Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Grand Century Shopping Mall - Little Saigon, San Jose


San Jose, California has the most Vietnamese Americans in the United States and outside of Vietnam - 10.6% of the population as of 2010! As a result, there are fabulous places to shop and eat, Vietnamese style. I visited the new Grand Century Mall in East San Jose one weekend, which is in the middle of an even larger shopping development that's still filling up with tenants.



All the shops were Vietnamese, ranging from restaurants, food shops, optometrists, beauty stores, and all kinds of service businesses.


There is a fabulous bakery, the Century Bakery, which serves Pandan Waffles!


This jewelry store had the cutest snake I've seen so far - adorable!


There are two snack shops next to each other in the mall - I bought two kinds of Vietnamese beef jerky.


There is an incredible selection of Vietnamese sweets, snacks, and food.


The food court is excellent - too bad it wasn't lunch time yet!



 I was happy to see that the Face Shop has a local branch here. There are also locations in Santa Clara and Milpitas, too.



I went to the Vietnamese grocery store next to the mall to pick up some food - and of course, there was an amazing sea food department.


If you didn't feel like preparing your own fish, the fish counter provides a free fish frying service.


There was a dazzling selection of fresh Manju for sale.



I got an industrial-sized Sambal Olek, since I use so much of it!


I bought some frozen dumplings (no MSG!) and picked up some delicious Taiwanese dumpling sauce too.

If you visit San Jose, you must visit both Story Road and Tully Road for excellent Vietnamese shopping and eating - you won't leave hungry!

Jamilla

4 comments:

  1. I've never been to San Jose, CA. I had no idea there were so many Vietnamese people there. I've only been to Little Saigon/Garden Grove/Westminster areas of CA. I look forward to checking it out in the future! Thanks for this fun post. :) Vietnamese beef jerky is soooo good!

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    1. Steph, you need to visit the Bay Area - SJ is Viet Central - everything is here!! I survived on Vietnamese beef jerky on my flights this week - so much better than junk food at the airport!!

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  2. Glad to see you blogging again Jamilla, I've been a silent reader. Sambal! My fav. Sambal over almost everything taste so good. Have you tried sambal belachan before? Fiery yet awesome.

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    1. Thank you, Jacqueline! I haven't tried Sambal Belechan but I will look for it!

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