PeopleFest tour highlights Asia Mall and its food offerings

Eden Prairie’s Asia Mall, said Tracy Tran, the mall’s public relations director, was created to bring a variety of authentic Asian businesses together under one roof. Tran led the tour of the Asia Mall, which occurred as part of this summer’s PeopleFest events, by explaining that the mall’s five owners, four of whom live in Eden Prairie, wanted to save themselves the time they spent traveling to other ethnic enclaves to find the goods and services they wanted. 

“We don’t want people having to go to Minneapolis just to enjoy any cultural experience. Why not have it in the local neighborhood, so that everyone can join?” Tran said. 

“We call it Asia Mall because we want it to encompass Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, any type of Asian culture,” she said, noting that the architecture and decor includes Chinese zodiac signs and butterflies, a Chinese symbol of good fortune, as well as elements of Japanese design. “You’ll see geometrical designs everywhere; that just means ‘balance.’ With the Chinese culture, they have a lot of emphasis on balance,” she said.

Several restaurants can be found on both the Asia Mall’s main floor and an upper mezzanine level. “As far as Asian culture, food is their center, and their expression for love,” Tran said. “Having fresh food on your table is something that they emphasize, which is why there are a lot of restaurants in here. It’s because in all countries, that’s how they express their love for their family.”

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The existing restaurants, with at least one more to come, include specialties of pho, hot pot, Korean hot dogs, mochi donuts, bubble tea, a bakery, and more. Other businesses currently in the building or set to open soon include a travel agent, beauty salon, beauty products retailer focused on Japanese and Korean skincare, gift shop, claw machines arcade, insurance agent, and a Japanese life store with multiple product lines. “It’s kind of like a Walgreens or a CVS,” Tran explained. 

She said that the owners hoped the Asia Mall’s location at 12160 Technology Drive, near the Interstate 494 and Highway 212 interchange, would help to bring in out-of-town visitors. Since the Eden Prairie site’s opening in November 2022, Tran said, its success has led the owners to pursue an additional development, Asia Village, in the Twin Cities’ northern suburbs. The Eden Prairie Asia Mall also received approval from the city to expand parking at the Technology Drive location.

Asian Mart grocery is anchor store

One draw for Eden Prairie’s Asia Mall is the Asian Mart grocery store, the anchor store, which takes up a large portion of the lower level. “As far as Asian Mart goes, we do have a range of products from all over. So there’s Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, anything you can think of,” Tran said, including many items difficult to find elsewhere.

Among those products are fruits and vegetables including the durian fruit, which is banned from some Asian buses and hotels due to its strong odor. For Tran, however, “It actually smells good, because I grew up eating this,” she said of the fruit, which she described as having a texture similar to mango “but mushier.” 

Other popular products in the grocery store, she said, include rice, instant noodles, fresh meat and seafood that includes seafood varieties not found in other local grocery stores, and packaged snacks, including dehydrated seafood. 

For rice, “There’s a whole aisle. It’s not just white rice that they carry. They carry long grain, short grain, brown rice, jasmine rice, sticky rice. There are so many different forms of rice,” Tran said. 

As for the emphasis on instant noodles, which have two full aisles dedicated to them in the grocery store, “For me, it’s a staple because it’s so easy to make,” Tran said. “You just add water, but then, if you want to make it gourmet, you add eggs, you add vegetables, bean sprouts, meats, whatever you want.”

While instant noodles don’t taste as good as those made at a restaurant, “When you’re Asian, when you’re used to eating your rice, eating your noodles, you’ll compromise. When you’re at lunchtime, and I’m sitting there and I’m starving, trust me, I’m not going to go to the cafeteria and buy pizza. It’s definitely going to be a noodle,” she said. 

Tran also noted, when concluding her tour, that Asia Mall frequently hosts special events, particularly around the Lunar New Year. “They’ll have performers come, dragon dance, things like that,” she said. “It’s just a joy to show.”