T&T Opened in San Francisco With Fan Tuan, Papa Chicken, and a Café

T&T Supermarket opened its first San Francisco store this morning at 9 a.m., in the long-empty Best Buy shell at City Center, 2675 Geary Boulevard. The San Francisco Chronicle and The Standard put the floor at about 50,000 square feet on the mall’s third level. It is the Canadian chain’s second Bay Area market after San Jose in June, and the first of its U.S. stores with a café.

Cindy and Jack Lee founded T&T in Vancouver in 1993. Loblaw Companies has owned the chain since 2009. CEO Tina Lee told The Standard she wanted “a solid first impression” in San Francisco. Her brother Jason, who oversees U.S. expansion and has lived in the city for twenty years, called the wait “an eternity.” The produce, private-label dumplings, and live tanks will fill carts soon enough. Come hungry for the kitchen first.

The café is new even for T&T. The Standard and SFist say no other American store has one yet. The Chronicle lists black sesame and ube lattes beside house egg tarts, custard-filled mochi buns, and pandan mille bread. Lee told The Standard the ice-blended Arctic drinks are “our Canadian version of a Frappuccino,” and that her current favorite is the dragonfruit lemonade. The Chronicle prices a frosted City Hall mousse cake, dome and all, at $10. Grab a latte and an egg tart before the aisles pull you in.

Made-to-order fan tuan come next. Those Taiwanese sticky rice rolls already drew lunch lines in San Jose. The Standard’s October guide there priced them at $6.99 and described purple and white glutinous rice wrapped with a marinated egg, pork floss, pickled greens, and a length of you tiao for crunch. Sausage, braised pork ear, and sesame mochi fillings run alongside. The same guide clocked weekday waits around twenty minutes, so leave time.

Papa Chicken is the whole butterflied bird that made the San Jose store a destination. The Standard’s tasting there put it at $15 after a garlic-and-spice marinade. SFist’s November preview and opening-day notes say the same bagged chicken is on the San Francisco line too. T&T’s U.S. product page lists a garlic Papa Crispy Chicken at that same $15 mark. It feeds a table. For something smaller and exclusive to this store, The Standard flags Baby Bear Bao, a steamed bun stuffed with pulled pork, pickled mustard greens, peanuts, and cilantro.

The hot bar and barbecue counter sit close by. The Chronicle found beef brisket with daikon, blanched yu choy sprouts, sushi and dim sum, a fresh soy milk dispenser, and to-go Peking duck kits with pancakes and plum sauce. At the preview party, SFist called the hot bar familiar Chinese American plates a step above Panda Express, and liked the pork meatballs and fried saba. You can eat before you shop.

Once you have eaten, the grocery floor is still worth the time. The Chronicle counted roughly two hundred kinds of vegetables and a hundred fruits, plus live lobster, catfish, and silver carp, Wagyu, and T&T’s own soup dumplings and potstickers. Lee told The Standard Millbrae is already planned for South El Camino Real by summer 2027, with a larger store after that in the old Macy’s at Newark’s NewPark Mall. San Francisco got the city address first.

A first trip can stay simple. Take a café drink and a pastry, one fan tuan, and Papa Chicken or a Baby Bear Bao if the line is moving. Add a scoop from the hot bar if you still have a free hand, then shop. T&T opened on Geary ready to feed you before it fills the cart.