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5 Ways to Support Your Local Chinatown This Christmas Holiday Season. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved. Chinatown Bangkok, Thailand.

5 Ways to Support Your Local Chinatown This Christmas Holiday Season and Beyond

Our 5 ways to support your local Chinatown this holiday season include everything from doing your Christmas gift shopping and buying Christmas meal ingredients in Chinatown to holding your end-of-year celebrations and even enjoying festive meals in Chinatown. Or you could just show your local Chinatown some love.

If you’re missing Asia and dreaming of your future culinary adventures in China, East Asia, Southeast Asia and beyond, then get to your nearest Chinatown, gorge yourself on dim sum or feast on a banquet, load yourself up with Asian ingredients and cooking supplies, do your Christmas shopping, make some restaurant bookings, and share it all on social media to show your support.

Few communities have been as heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 as Chinatowns around the world, everywhere from New York to Paris, both of which felt the pain in the early days. Soon after the news came out of Wuhan, people started staying away from Chinatowns everywhere, restaurants and other small businesses shuttered and locals suffered – not only from lost income but a rise in xenophobia, especially in the USA where Trump referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus”.

If you’ve also found yourself staying away from your favourite Chinatown dumpling joint, tea house or food court, if you’ve ran out of your favourite Asian condiments, or you’ve ran out of ideas as to what to buy your food-loving friends and family for Christmas, then – if you’re not currently in lockdown, of course – do yourself a favour and make your way to your nearest Chinatown.

When you get there, here are 5 ways to support your local Chinatown this holiday season:

5 Ways to Support Your Local Chinatown This Holiday Season

Do Your Christmas Gift Shopping in Chinatown

One of the best ways to support your local Chinatown this holiday season is to do your Christmas gift shopping in Chinatown. If you have family members and friends who love to cook and eat Asian food, shopping for them is a cinch in Chinatown. For the home cooks, a carbon steel wok, rice cooker, dumpling steamers, and cutting boards all make thoughtful Christmas gifts. You’ll generally find professional kitchen supply shops in Chinatown – Singapore has a particularly good one – which have long-lasting appliances and utensils, but good Asian supermarkets will also bargain-priced kitchen gear that makes for fantastic stocking stuffers, such as Chinese spoons, a cleaver or a mesh spider for noodles. Also slip into small ‘mom and pop’ type shops for traditional ceramic bowls, retro enamelware, Chinese tea sets, and vintage thermoses and tiffin boxes. Chinatowns are also home to specialist shops that sell a wide range of one particular thing, such as chopsticks or tea-pots, which is where you’ll find a special something for your connoisseur or collector friend. A basket full of Asian condiments – premium fish sauce, Himalayan salt, Korean kimchee, quality oyster sauce – will always be welcome by avid cooks, while Asian snack lovers will have a blast with a bag brimming with Japanese Kit Kats, White Rabbit creamy candy, durian popcorn, seaweed crisps, and the like. Then you have those charming, old-fashioned pharmacies and shops selling soaps in retro packaging, Tiger Balm, fold-ups fans, embroidered slippers, and satin pyjamas.

Buy Your Christmas Cooking Ingredients in Chinatown

Back home in Australia we used to go to Sydney’s Chinatown several times a week, whether to pick up some Chinese buns, slurp a bowl of laksa between work and uni classes, or to do our weekend shopping at Paddy’s Markets. Wherever we’ve settled in for a while around the world, from Bangkok to Buenos Aires, Milan to Melbourne, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in the city’s Chinatown simply for the fact that it’s typically home to a wet market with fantastic fresh herbs, vegetables and fruit, and terrific seafood, pork and poultry. Buying your Christmas cooking ingredients and ordering prepared food ahead are another couple of ways to support your local Chinatown. Not only will the produce in your Chinatown be more affordable, there will generally be a far greater variety than you’ll find at your local supermarket. Chinatown is the place to pick up exotic tropical fruits for your pavlova or fruit pie or grab those hard-to-find fresh herbs, spices and vegetable to give your roast chicken or lamb an Asian twist. It’s also where you’ll find ingredients such as dried chillies, Kampot peppercorns and XO sauce. Or you could let someone else do the cooking, especially if you’re celebrating Christmas in the southern hemisphere where it’s set to be another scorching summer. Order a roast duck, roast leg of ham or a whole suckling pig and sides if you’re feeding a big family or group of friends. If you’re living in a city currently in lockdown, check if your favourite Chinatown grocery stores or fruit and vegetable shops are doing home delivery. Many have been offering gourmet produce boxes during the pandemic.

Enjoy Your Seasonal Celebrations and Christmas Meals in Chinatown

Holding your seasonal celebrations and even forgoing cooking completely and enjoying your Christmas meals in Chinatown are another couple of ways to support your local Chinatown this holiday season. In the lead-up to Christmas, book your end-of-year office celebrations or drinks and dinners with colleagues or friends at that little Japanese sushi joint or Thai restaurant you love and book the whole place out for your bubble. For Christmas brunch, you could opt for a long leisurely yum cha, and for Christmas lunch or dinner go for a lavish seafood-focused banquet at one of those big old-school Chinese restaurants where you get to point out the lobster and crabs you want from an aquarium before the chef plucks them out to prepare for your feast. And don’t forget to share images on social media! Worried about dining indoors? Then order out and have a Christmas picnic lunch in a nearby park or choose dishes that can be eaten cold, pack the boot of the car with a portable cooler or two (for our Australian readers, I’m talking about an esky) and after pick-up make a beeline for the nearest beach, river or lake. Chinatown restaurants like so many restaurants around the world have pivoted during the pandemic, so you may just find that your favourite Asian diner is now doing catering or sending chefs out to cook private at-home feasts – a win-win as you can support your local Chinatown businesses in the safety and comfort of your own home or backyard.

Plan a Post-Holiday City Staycation in Chinatown

If you’ve already done your Christmas gift shopping and locked in your seasonal celebrations in the lead-up to Christmas and on the big day, then another one of the great ways to support your local Chinatown this holiday season is to book a post-Christmas/New Year staycation during what is usually a quiet period for city central businesses. The Chinatowns, and their surrounding neighbourhoods, in cities such as Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney, New York, and Paris have become cool destinations in recent years and are now home to some of the hippest hotels, coolest bars and hottest restaurants. In New York’s Chinatown, Hotel 50 Bowery has an inspired design that celebrates Chinatown’s spirit and history, while the COQ Hotel Paris by designers Delphine Sauvaget and Pauline d’Hoop is near Chinatown Paris. Plan a Chinatown-focused staycation filled with mornings spent slurping bowls of breakfast congee or tucking into kaya toast, leisurely lunches rolling Peking duck pancakes or grazing at hawker centres, afternoons nibbling on dim sum at a tea-house, and dinner at a buzzy izakaya or in a private room at a Chinese restaurant. In between, make appointments for a Thai massage or a sauna at a traditional Korean bathhouse, take your favourite dress or suit to be copied at a Chinese tailor shop, or do a tai chi or yoga class. And don’t forget to post pics on Instagram and tell your friends all about your Chinatown staycation.

Just Show Your Local Chinatown Some Love in Simple Ways

One of the easiest ways to support your local Chinatown this holiday season is to just show your local Chinatown some love. If you live near a Chinatown make more of an effort to wander through rather than detour around the neighbourhood, call into a Chinatown café for some bubble tea, dry by a Chinese bakery for pork buns or pop into a Chinatown food court from a bowl of noodle soup. Visit a Buddhist pagoda or Chinese temple and light some incense and have your fortune told, and don’t forget to make a donation. Take your time to stroll the colourful streets and alleyways or kick back in the local gardens or park. From New York to Sydney, Buenos Aires to Bangkok, you can always find something interesting to do in Chinatown, from signing up for some calligraphy lessons or an acupuncture course to watching Chinese opera, ballroom dancing or games of mahjong. Whatever you do, be generous with your smiles and greetings, and show your support to a community that hasn’t been treated so well this year.

If you’re currently in lockdown, make some restaurant bookings for the future and find out if your favourite Chinatown businesses to do home delivery or offer gift certificates. If you have any other ideas as to ways to support your local Chinatown this Christmas holiday season, we’d love to hear from you.

This post includes some affiliate links from which we make a small commission if you make a purchase, but you don’t pay anymore than if you’d gone directly to the site.

Support our Cambodia Cookbook & Culinary History Book with a donation or monthly pledge on Patreon.

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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About Grantourismo

Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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