PrintNew Jersey Dispatch: The Great Wall Supermarket
"The Great Wall Supermarket is...in my opinion, the best Chinese market in the state of New Jersey."
Picture Saturday afternoon. You're in a huge parking lot hoping to find a space that's less than a fifteen-minute walk from the front door. Other shoppers are making it even tougher; parents unloading carts while kids play, elderly folks with canes standing right in front of a minivan that's trying to pull out of the very space you covet, and it looks like half the cars on Earth are going to pull into the lot as soon as the traffic light flashes that little green arrow at the bottom.
You grab a cart and push your way into the brightly lit and jam-packed supermarket and start thinking about how to fill it. Should you start at the entire aisle of frozen dumplings? A whole durian? A quart of sesame oil? But wait! The newsprint circular tells you that fresh pea shoots are on sale that week, so you steer towards the vegetable section.
What kind of store is this? You're in a Chinese supermarket, part of one of the most important fixtures of the New Jersey food scene—huge suburban stores that cater to the home cooking needs of a single ethnic group.
The store I was visiting, The Great Wall Supermarket, is larger than most supermarkets of any sort in New York City and is for the moment, in my opinion, the best Chinese market in the state of New Jersey. When you compare immigrant communities in the big city with those in the Garden State, there's an obvious trade-off. In the city, you have the neighborhoods filled with tiny shops and restaurants that buzz with energy, in the suburbs, neighborhoods are fewer and the scene shifts to places like the Great Wall—sparkling megastores devoted to an immigrant community and its cuisine.
This is a supermarket aimed squarely at Chinese households. On most days, there are over twenty kinds of greens and live frogs, there are fresh Chinese sausages that look to me like something Italian, and that whole aisle of frozen dumplings. While many food activists are protesting food imported from China, here, it's a badge of honor. A place to get the flavors you grew up with. Indeed, I feel like there's no need to describe aisles filled with bottles, cans, and jars of condiments or sacks of rice. It's all there, just more of it than you've ever seen in the area before.
If you're not a Chinese home cook, The Great Wall is worth visiting for a couple of other reasons. First of all, the meat department. I don't know how they source their beef, pork, and poultry but the quality is far better than anything you'll find in the big chain supermarkets (although not up to PA Dutch Market, right down the road) with prices that are often a bit lower. Poultry is an even better deal. How do they get chickens that fresh for prices that low? And where else can you find all three forms of beef tripe out on display?
Curry noodle soup.
And finally, there's one other important reason to visit the big Chinese markets: the snack bars. The Great Wall offers noodle soups, Cantonese barbecue, and lunch specials that are at least a notch better than area takeout shops. And the fresh-baked
items are just plain tough to find anywhere else in the state.
One last thought. Right now, in July of 2009, I believe The Great Wall is the best Chinese supermarket in the state, but rival chain Asian Food Center is building a new place in Piscataway to replace its recently closed Edison location. With that store take the crown? Stay tuned.
The Great Wall Supermarket
3151 Route 27, Franklin Township NJ 08823 (map)
732-940-0685
gw-supermarket.com (In Chinese only)
With other locations in the region
Open daily: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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10 Comments:
This sounds awesome. For those of us who don't read Chinese, can someone look at the website and post the addresses of the other locations of Great Wall? In particular, are there any that are slightly closer to NYC? If not, I might just have to take a day trip sometime soon...
sarahinnewyork at 2:39PM on 07/24/09
OK, a little Googling gives one location at 6722 Fort Hamilton Parkway in Brooklyn and 77-00 Queens Blvd in Elmhurst. But it's always fun going to suburban grocery stores, with their aisles that feel enormous!
sarahinnewyork at 2:50PM on 07/24/09
My parents LOVE Great Wall in Brooklyn. Seriously. We get most of our groceries there. My ever-frugal father will always hit up the section of $1 bags of sad vegetables. Not too long ago, he picked up a bag of about... 45 Mediterranean cucumbers. I gave him such a horrified look. And then made about 5 jars of refrigerator pickles. My mom's theory is that.. whatever they lose out on in low prices, they make up for in volume. Compared to other chinese markets in Brooklyn, its cleaner and less cramped and overall more inviting. People stay longer, wander the aisles, buy more.
From the looks of it, the Brooklyn one is smaller than the NJ one. It's housed in an old movie theater, so it's still pretty big and has a parking lot underground. (major plus!) Also, the Brooklyn one doesn't have a snack bar. :( There is some prepared food, but no eating area, from what I know.
engmcmuffin at 4:10PM on 07/24/09
i go to the one in Queens, but then again, there are so many in the Flushing area and all the groceries are so cheap.
gargupie at 4:23PM on 07/24/09
There's also a Great Wall at 137-45 Northern Blvd., in Flushing, Queens, a little east of Main St. and almost immediately across the boulevard from the lately celebrated Hunan House.
EatingInTranslation at 6:55PM on 07/24/09
Here's the page with all the store locations. This page has all the weekly specials for the NYC stores.
As for the stuff, while the new Flushing store on Northern Blvd is a lot prettier than usual the pricing and quality is still slightly below Hong Kong Supermarket on Main St.
maportofu at 11:26PM on 07/24/09
that looks really cool, i like how the signs they have post english and chinese. you don't see that often.
foodinmouth at 12:11AM on 07/25/09
why did you decide that great wall is the best chinese supermarket in new jersey? it seems like what you are describing is common to all of the enormous chinese grocery stores in central jersey, although some are admittedly better than others. i would nominate asian food center in north plainfield for best chinese super market? there used to be one in edison but it closed because the strip mall was undergoing major renovations. it's practically identical to great wall and has better produce in my opinion...
965 US Highway 22
North Plainfield, NJ 07060
(908) 668-8382
castor_de_luxe at 9:02AM on 07/27/09
This supermarket is literally less than a minute from my house, and I absolutely love it! My mother and I are in there quite frequently and it is fantastic. We're not asian, but the people who work there and even the people who shop there frequently recommend brands and such to buy. This is awesome to see it there!
melissam at 10:51AM on 07/27/09
Castor:
To answer your question; I spent quite a bit of time deciding between the AFC and Great Wall and gave it to the Great Wall because of their larger fish department and seating in the prepared foods section. It is a very close call.
It won't be long until AFC opens a new store in Piscataway and that may or may not change the whole landscape.
And too those who are comparing Chinese supermarkets in Brooklyn and Queens, I think the criteria there are a bit different than in New Jersey because they are so often surrounded other Chinese shops and restaurants - especially in Flushing.
In New Jersey we expect - and we get - a real destination in itself. In the city, the neighborhood is the destination.
BrianYarvin at 1:28PM on 07/27/09