MESA, AZ (AZFamily) — Dozens of businesses, including restaurants, dessert shops and stores, fill the Asian District Mesa AZ. The area has grown in recent years, attracting visitors of all ethnicities from around Arizona.
Arizona’s Family spoke with two small businesses in the Asian District Mesa AZ about their experience in the area and what it means for them to be part of this community.
“It’s a pleasure to be in the Asian Business District,” said Matthew Ma, owner of Happy Baos, which is located in the Mekong Plaza.
Happy Bao opened in 2018 and serves handmade bao, dumplings and noodles using his grandparents’ recipes, which they modernized and shared with the Valley. The restaurant is open seven days a week and offers many fresh and tasty Chinese dishes for customers to try.
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Ma has been coming to the Mekong Plaza since it opened and has seen it grow immensely, especially now that the area has officially become the Asian District Mesa AZ. The area even appears on Google and Apple maps.
“It’s kinda like a destination to visit when you’re in Arizona now,” said Ma.
Ma says it’s positive that different ethnic groups come to the Asian District. “That shows us that people are more open-minded now. They’re willing to try different cultures of food and experience different traditions and cultures. I love to see how those bunch of different ethnic groups that shop here, eat here.”
Ma loves that the Asian community is tight-knit and that everyone helps each other out. He hopes to see the Asian District continue to grow. “A lot has changed, a lot has grown, which is good to spread the Asian culture around in Arizona.”
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“Being here at Mekong, as an owner and as a manager, it’s nice to be able to visit with people who are similar,” said Frankie Chen, manager of Coconut Jelly King, a dessert shop in Mekong.
Coconut Jelly King sells healthy and hydrating jelly jars made with coconut water and milk. The Chinese Taiwanese dessert is all natural and comes in fruity flavors like strawberry, pineapple, mango and blueberry, as well as Asian favorites like taro, matcha and red bean. They also offer drinks made with coconut milk, bubble waffles, and mango and durian crepe cakes.
Coconut Jelly King’s only Arizona location is at the Mekong Plaza. Chen says the growing Asian population has made other people more curious about the culture, making it easier to be an Asian business owner in Mesa. He and his family moved to Arizona in 2006, and Chen says he has seen the demand for Asian products really grow in the last five to ten years.
“It’s nice being an Asian business at Mekong just because everything else is Asian, so we fit right in,” said Chen. “It’s also nice for the consumers because they can grocery shop here for their Asian goods, and then they can eat their Asian food here and then come get dessert.”
Click/tap here for a full list of the restaurants and businesses in the Asian District of Mesa AZ.
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