to let me know the names of those places for a future road trip. we should meet up this summer too! :) i wrote egg puffs because that's what they listed it as on the menu.
condensed milk is good with anything, omg...i can just imagine how good it would be with that egg waffle thing.
i don't think goldilocks is in that mall anymore.
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