Bringing China to Riverview
Published Friday October 3rd, 2008
Hong Liao and Zhian Zhou offer products for homesick students and adventurous locals
Over the years, a number of homes along Coverdale Road in Riverview have been converted to businesses as people take advantage of the high-traffic area. On May 10, an enterprising Chinese couple - Hong Liao and her husband, Zhian Zhou - opened a home-based business at 342 Coverdale Road, the Near East Chinese Market.
"We wanted to open a business in our home," says Hong. "We have two young children, so I thought a small store would work. The Oriental Lotus Market in Moncton sold Asian food, but there wasn't any Chinese food available. I thought there was a need for Chinese products, so we opened our store."
Zhian Zhou works at Kent, so Hong runs the store from 10:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The front portion of the house was renovated to hold the market, which is bright and clean.
A large freezer holds a number of frozen, prepared products including curry beef with rice, chicken and mushroom dumplings, vegetarian dumplings, and desserts such as peanut rice balls.
There are also 'pies', such as a multi-layer black sesame pie and a green onion pie, which puff up when cooked, and homemade dumplings made of pork, nappa, green onion, and ginger and homemade wontons. A number of shelves hold a wide assortment of Chinese snacks, cookies, and candies.
"Thet are very popular with Chinese students," says Hong. The Market's customers are comprised of approximately 300 Chinese residents in the Greater Moncton area, around 130 Chinese students at the Moncton Flight College, and another 30 or so Chinese exchange students at area high schools.
"The students miss Chinese cooking, so they come here to buy the food," says Hong. "Their Canadian host families will often come and buy Chinese ingredients so they can learn how to cook for them."
The Market carries a large assortment of Chinese ingredients such as rice paper, prawn crackers, Thailand scented rice, sushi rice, red beans, and mung beans. There is also a black bean cereal powder that is good for those who have an allergy to wheat.
"We carry a good variety of sauces such as hoisin sauce, barbeque satay sauce, and chili oil," says Hong. "Because people in north China and south China have different culinary tastes, we have both Cantonese and Shanghai cooking wines."
Dried products include different types of mushrooms, seaweed, squid, octopus, and black fungus. Various types of noodles are available such as rice, sweet potato, and mung bean. And, of course, there is an assortment of green and oolong teas.
The biggest challenge for the market is the small Chinese population.
"I need to develop more markets to help Canadians cook Chinese food," says Hong. "I have lots of people asking me for cooking classes, so I'm thinking of offering those by the end of the year."
Future plans include opening a Chinese bakery/delicatessen where Hong could make and sell dried beef, a popular Chinese snack food - with Health Canada's approval. She'd also like to add a tearoom to the front of her building, possibly next summer.
"The business is convenient for my family," says Hong. "We want to keep our customers happy and to continue to offer them new products and services."
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