Tasty Place

Asia Supermarket
143 North 11th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 592-8990

If you have never been inside of an Asian Supermarket, it is definitely an experience. This particular underground market is not to be trifled with during the summer, due to the insane smells that can emanate, but you are doing yourself a terrible disservice if you enjoy Chinatown eating, and you have never been to Tasty Place.

To be sure, you are not going here for atmosphere.

You will, however, be going here for Beef Ho Fun Sate, which comes out with tender, delicious pieces of beef, long, tender broad noodles, and an addictive sauce. Add some hot chili oil and a splash of vinegar for the ultimate in comfort noodles. Not to mention at about $6, you could split this dish and likely be quite satiated. Obviously, that did not apply in my case.

In addition to the Ho Fun, I got an order of the recommended ginger scallion noodles. These were just okay. They weren't bad, but they couldn't stand up to my go-to ginger scallion noodles. I would definitely skip these in the future.

There were ginger matchsticks, but they just lacked the pop I was looking for.

Perhaps my favorite part of the meal was the salt baked chicken wings.

These beauties are marinated in ginger, salt baked(?) then presumably coated in cornstarch and flash fried. The result is tender, savory meat, with a shatteringly crisp crust. Delicious.

They are also served with scallions and sliced long hot peppers. The care taken with the preparation in the food here is apparent.

I would have to say this is already one of my favorite places in Chinatown – it is surely the best Chinese food I have had in the area. Give it a try. It cost $18.50 for everything you see here, and it was definitely well worth it.