Tan Tin Hung Supermarket

Beat-up Bowery dweller on the outside, well-provisioned Vietnamese grocery on the inside. Not for produce, though; Tan Tin Hung is best for packaged goods and the array of hand-packaged sticky-rice sweets like Banh Tet chuoi dac biet (sweet rice and banana "cake"; $3), resting here on its banana-leaf wrap. Those are red beans studding the outside; the now purplish-brown banana was rolled within.

Also tried the Asian Boy basil seed drink with honey (12 fl. oz.; 75 cents), which happened to hail from Taiwan. It had an unnatural note not known in any beehive; from the label, I later learned, banana flavor had been added here, too.

Tan Tin Hung Supermarket
121 Bowery (Grand-Hester Sts.)
212-274-8811