Wing Yip Oriental Superstore

...Sum? Now you can. Wing Yips brings a world of Eastern promise right to our kitchens.

Upon arriving at Wing Yips it looks nothing more than a tarted up old warehouse and essentially that is what this place is. Originally opened as a catering wholesaler this store is nothing more than a warehouse for chefs and restaurants alike to purchase their goods. However somewhere along the line a mere pedestrian must have stumbled into the store ...
...following products:

Wing Yip’s Pork/Prawn Dim Sum – for anyone who is a fan of Thai Dim Sum with the fine wrap as opposed to the hefty dough base these are a must and come complete in the pack with a dipping sauce. You get 12 in a pack and it only cost me about £1.50.

Vegetarian Tiger Prawns – I was mislead by this one because I actually thought they were prawns! Doh! Not so these are actually mixed vegetables wrapped ... more

Where to find them:

The flagship store is in Nechells, Birmingham; located near the gas works and old swimming baths. Other stores can be found in Croydon, Cricklewood and Manchester.
They can also be visited online at www.wingyipstores.co.uk which not only has a range of their food products but some interesting and fun pages like how to use chopsticks and a recipe page.

Store Visited – Birmingham

Ever had a take away and thought you could make it SO much better? Ever fancied rolling your own Sushi or steaming your own Dim Sum? Now you can. Wing Yips brings a world of Eastern promise right to our kitchens.

Upon arriving at Wing Yips it looks nothing more than a tarted up old warehouse and essentially that is what this place is. Originally opened as a catering wholesaler this store is nothing more than a warehouse for chefs and restaurants alike to purchase their goods. However somewhere along the line a mere pedestrian must have stumbled into the store by accident and opened up a whole new world of shopping for the rest of us.

The store is hideously adorned in grey and yellow corrugated iron with two cheap and tacky lions gracing the entrance, it’s like entering a weird hybrid of B&Q and Netto’s.

Maybe it’s a London thing but the first thing to impress me here was you don’t have to pay for your trolley!!!! No scrabbling around the corners of your pockets hoping for a hidden quid, you just take it and go on your merry way.

The store is HUGE, make no mistake if you are going to browse you will be in there in excess of 2 hours! The ceilings are high and the lights glare at the stark white walls. This store does not pull any punches its prices are low and it doesn’t use frills or fancy packaging to make you buy. It doesn’t have to.

Yours first section in this store is the frozen goods. The food ranges from the normal tiger prawns (although at less than half the price tag of supermarkets) to Chinese breads and dim sums. The packaging on most of the food is plain and simple but in my opinion this gives certain advantages in that a) You can see what you are getting and b) there is no added mark up for fancy tins or jars.
The only thing to mention here is that most of the labels are in Chinese so you might need some detective skills on this one – I won’t say this is a disadvantage because this is a shop aimed at Chinese restaurants, but pretty much everything does have little diagrams of the cooking instructions so its easy to figure out (and besides you’ll feel fluent after you’ve prepared a meal!)

The frozen aisles are sectioned off into desserts and breads, meat & fish and misc (I’m sure it does have a label but I have been twice now and I haven’t joined the dots yet!)

From my last shopping expedition here I can highly recommend the following products:

Wing Yip’s Pork/Prawn Dim Sum – for anyone who is a fan of Thai Dim Sum with the fine wrap as opposed to the hefty dough base these are a must and come complete in the pack with a dipping sauce. You get 12 in a pack and it only cost me about £1.50.

Vegetarian Tiger Prawns – I was mislead by this one because I actually thought they were prawns! Doh! Not so these are actually mixed vegetables wrapped in fine filo pastry in the SHAPE of tiger prawns. However if you fancy a vegetarian starter to dip I highly recommend these as they were very easy to cook (about 10mins in the oven) and very tasty.

Yam Buns – A heavy Chinese dough wrapped around a yam filling. They don’t taste of anything much just a bit sweet with a moist centre but the coolest thing about these Buns is they are purple!!!!!!

Again a quick warning about the foods – check them carefully as there is such a HUGE array of prawns, lobster and other seafood however it can be hard to see if they are suitable to be eaten uncooked (the case with a lot of the prawns) so always check the labels carefully and if you are unsure DON’T!

From the frozen goods you move on to the dry goods where you can find almost everything you have never heard of!!
Birds Nest in Syrup, Dehydrated Black Fungus, Roasted Seaweed and of course very cheap Fortune Cookies.
Some of the stuff looks a little odd and to be honest you would have to be a keen Chinese cook as they mostly come in large packets; no good for a flat sharer in London whose idea of cooking is cheese on toast. Never the less it is really fun to look around and dream of what you could cook up with it all.

If you are a keen cook there is a great array of sauces and condiments available and the Wing Yip range is as good as the better known brands for a fraction of the price. Included in the dry goods section are Oils, Vinegars, Sauces and Dips, Teas, Tofu, Rice and Noodles.

Your final section as a member of the public in this store is the cooking utensils (if you are buying wholesale there is a huge added on warehouse stacked with vats of oils and sauces to keep a mere mortal going for about 10years). The utensils are a complete bargain. They have everything you may need to create your oriental masterpiece ranging from Woks and Steamers to entire dining sets and again all for great prices. I bought a bamboo steamer for 95p and a porcelain Chinese soup spoon for 25p. Remember however that all prices are excluding VAT although the included price is written underneath but don’t be caught out.

The only confusing thing about my entire trip to Wing Yips was the check out!!!! My simple advice don’t get in their way, don’t try to be helpful and move your own trolley you will only get frowned at and for your own sake I plead you don’t try and pack your own bags!!!!!! I don’t know the system and I’m sure I never will but I do know that when I was being served there were 3 members of staff helping me (either this is the norm or I looked incompetent!) oh and my last word of advice on this matter leave the trolley at the checkout – being the good girl I am I trundled away to put my trolley back and you have never seen such mass confusion in the staff the poor woman serving me literally made a run for me when I pootled off with her trolley!!!!!!

In conclusion this store is a must for any cookery fans or for a place to dream of the chef you could be if you only could cook!! It’s cheap, friendly and what is the true test is that Chinese restaurants use it as their supplier so you can’t really go wrong.

If I wasn’t just on a vacation with my aunt for xmas I would have come home with stacks of food and utensils but I was limited on space so had to be good but if you plan to take a trip to Wing Yips either empty your wallet or take a car!!!

Notes:

Prices exclude VAT (look for the small price and that’s your one!)
Credit Card purchases have a minimum of £10.00 but you can use pretty much anything including Electron!
If you have any allergies check with a member of staff as the ingredients tend not to be in English.

 

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