Asian Supermarket

Ranch 99 was the king of the shit in this Buford Hwy landmark called Asian Square for many years... Then it quietly disappeared from all the formidable competition. For years, this large space sat empty until recently it reopened as Asian Supermarket. The market itself is nothing that great, it's clean but looks old and worn... But they have a small food court. So far, only two food shacks are in operation, Red Pepper and China Kitchen which seem to be very similar to the China Kitchen in the Chinatown food court. There's also a third shack, Best BBQ, which looks like it will be opening soon... And seemed to be by the same owners from the one at the Great Wall market but this outpost will not have dim sum, just plates and BBQ. There's also a bakery/bubble tea shop that is semi-part of the food court... It's ok but anyone opening a place like this will have a hard time competing with Sweet Hut in this strip mall. My main interest here when they first opened the food court was Red Pepper... Shit, anything spicy gets my attention. If they can do it right and tickle my taint with their fiery hot concoctions, I will be their biggest cheerleader for free... If not, well, y'all know I'll be shitting that slop out like Pepto Bismol on steroids.
Let's try out a few dishes from this tiny food court and see if they will last... I have a special feeling already but I shouldn't judge so prematurely until the pouch has it's final say.

China Kitchen.

Scallion Pancakes. For $2.50, it's a decent portion... They look housemade but they are just so thick and barely have the flaky layers that one expects from a well made one. They're doughy, chewy and just didn't have that nice crunch to it. I would skip these until they have made major improvements.

Soup Dumps. Looked impressive when it came out in a bamboo steam basket. The dough look semi-thin and they were pretty sizeable. Took a bite and the dough was a bit thicker than it appeared and there was barely any soup in there. The small marble size pork ball inside didn't have the correct amount of fat in it so it was a tight dense meatball vs. the velvety juicy fatty meatball you expect to find in a proper soup dump. They are not horrible and would work for a quick hunger fix but these are not crave-worthy enough to be on my list or any list for that matter.


Red Pepper.

Jajang Dry Noodle. I love this dish but not every place can make it correctly. First thing she ask is if I wanted rice noodles or ramen noodles with it... What the fuck, yo. I'm fucking boiling already and I haven't even ordered the spicy chongqing noodle soup yet. I calmly said, "ramen, pweez"... Because she was really pushing my buttons trying to tell me what the different between the two noodles were. She said rice noodles is what they use in pho noodle soup. Thanks, Nancy Drew, even Raymond Babbitt can figure that one out. This was the strangest bowl of jajang mein I have encountered thus far on Buford Hwy. It's topped with so much veggies and the fermented soybean paste was too liquidity. Mixing all that shit into the thin ramen noodles made it a difficult task. I can't believe they didn't even get the noodles right in this classic comfort dish. They should be thicker noodles, is that so difficult to do? It tasted ok but nowhere near the standards you would expect from a wannabe "authentic" Chino joint. I would skip this and stick with the spicy stews or noodle soups. 

Spicy Chongqing Noodle Soup. Sounded great on paper and the lady said it is very spicy... "Hope you like spicy." I said, you have no clue wimman. Once again, she asked if I wanted rice noodles or ramen noodles... Jesus fucking Christ, don't fucking start that shit again. Is this a bowl of pho? No? So, don't fucking put rice noodles in my spicy chingchong soup, biatch. I was anticipating a hot spicy bowl of noodle soup to nurse a night of heavy drinking and chasing raccoons... Well, I think they were raccoons. I saw one of them get into a car. But let's not talk about that nightmare... The noodle soup is our focus here. It looked pretty good when it came out, it was steaming hot and the chili aroma was wafting up my nose clearing it out. I didn't mind the "ramen" noodles in this bowl because it still worked in this style of soup. The broth was a light beef bone broth that didn't have much flavor or complexity to it alone... But after mixing it all up, the broth even out in flavor with the chili oil... It still wasn't that spicy. I guess I coulda asked her for more chili oil/paste but it still wouldn't make much difference. It's an ok bowl of noodle soup, not very spicy and not very interesting. I would not get this again no matter how fucked up I was.

First impression of this food court was disappointing but I have not written it off yet because Best BBQ is opening a shack there soon. So, there's still some glimmer of hope. China Kitchen has beef chowfun and until I sample that, it's still on my radar. As for Red Pepper, they would be my last choice... Before the earth blows up. 

Asian Supermarket 
5150 Buford Hwy NE
Atlanta, GA 30340