Living in Hungary one can easily forgets that there are things known as "green vegetables." While most of our expatriated food needs have been either satiated or squelched over the course of time, our craving for good and diverse greens continues. No place is tailored to those leafy needs like the nondescript Rong Rong market, located across the street from the main gate of the Four Tigers Chinese Market.

The Rong Rong sets its produce right out on the street in front of one of the large indoor warehouses that supply cheap underwear and plastic hair clips for the hungry consumers of Hungary and the region. Somewhere out there on the puszta, there is a farm growing fresh bok choy Chinese cabbages, ku tsin tsai (water spinach), gai lan (Chinese broccoli), long Chinese string beans, even tong ho - the edible chrysanthemum greens known as shungiku in Japanese. Like we said, right right.

Some of the produce seems to have been shipped in from China itself - we have deep doubts as to whether Asian bitter gourds or winter melon grow in Hungary, and are very sure that there is no pomelo plantation nearby. The slender purple Asian eggplants however, may just be local. The fresh - not dried - Chinese wheat noodles, which come packaged for home cooking, certainly are.

And how could we possibly go home without picking up some fresh mooncakes? With winter upon us, and our local zöldség sellers offering only cabbage and carrots, the Rong Rong becomes even more important - somehow they manage to stock fresh greens all winter long. If only they grew a branch in every part of town.