As winter is slowly crawling in, and the harvest season is now over. Looking for fresh produce, meals and drinks has become harder to find. Especially looking for traditional Hmong produce like mustard greens or ginseng. None of the big commercial grocery stores carry any traditional Hmong vegetables; farmer markets being closed finding fresh Hmong Produce is getting harder. There is a place that still has all of that, it is Long Cheng Market place, located at 1804 S Lawe St., Appleton.

 Long Cheng is a marketplace that has varieties of meals, drinks and produce and other goodies as well. According to their website, Long Cheng Marketplace, is conveniently located in Appleton. It is a great place for all businesses and vendors from restaurants, clothing retailers, beauty and small businesses to serve the local community. Long Cheng allows anybody to sell. From old Hmong grandparents who do not speak English, to Hmong restaurants inside their store. Long Cheng MarketPlace has created new job opportunities for the Hmong Community. 

I decided to go check out Long Cheng Marketplace to experience what a Hmong owned marketplace would look like and what it does for the Hmong Community. 

First Experience 

8.5/10

Walking in the doors, the first thing I see is the portrait of Hmong women with kids at a marketplace. While the other portrait on the wall was General Vang Pao pointing over a village in the mountains. General Vang Pao, a hero in Hmong society. According to The New York Times, Vang Pao was a general in the official Laotian Army, the chief of a secret army financed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the undisputed leader of the varied factions of his people, the Hmong. Each portrait right next to each other, General Vang Pao protecting his people from the Communist like the women at the marketplace. The only problem was the rice and boxes of food covering the bottom of the portraits. 

Grocery Store 

8/10 

Walking past the portraits, there was a mini-grocery store that had a variety of items. Each aisle had a different item. From noodles, instant ramen, seasonings, spices, fresh produce, to frozen meats. The grocery store like other Hmong Grocery stores had a variety of goods. The grocery store inside Long Cheng had fair pricing and was cleaner, unlike other stores I have been to. 

Vendors 

7/10

Walking through the marketplace seeing all the types of vendors from medicine, toys, Hmong clothes and jewelry. Those vendors were small but what they had where eye-catching. The traditional Hmong clothes were vibrant and filled with colors and hand woven to make beautiful designs. The medicine vendor had all types of medicine, from paste for bug bites to body achness and many other types of medicines. I was amazed walking down the aisle, but there was only one aisle to walk down. I was disappointed with only one of the 2 aisle being used for vendors. The other aisle locked off not being used. 

Restaurants 

8.5/10

Walking toward the end of the marketplace, I could smell fresh Hmong being cooked. Looking at the food court I could see 3 restaurants, selling all types of Hmong food. The food being sold were traditional tournament food or classic Hmong restaurant foods. Sticky Rice with Hmong sausage, bowls of pho, papaya salad. Each restaurant had its only unique dish. The restaurant Pho Fever Specialized in their beef pho noodle soup. Looking at their menu, their jumbo sized Pho is priced $15.75. The size of the bowl, the amount of food, and the flavor on point. The food court was cleaned and filled with customers. Each restaurant had plentiful amounts of guests. 

Drink selection at the food court was small, there were only 2 boba tea stands, the Jasmine Leaf and the Corner Cafe. I went to try the Corner Cafe since the Jasmine Leaf was closed. Looking at the Corner Cafe menu it had a nice selection of different types of drinks, from milk teas, to smoothie boba tea and other drinks. I got the strawberry and coconut boba tea which cost $5.50 each. The boba tea was 8.5/10. Everything was great, but for me their boba tea was too much. The flavor, the texture of the smoothie was all correct, the tapioca balls were cooked perfectly as well. The amount of boba tea was too much for my liking. I could only drink half of the serving size. 

My overall experience

8/10

My overall experience of going to Long Cheng MarketPlace was 8/10. There were a few things I disliked about it, but many great things I enjoyed about it as well. I did not like the lack of vendors but understandable because it is winter. Besides the vendors, the food court is smaller than I would like. The food court could be bigger so people are not so close to each other. Things that shocked me were the vendors selling Hmong clothes. The Hmong clothes were vibrant, eye-catching and stunning. 

When I was leaving, I felt proud of what Long Cheng had created. Long Cheng created a positive welcoming atmosphere missing in the Fox Valley for Hmong people. It allows all ages of Hmong people to come. It allows old Hmong grandparents to sell their vegetables, it brings in Hmong kids and teens to come and get food and drinks and allows Hmong restaurant owners to open a restaurant. It builds a strong community for the Hmong people in the Fox Valley. Hmong people can support one another, and so can others by going to Long Cheng MarketPlace.