The other supermarket near me is Ito Yokado, which is actually part of a giant upscale department store. The supermarket is smaller than WuMart's. This is for posh shoppers, with ladies offering samples of the latest brand of frozen dumplings and special displays of hairy crabs during Mid-Autumn Festival and a fancy sushi station.

Ito Yokado has a small selection of foreign goods, and so despite the high prices, I find myself bypassing the ladies shoe department upstairs to make the journey down to the supermarket in the basement to buy wine and passata, capers and cheese.

But the foreign goods aisle is pretty limited. My already small repertoire of recipes was squeezed even tighter.

It was then I discovered the market. Hidden away in a residential complex, I only found it after an in-the-know local led me there. It was a narrow building packed with food stalls. Vegetable sellers with heaving tables of fresh produce, a small butcher and a woman selling eggs and grain. One small stand has a man covered head to toe in flour. He spends his days making fresh noodles and dumpling skins, which you can buy for as little as 3 yuan (48 cents) a bag.

There is a preserves shop, and a husband and wife team who serve up freshly made baozi (steamed stuffed bun) and an odds-and-ends stall, where you can buy everything from a new shower head to a jianzi, a sort of hacky sack ... with feathers.

And finally, I had found the best place to shop. It wasn't the supermarket - it was the secret market. Where you can select the best-looking tomatoes and the ladies stuff a handful of coriander into your shopping bag.

【老外爱逛北京菜市场】相关文章：

★ 威廉王子婚礼将拍3D电影 与百姓分享

★ 北京奥运 贵宾云集

★ 中国电商价格战搅动零售市场

★ 快来体验免签证北京游

★ 外国人笔下的“中国人物”

★ 出版商转战电子图书市场

★ 北京将于2017年建成超大机场

★ 巴西利亚：过度城市规划的警示

★ 大象选美：大块头也有美丽容颜

★ 马里布海滩现代豪宅低价出售