When your beer appears in your house, how does it get there? Eh? by YOU donning your pyjama bottoms and SHOPPING for it. You probably also buy skin moisturizer at the same time. And scented drawer sachets to keep your laundry daisy-fresh.
One does not “shop” for beer. It’s called “stocking up on vital supplies,” or “going on a beer run.” But never “shopping.”
[quote=“plasmatron”]I’ve regularly gotten similarly low quality veggies and meats from Carrefour in Taichung so when Jason’s opened a branch here I thought at last salvation was at hand, albeit at a price. Within weeks of their opening, their standards went straight to hell and the “fresh produce” was anything but, in particular the imported bagged salad packs, lettuces, fruits and veggies were simply left on display way past expiry. As is the norm in the central wastelands of Taiwan the proprietors were of the opinion that they were doing their customers a favour by operating the store and that expecting them to take the hit on tossing out past sell by items was “unreasonable” to quote their manager and that “some customers can accept past sell by products”. The bloody peasant clearly has no business running a premium supermarket.
On several occasions my wife had to take back products that we accidentally bought that were either already spoiled or past sell by, after going over the head of the Taichung branch manager hack and contacting the head office, the Taipei manager promised to address the issue. All that has changed is that they no longer carry the vast majority of imported or niche market items and only have the second rate low quality local produce of the typical “f*ck you if you don’t wake up at 6am and go to the wet market” low standard. In addition the Taichung manager just lies and says the importer/distributer no longer offers that product in Taiwan even though a trip to Jason’s Taipei proves they do. As usual it’s the super saturated chabuduoist mentality of the central wastelands in effect.[/quote]
Same happened here with the new Jason’s at the Taipei Bus Station. I saw the salads the first week, until they wilted and faded to nothingness…
Definetively, teh best fruits are at road stands and veggies at the wet market. Alas, there is a G’ment project to make all wet markets “dissappear” in like 5 years “as they do not give a modern image to the city”. Don’t get me started.
Some of the packaging appears actually designed to hide spoilage. For instance, Romaine lettuce starts going bad at the tips, and sure enough, that part of the package is not transparent (so you have to OPEN the package to check it).
I’ve not had trouble with rotten food at the Neihu, Minquan Bridge Carrefour, but then again I don’t shop there an awful lot. The ones at Wellcome are often a bit dodgy, though, and more expensive than at the wet market, too.
Hit and miss. In the Hsin Dian branch this week, I was looking at some local cucumbers packed in celo that were wet and on the way to rot in the package, but found some very fresh shitake mushrooms…Best bet is always your local wet market for veg.
True, but in my case the only wet market for miles and miles near my house is a crack of dawn only affair and I just can’t make it in time before work. That and on the rare occasion I do make it I’m not only not a regular, which in this guanxi-centric world precludes you from getting the good stuff at a good price, but I’m also the only bignose who ever goes to that market. So as I walk in you can see the the stall owners grinning with a PT Barnum glint in their eyes as they reach under the counter for last week’s half spoiled leftovers, frantically working out how to add an extra zero to their prices.
I live on top of the wet market, but Toto will not have the meat from there. I trust his insticts and stopped buying it altogether.
Our market is open up till 2pm and there are two fruit stalls and a veggie place that remain open until 10 pm. And there is a 24 hour big fresh vegetable and fruits stand about a 10 minute walk from my house.
Buy your food while it is still moving, not when it is getting ready to start moving again.
[quote=“Icon”]I live on top of the wet market, but Toto will not have the meat from there. I trust his insticts and stopped buying it altogether.
[/quote]
That could be precisely because it is so fresh…maybe Toto likes a little more my “flavor” in his (her?) meat. Just like we humans sometimes will age meats for better flavor and tenderness (great if it’s done properly)…
Which reminds me that my evening market down Bitan has those little haas avocados in again. Yeah baby! NT$200/jin (works out to around 80 bucks a pop) so not cheap – until you figure out the size of the bowl of guacamole you can get out of that, whereupon it suddenly seems a lot less expensive.
Where is that? Is it on the same street as Athula’s stand?
Joe, if you go down towards Athula from the MRt and that street with Watsons is on the left. I believe its there.
Great. Thanks.
[quote=“Icon”]Gosh, Carrefour Mingde used to be the crown jewel. If they are messing up, too…
Happened to me a lot in Wellcome. The chicken would not look or stink rotten, but when you opened it, the smell was like something chemical mixed inside, maybe a big gooish.
Carrefour’s meat looks ugly. Downright awful. Lots of TV news have presented the same case: spoiled meat, bad veggies -especially when packed, so you cannot see teh down side- and “future” items -changing the expiration date.
Matsusei has not let me down… so far.[/quote]
Matsusei and traditional markets are the way to go…their prepared lettuce is nice and crispy…Western style.
Oh, frogger, I forgot: there were radishes in mine a week ago. Real ones.
Avocados I haven’t seen. Nor really big strawberries…
[quote=“jimipresley”]The wife went shopping last night at the Carrefour (Er Chong) branch. Brought back some shrimp (prawn) and chicken. She started cooking the shrimp and despite the smell of the garbage I was posting on the flob, I was overwhelmed by the stench.
I told her to ditch it IMMEDIATELY. It stank like the corpse of a life-long fisherman.
Tonight I attempted a stir-fry with the chicken. As soon as I opened the package (tomb), I was overwhelmed by an even viler stink. That stuff got interred, too.
What’s my recourse here? The big chains in Taiwan don’t seem to give a shit about customer satisfaction. My wife has whined and screamed at them before and they just shrug and throw their hands up. A mere NT$300 for the lot, but NT$300 for excrement that I had to throw in the garbage, nonetheless.
I’m a bit angry.[/quote]
Sounds like inept storage and lack of refrigeration by someone. And I don’t mean by the store.
So many Taiwanese leave meat out for hours in restaurants and bakeries that it’s a wonder more people don’t get sick. Places like Carrefour and Costco are the least likely to be the cause.
Except in this case, there’s no doubt. 
What’s your point?
Except in this case, there’s no doubt. What’s your point?[/quote]
It’s “The Taiwanese’s” fault? 
Seduced by Cheap Meat… a Taiwan story.
For the two years that I lived near Carrefour’s Dong Xing branch… almost 50% of the time, the chicken legs I’d buy would be rotten. It might look ok on the surface but as soon as I’d open it the deathly stench would churn my stomach. Its almost as if they use some special ‘pink’ lighting in the store, because as soon as I got home, the meat would be grey and occasionally green on the bottom!
Anyways, I got sick of foiled dinner plans and bitching for refunds and stopped shopping there, only to give them one more chance last night since I was in the old neighborhood. Never again! I think its time to call 1999…
If you see unhygienic conditions or unsafe food anywhere, please do call 1999. They are very good about contacting the proper authorities and taking immediate action, which is to everyone’s benefit (except the unethical providers of dodgy food, of course).