Bonus Weekender: Kam Sam Supermarket (Rockville, MD)

I was just getting ready to make some authentic Chinese fried rice and realized that I needed a special tofu product (which I later discovered is called "shui kou bean sauce") that I don't recall seeing when I went to H Mart, so I thought I'd make the 30-minute drive up to the supposedly authentic Chinese supermarket Kam Sam. I had been meaning to scope it out anyway.

I found the medium-sized, unassuming-looking supermarket in downtown Rockville, just outside the new town center. It is much bigger than I had expected but not quite as massive as H Mart. This place is surprisingly clean and stench-free...that is, until you get to the fish aisle, but even there the stench is not too bad. In addition to Chinese groceries, Kam Sam also has a pre-cooked food aisle and a baked goods aisle where they sell cookies, cakes, and buns. They also sell bubble tea behind the bakery counter. I got myself some egg tarts, which luckily I can still tolerate for the most part, but that may not be for long (boo food intolerances!). Anyhoo...the store carries most products I had expected it to carry (Lee Kam Kee sauces, Pocky, 20 different varieties of tofu and soy sauce, etc.), and a few I did not (white flower oil, Darlie products, Chinese incense, etc.). But I was most surprised by the stack of local Washington newspapers in Chinese - I never would've thought there was enough demand for that in this area! Indeed, Kam Sam is really quite authentically Chinese, and you can tell its caters to Chinese people because they broadcast Chinese music (some Mandarin song that sounded vaguely familiar, as if it was a popular song I had heard when I was little) and they don't even bother with English labels in the veggie aisle. People naturally spoke Mandarin to me ("zhi-jiu kwai something-something"...uh, nineteen dollars something-something?) which I could make out only about 30% of the time, so I nod and smile like a good Chinese. Oh, and I almost got into trouble for taking pictures at the store...which is not the first time something like this has happened in a Chinese-owned establishment (ahem). Yep, it's authentic Chinese alright. (Seriously though, what is it with this paranoia that Chinese people have about having pictures of their stuff taken?? Do they think I'm going to steal their business concept or something? I don't get it.)

In any case, I was able to locate the shui kou bean sauce I was looking for with relative ease. Mission accomplished! Still no purple yam (ube) ice cream or dofuhua though. Overall, I do think I prefer H Mart because it's not quite as far and its selection is much more extensive, even when it comes to Chinese groceries. But if I ever had a hankering for egg tarts of if I needed some obscure Chinese product, now I know where to go!

Oh yeeeeah, egg tart. Tastes like childhood.


Haven't had these egg cookie rolls in ages!


They sell white flower oil! And other traditional Chinese remedies.


Chinese incense and that gold origami paper stuff you use to fold into gold bars and burn for your deceased loved ones.


Shui kou bean sauce! A must-have for your fried rice, but definitely an acquired taste.

Pertinent Info:
Address: 300 N Washington St, Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: (301)315-9558

Update (4/11/09 12:35 pm): Well, I opened the jar of shui kou bean sauce, and it did NOT look right. There is no expiration date on it, but I don't need one to figure out that any food that has turned partially gray should probably go straight to the trash bin. Ugh. I'm so disappointed. Guess I will have to find it elsewhere. :(