I was greeted by a box of sleek purple Asian eggplants upon walking into the Kim Phat branch in Côte-des-Neiges. This Asian supermarket has pretty much everything you’d want in order to recreate flavours of Asia. Multiple kinds and sizes of eggplant; vegetables such as Chinese okra and gai choy; fresh herbs, from prosaic thyme (a buck gets a nice mittful) to the unusual fish mint. If the fuchsia spiky dragon fruit don’t tempt you, the four kinds of bananas will (not including plantain). Then there are the live fish, an extensive and surprising meat counter, amusing canned beverages and Vietnamese sausage. And if you’re craving a bit of old-fashioned ease, VH sauces are eye-level in the aisles.

Kim Phat
3544 Goyer, 514-737-2383
www.kimphat.com