B & T Food Centre

If I’m in the mood to do some Thai/​Chinese/​Filipino/​Vietnamese cooking… I’ll usually pop into this place as they carry items that I haven’t seen elsewhere. A Vietnamese friend shops here religiously, as she says that the prices are great and the selection is fantastic. She says that it’s «authentic» food… not that bastardised «American» shit (her words, not mine) that some other Asian grocery stores sell.
Personally…if I go in, I try to get out as fast as possible… the smell is quite pungent (emanating from the meat section at the back of the store). Holy hell, this place smells like an outdoor meat market on a super hot day… not pleasant at all. Aisles are a bit tight but they’re stocked to the rafters. Small section of frozen foods… but stocked with some interesting stuff.
Sometimes finding the item you’re looking for isn’t that easy… and the staff on the floor aren’t the most approachable people in the world (the last time I was in I was looking for a specific type of noodle, my question was greeted with a blank stare… so I just wandered on trying to find what I was looking for). Cashiers aren’t known for being stellar conversationalists either… they usually just grunt at you, but they’re efficient.
Really cool items… I love Pork Lumpia (a Filipino Pork spring roll)…and after years of not having one (a friend of a friend used to make them and sell them)…I found them here !
Not a place I frequent, as the smell is overpowering (actually, to point of being nauseating) but it’s worth checking out if you have a can’t find item that you need (just don’t expect any help trying to find it).

Not your T&T supermarket. This place is for the true asian shopper. Cheap with all the asian essentials and right next to a banh mi shop. You can’t ask for anything more!

I was looking for the shrimp or beef mama noodle flavour and couldn’t find it anywhere. Looked all over the store. No employees were able or willing to help out. Being a regular at Asian supermarkets, this was expected. I wasn’t offended, but some people might not appreciate that. Those are the two best mama noodle flavours in my opinion so perhaps they ran out.

I wish this supermarket was in Markham! They are the only supermarket that sells vietnamese veggies and snacks. My only problem with this place is that it looks very gloomy and outdated. Wish they would bring this place into the modern Era. When you want to make exotic food this would be a go to place.

Do you miss the old days when Asian supermarkets carry a distinctive whiff of unpleasant odour? Do you scoff at T&T for being too Westernized and organized? Do you pine for the cramped shelves, semi-​questionable signage, and mediocre customer service in said Asian grocery stores? Then B&T is the place for you!
I have to point out that this place is worth visiting for three main reasons. First, you do get a small selection cookies and snacks that are very hard to find in Toronto. Second, the prices are pretty cheap compared to T&T and other more modern Asian supermarkets. Third, it’s right beside a delicious Nguyen Huong, so when you reach the point where you finally cover your nose and decide that this store really isn’t that great, at least there’s an awesome (although still disorganized) Vietnamese sandwich shop right next door!
But seriously though, I think the quality of the goods here are average at best, and the overall selection is kind of disappointing, outside of the unique one or two items that you can’t find elsewhere. Otherwise, it’s just kind of… unpleasant. Doesn’t stop me from coming here when I’m in the area, mind you, but I can think of a million better Asian supermarkets.
This place may be on par compared to Viet-​Chinese supermarkets in downtown Toronto about 20 years ago, but not now, please.

The fresh produce is pretty well stocked. They have a lot of the Vietnamese sauces you cannot find elsewhere. Also they have Balut eggs! I do have an issue with the cashier whipping groceries down the aisle, but then again that seems to happen at a lot of places.

B & T Food Centre is good if you just want to pick up a few things to make a quick dinner. It carries most of the staples that one needs to make a good Chinese/​Vietnamese dinner.
I guess I am just a little spoiled by the nice supermarket that has been opened all over GTA in the last few years.
Selection here for sure is lacking here. Price point might be a little lower than others big box Chinese grocery stores.
Tons of flies and wet floors…
I though will be back if I want some of those Thai or Vietnamese herbs and even get a balut or 2 for my Unilocal friend. (I just want to mix those in with the eggs in the fridge… and see what will happen…)
Cash only. Not even debit…

Oh my gosh I going to keel over, *cough* *cough* if you can get past the putrid odor, (I suggest breathing through your mouth) you’ll find shelves and freezers full of cool and unique ethnic foods at B&T! It’s a Vietnamese run grocery store located in a plaza just outside Vaughan Mills Shopping Mall. BT is in reference to Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
B&T varies from the ever popular T&T line of grocery stores (of which I find carrys more Chinese and Taiwanese selections). This isn’t independent shop though, it’s part of a chain. B&T Ben Thanh has other locations in Hamilton and Kitchener.
There’s some quirkiness to an smaller store operation like this. For example; the weird signage abound, «slow door» sign by the sliding exit doors, there’s a microwave by the baked good section with a sign on it «to all valued customers
microwave is for b&t personal and employees only. Sorry!
B&T management «ok funny sign but what the heck is a microwave doing there to begin with. lol
As the previous reviewer mary l. mentioned, things like sour sop fruit are available here. Not found at T&T. I saw Kawartha Ice Cream –this stuff is sold commercially at Ice Cream stores and there’s a pretty solid selection of Filipino foods here too. Appears they have a contract with FV foods because I saw a lot of their sweets baked goods here. On the shelves, I saw the individual jars of ingredients to make your favorite Vietnamese dessert drink or Filipino halo halo. Everything was reasonably priced too.
In the back there is a meat and seafood counter — which is the large contributor to the awful odor. There is no bakery. However they do bring small selection of baked goods from various local suppliers.
My checkout experience was painfully slow. I lined up behind a lady who was touting I thought at the time 1 grocery cart (oh goody! :)), but it turned out to 2 grocery carts (burn on me). There were only 2 cashiers open. Be aware they charge a fee if debit transactions are less than $ 10.
I left the store with some pistachio cookies made from TWI a South Asian baker from Mississauga and 2L of Soy Good Chocolate Milk.
Bonus there’s a Nguyen Huong in the store too to get your Viet sub fix on.
As you can tell, there’s a lot more going on here. It’s a treasure chest of unique goodness. :)

This is a small grocery mom and pop store that carries the best fruit from the tropics :) LOVEEEEE their selection of fruit.
I just bought some mangosteen, soursop, and lychee. The soursop is not as ripe as I like it but it is better than nothing.
The mangosteen is sweet but small and again, better than nothing. It is to die for. Yummy…
I am writing because I went to another Asian food market and that store does NOT carry these fruit types. They only carry lychee and mango.
Here the store carries mangosteen, lychee, soursop, and huge selection of tropical fruit that I do not know in English.
If you are craving for tropical fruit, go to this store. I love this place. This is the second visit that I have gone to this location when I am here for work. This store does not disappoint me.
BTW — carry your bank card or cash!!!