After such a hilarious and upsetting trip to the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria yesterday, I went out to buy snacks after trying South African McDonald’s for the first time. It was so good, especially the Jalapeno dipping sauce, which I think can only be found here…? We went to a smaller grocery store called Melrose Stores that was a lot closer and had better prices than the Checkers or Woolworths which were just a couple of blocks away. As per usual, I sought out the strangely flavored snacks and drinks that wouldn’t be found in American markets and ended up purchasing Fruit Chutney Pringles, Tomato Fritos, and a spicier Stoney.
The area around the store was also pretty interesting. Across the street was Seattle Coffee, which seemed to be a large chain coffee shop in South Africa, and next door was a blues cocktail bar/ restaurant- both coincidentally very related to me. But beyond that, we were surrounded by Asian restaurants and businesses! It was so shocking to see such a prominent Asian community here in Sandton. I was especially surprised by Zhong Kee Supermarket, which looked just like Hong Kong Market in New Haven (also like the many Asian supermarkets in the US) with its dimly lit aisles stocked with niche Asian foods and products that tell you that it’s Asian-owned. I’m not sure if I was imagining things but the air smelled like Seattle’s Chinatown air for a split second. It reminded me of home, a feeling I was definitely not expecting after buying Tomato-flavored chips and ginger beer in South Africa. I could imagine how this small area would attract so many Chinese customers living in this city and how they might also feel at home as I did from the 10 minutes I spent in the store.
P.S. If anyone is interested in doing the fire noodle challenge LMK because I got so much.
