by FRANCINE HALVORSEN

Asia Foods has been at the same address at 5224 York Road in Baltimore for 28 years and, until 6 months ago, it was a well-kept secret. The shop had been, for all this time, a large wholesale business catering to restaurants between here and DC, and selling retail to a smattering of loyal aficionados of Asian cooking.

Mun-Ge and Cho-Ye Toung ran the business seven days a week, for 26 years. Much to their pleasure, their son Chaw Toung, who grew up in the business, now runs it.

At first, he thought he would close the street side of the shop that did the retail business and concentrate on the wholesale division, which has an entrance not visible from York Road. Chaw Toung was certain this was the right thing to do. But he was in for a surprise.

Retail customers still found their way inside and kept shopping and chatting. Chaw Toung took this as an affirmation and decided to look to the future, keep the wholesale business and expand the stock of goods for home cooks. Now fronting York Road Asia Foods is a wide aisled market catering to home cooks.

The senior Toungs are still there daily, Cho-ye greets everyone and keeps an eye on the retail end, and Chaw’s mom, Mun-ge is at the register.

No longer quite so exotic, Chinese food ingredients have become almost mainstream, in part due to entrepreneurs like the Toungs. They will ask what you want to make and explain, very graciously, what you need and how to prepare it. With enthusiasm, they will find what you seek, and if they have to order it, they will. Personal service seems second nature to the family, it is not only a business for them but a social forum. They have a lot of customers who just come by to say hello.

If people are new to the store, Chaw will ask what they like to eat and find the simplest way for them to make it. Sweet rice balls in banana leaves, he will tell you, can simply be heated in a microwave, and a little hoisan sauce and chili garlic sauce can be rubbed or brushed on chicken breasts which will cook quickly, while you steam some Napa cabbage. Very fast very and very delicious.

There are freezers with dim sum, dumplings, pork and vegetable buns, shrimp gyoza, egg rolls, spring rolls and other goodies too numerous to mention. Chilled vegetable bins hold bok choy, Napa Cabbage, gourds and long beans, sprouts and shoots, in addition to traditional green market items. Soon the Meat and Fish Department will open and be staffed by someone who can cut a selection to order for the dish you have in mind.

The shelves are chock-a-block with jars and cans of delicious goodies. Fruit and tea beverages are, for the most part, unsweetened or made with cane sugar. Packets of nuts and dried fruit line the shelves. An abundance of rice and noodles, not only Chinese but Thai and Japanese as well, will keep anyone well-fed. A large assortment of tea pots and tea cups, dishes and bowls, steamers and clay pots, as well as chop sticks, spoons, knives and cleavers are available.