I'm finally getting my sexy tan back... can't help but wonder, where's my Tan Binh. This is a market that has a whole bunch of excellent groceries, the likes of which you can probably imagine, as there are many other rival grocery stores, just like this, in this part of the enemy's town. I mean Vietnamesetown, and hopefully you don't think of it as my google voice dictation apparently does. Having said all that, this one is one of the better stocked ones, and has some of the better prices - without being overwhelmingly huge.

Located in the Universal Plaza. This is one of the better Asian Market in the area. Their meat and produce are always fresh. It's not a big market but they do have everything you need from drinks, snacks, packaged goods, and selection of food ready to eat. Staff are friendly. Great place to grab what you need if you don't want to go to HK4.

I remember always coming here as a kid with my mom and seeing all the animal heads on the wall in the meat section. That was quite interesting. Fast forward to now, about 18 years later. We don't live in the area anymore and haven't lived there in the past 17 years, so we don't come here often. Most of the time, we come here when we need to buy a few quick items or buy meat. Their meat is always fresh and there are always many different cuts. The prices are also fairly decent. Their produce is always fresh and there's always an assortment of tropical fruits. They also sell freshly made desserts, pickles, and sausages. Most of the time now, I come here to buy doi, or Vietnamese boudin. There two kinds. One with blood and one without it. I like both, so I usually get half a pound of each. They also have other cooked foods that are delicious. Such as mam, which is ground pork that is very strong in flavor and smell. It's super salty, but a little goes a long way.

Tan Binh is probably best described as the Asian equivalent of Walmart Neighborhood Market. Granted it may not be all sparkly and clean, but rather clean and small enough to find what you need rather easily in terms of Asian groceries. If you are in Chinatown and want to avoid the headaches, mazes of aisles and traffic/parking chaos at HK4 or Viet Hoa, then Tan Binh would be a wise alternative. On my most recent visit before Christmas, I was surprised to see quite a variety of tropical fruits (jackfruit, longan, rambutan). They have homemade goodies (banh tieu, banh cam, banh gio chao quay, banh tet, banh chung), pickled veggies, and hot buffet food items (even specialty foods like organ meat, intestines, and blood sausages). Fresh produce selections are limited but they keep common Asian veggies/herbs readily available. They have a meat section too. I noticed a large refrigerated section solely devoted to eggs (regular chicken eggs, vit lon/balut, fresh quail eggs). Should you need to pick up a handy 25 lb bag of Jasmine rice, they have plenty on hand, stacked from the floor to ceiling on one side of the store. I took my mom here to get a particular brand of hu tieu noodles that she couldn't find in stock at Viet Hoa. Oh and the smell is quite bearable- not too fishy or smelly like HK4! Prices are affordable and maybe a bit pricier than the nearby competition, but I don't mind because of its convenience and easy in/out factor. I recommend coming here to Tan Binh if you need a few items and are limited on time. You can thank me later for the more pleasant shopping/parking experience.