Lots of people have been asking where to shop online for delivery right now. Local grocery stores are overwhelmed with delivery orders while local farmers, artisans, producers and other food manufacturers are struggling. So in addition to places like La Mer and Odessa Seafood, which are delivering all that snow crab that just hit the market to at-home customers, I’ve got two online food-related websites to recommend.
First, I heard about Montreal-based online retailer Brunette in a LaPresse.ca article when it started selling gift certificates for a bunch of prominent Montreal restaurants as a way to help them out. There are now more than 30 restaurants listed on their site for which you can purchase gift certificates and later make a reservation once the places re-open.
Brunette’s “Pay Now Eat Later” initiative also includes selling merchandise from a ton of Montreal and Canadian restaurants, like that sweater above from Arthur’s Nosh Bar (and hopefully the new “Remember Skin Contact?” t-shirt/fundraiser from Elena for the Montreal Restaurant Workers Relief Fund, though I think the restaurant might just be selling it from its own site).
Second, for gourmet cooks who can’t head to their local shops for vanilla beans or yuzu juice, there’s Qualifirst, an Ontario-based importer and distributor that ships by mail to your door. I was really impressed a few years ago when I wrote about getting an order of freeze-dried lychees, exquisite canned artichokes in oil and a few other gourmet selections shipped to me. The selection of dried goods, spices, pastes, juices, cake-decorating and cocktail ingredients, oils, vinegars, artisanal jams, powdered açai, creams and olives is impressive and the quality high.
I’ll add more places selling local and supporting Montreal restaurants and Canadian businesses as I hear about them. For now, enjoy that lychee juice and dream wistfully of all that skin contact.
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