Tuesday 26 February 2013

A Raid on the Paris Store

Last Friday we went up to Tours to check out a couple of hotels and do some shopping. One of our planned destinations was the Paris Store in Tours Nord. Despite it's name, Paris Store is actually a chain of Asian grocers. We stock up there with specialist ingredients from time to time, as they are much cheaper than the supermarkets for the Asian staples like soy sauce, and have many things we just can't get anywhere else.

As regular Paris Store shoppers, we even arrived with our own store branded bag...

This is what we bought:

A bunch of green celery (celery is often blanched here, so I buy green when I see it) 74¢
A bunch of coriander 36¢
A 300g box of silken tofu €1.50
A 240g tray of acras antillais (Caribbean fish dumplings) €3.36
A packet of transparent soy noodles in 5 x 50g bundles €1.08
A 450g packet of quick noodles in 50g bundles €1.45
A 1l bottle of sweet chilli sauce €1.99
A 500g packet of fresh bean sprouts €1.20
A 500ml bottle of dark soy sauce €1.35
A 500ml bottle of premium light soy sauce €1.25
A 225g bottle of plum sauce €2.05
A 400g packet of 19cm² rice starch spring roll wrappers €1.65
2 cans of ginger beer 55¢ ea
A 750ml bottle of ginger syrup €3.99
5 packets of instant noodle soups 35¢ ea
A packet of baby pak choy €1.05
A 1kg bag of blanched almonds €10.20
A tray of 6 'spring' rolls (the sort that are deep fried, and known as nems in France) €2.30
A 100g packet of rice snack shapes 85¢
A 500g block of fresh firm tofu €1.42
A 400g bag of coloured tapioca €1.10
A 300g packet of Soba buckwheat noodles 95¢
A 225g packet of Udon noodles 60¢

Grand total €43.29

The loot unloaded.
Recipe suggestions please...
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Weather Update: On Sunday we had a very light dusting of snow and overnight it built up to a couple of centimetres. It's supposed to come to an end today.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I definitely need a trip up here - I can't buy udon noodles round here for love nor money - and especially ones that are less than 2€ a pack! I'm jealous!

Tim said...

Is that Ginger Beer good.... can't seem to find Bundaberg around here?

Must visit Paris Store...
Must visit Paris Store...
Must visit Paris Store...
Must visit Paris Store...
Must visit Paris Store...

We have thought it a thousand times!!

But one thing is certain... those are Leeds' Oriental food store prices!!

Jean said...

It's good to know that you can get such things within reasonable distance of Le Grand-Pressigny - you never know, we might just need them one day !!

Tours is not so far, considering that we sometimes drive 40 miles for a pilgrimage to Waitrose at Newark!

Susan said...

LJ: or get yourself to Paris (the city) and visit the big Paris Store in Belleville (just down the road from the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont).

Tim: it's not bad, but canned is never as good as bottled. I've never seen Bundaberg GB in Europe. I buy the ginger cordial to add to fizzy water -- makes a very acceptable sub for GB. And yes, Paris Store is a proper Asian grocer.

Jean: in that case 70km for a specialist grocer makes perfect sense :-)

Tim said...

We used to get Bundaberg from Costco in Leeds... and from about three other outlets [but NOT at Costco prices]... wunderful stuff!! Real bite... suddenly Costco started to do a "made under licence" version... there was more bite in the water from the Aire... didn't last long though... the imported stuff returned and all was well with the world!!

ladybird said...

That really is an impressive quantity of food for not even 50 euros! And I'm sure it'll last you a long time. Enjoy! Martine

Susan said...

Tim: Bundy certainly is my GB of choice, but I may be biased, since I grew up just down the road (in Australian terms) from where it's made.

Martine: I wouldn't be too sure it will last -- the only things we haven't touched so far are the Udon, Soba, firm tofu, tapioca and spring roll wrappers!

Tim said...

You are not biased... 'tis very good... especially as GBs like SSSSSSchwepppes are but a patch of their original selves... the only real GB now made in the UK is Fentiman's!

Niall & Antoinette said...

The bean sprouts were lovely thanks! Haven't had them in AGES! Now must got to this Paris Store to buy goodies ..... want soy sauce!

@Tim and others... as I teach in Tours on a Friday morning I'm happy to take orders and go over to the store afterwards.

@S&S - Do they shut for lunch?

Susan said...

Antoinette: They are closed from 13h - 14h30.

Autolycus said...

Lucky you. I can't find anything but green celery in UK supermarkets, but I like the taste of blanched. I can sometimes get it to blanch up if I wrap it up and keep it in the fridge for ages, but it's not the same.

Susan said...

Auty: No, not a fan of blanched vegetables of any sort. Probably a product of growing up in Australia, where celery and asparagus are most definitely green.

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