Asian Invasion... in Jersey?

I live in Brooklyn, but I work in Jersey. Don't ask. It's annoying and I'm constantly conflicted.

Pro - less hectic than NYC.
Con - I drive to work now.

Pro - I don't have to deal with aggressive, rude, and inconsiderate people on the subway.
Con - I have to deal with aggressive, rude, and inconsiderate people on the road.

Con - I can't get my beloved ramen at Menkui Tei on 56th street anymore for lunch.
Pro - I can get ramen, soba, tempura, and anything I could conjure up in my asian-food-craving brain at Mitsuwa Marketplace in Fort Lee.

Okay, so who knew that Fort Lee is like the largest population of Asians anywhere in America? Seriously! It's insane. And who else knew that they would actually bring an entire superstore, airlifted from Anywhere, Asia, straight to my neck of the woods. Thank you Asians, this is a true gift.

This place is insane. You walk in the door and you might have well stepped off a plane. One side is a gorgeous, spotless, humongous grocery store filled with Asian delicacies, produce, seafood (dried octopus tentacles anyone?) and anything else you could or couldn't imagine.  And on the other side is a wall of food stalls unlike anything you see here in the states. Let your eyes feast...

Each stall has window displays of the food they serve. So for someone who doesn't speak the language this is incredibly helpful (and fun!). Totally appealing to my inner child at play in my kitchen carefully arranging my make believe eggs and bacon into a hearty meal.

 Did I mention this food is fake? As in, plastic?? I could look at it all day...

This food, however, is not. This is my lunch, kakiage tempura soba noodles.... tempura battered and fried onions, vegetables and shrimp. Do I need to tell you how good this was? Yeah, I didn't think so.