Away from the theme parks, Orlando area offers dining thrills

Local food blogger Ricky Ly is guiding me through the iFresh supermarket, an Asian store in the Mills 50 district of Orlando, Fla..

Taiwanese pastries are among the specialties, he explains, gesturing to a 20-foot-long display case filled with everything from mango cream cheese buns to pineapple buns with dried pork. A minute later, we're gliding through the produce section, passing pale green stalks of fragrant lemongrass and tiny, orange habanero chilies. A few feet away is a bubbling tank of water filled with live shellfish, where a bright orange-black lobster skitters over the top of sleepy Dungeness crabs.

Ly finishes our tour and steps into a small restaurant tucked in the corner of the store called Kai Kai, a dim sum and barbecue joint, where whole ducks and chickens hang in the window