Feeling homesick in this weather? Discover several grocery stores that will give you a taste of home.
Whether you miss a northern winter or warmer climates, these stores offer favourite meals that remind new Torontonians of home.
From strudels to Kurkure chips to plantain, there are endless food, snacks and beverage options to satisfy your childhood cravings.
Check out these seven international grocery stores to help you relive your favourite memories.
Yummy Market
- Location: 4400 Dufferin St Unit B1, North York
Open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the European grocery store Yummy Market cooks and bakes traditional meals, snacks, and dishes from scratch to bring a taste of Europe to Toronto.
They also have imported groceries such as Germany’s smoked sausages (in jars), stalwart staples of breakfast tables like tvorog (quark cheese), numerous Eastern European recipes such as cold Russian soups like holodnik – made with buttermilk or kefir, and other foods like pickled herring, baba ganoush, and European brands’ sweets like Baci Perugina.
Find their selection here.
Kohinoor Foods
- Location: 1438 Gerrard St E, Toronto
Inside Gerrard’s India Bazaar, North America’s largest South Asian mainstreet marketplace, is South Asian grocery store Kohinoor Foods.
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., this authentic Indian grocery store carries everything from spices and specialty foods to kitchen supplies. Get a taste of Indian favourites: quick-and-easy, heat-and-serve vegetarian Mutter Paneer, Geebee’s instant chai (cardamom- and masala-flavoured), or Kurkure chips.
Tierra Azteca Grocery
- Location: 1115 Bloor St W., Unit 3, Toronto
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Tierra Azteca Grocery sells authentic Mexican groceries. To recreate Latin America’s “mercados” (markets), the colourful store offers hundreds of products, including salsa Huichol, chile de arbol peppers, the classic tajin seasoning with lime, homemade tostadas, and more.
AFROCAN Caribbean Supermart
- Locations: 2121 Jane St., North York | 70 Devon Rd, Unit #6 | 1439 Upper Ottawa St., Unit 16-18
Open daily from 8:30 a.m., with a later start on Sundays at 9:30 a.m., AFROCAN Caribbean Supermart is an African, Caribbean, Afro-Latina, and Tropical Food Supermarket, also offering Black beauty products and skincare soap.
Popular food items include Ogbono and Ola Cassava Fufu.
T&T Supermarket
- Locations: across the GTA
Popular chain T&T has locations across Richmond Hill, Mississauga, Markham, North York and Downtown Toronto, opening between 8 and 9 a.m.
Customers can buy the famous hotteok buns, an assorted dim sum platter, brown sugar boba ice bar, and other foods.
Correct African Food Market
- Location: 880 Wilson Ave, North York
Correct African Food Market arrived in Canada after spending ten years in Nigeria. The store provides African and Caribbean food items, such as Crayfish, SpiCity stew and jollof, and Nigerian Jekonmo herbal mixture – a herbal remedy specifically designed for men’s wellness.
ABC Euro delicatessen
- Location: 6 Lebovic Ave, Unit D4, Scarborough
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Sunday, closing an hour earlier, ABC Euro delicatessen is known for its Romanian and Eastern European specialties. Some examples include cabbage rolls, grilled meat rolls, eggplant salad, and telemea cheese. They also have a hot table with schnitzel and soups, as well as desserts like a chimney cake.
They even have some imported Romanian chocolates.
