Fab food finds at family run shops

Nu Grocery Store

• Name + address: Nu Grocery Store, 143 Main St.

• Website: www.nugrocery.com

Nu shop owner Valérie Leloup, spent years as a Danone executive in Germany and then Montreal. In 2003 she arrived in Ottawa and after reading the book Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnston, she imagined a store that produced no waste but where everything would be available for the shopper.

She then opened Nu on Wellington Street and followed that with the shop on Main Street. The Hintonburg store is now closed but modern, zero waste shopping is still available on Main, and there are hundreds of products from which to choose.

Including the excellent body care and cleaning products from Oneka out of Frelighsburg in Quebec’s eastern townships. Yes, these are products I have used for years.

Leloup was clearly ahead of the curve because Ottawa is now the test market for reusable grocery store containers rolled out by the feds beginning in May. 

The idea is to bring your own container, weigh it, tare the container to zero on the scale and add your item. Should you not have a container, you are invited to use a paper bag or to borrow a glass jar.

Nu is also one of eight businesses in Ontario that participates in the Ontario Living Wage Network, ensuring their staff make more than minimum wage. 

Seoul Mart

• Name + address: Seoul Mart, 22 Pretoria Ave.

• Website: www.seoulmart.com

Along with that other great Korean food emporium Ok Mart, Seoul Mart is possibly the cleanest grocery store in the city. Whether this is a cultural expression or simply a matter of shop owner pride, it hardly matters because shoppers appreciate this level of care.

Everything you need for your next Korean meal is available at this family run business. They also happen to carry mineral water that is a favourite of mine and comes from JeJu Island, one of the locations where Squid Game was filmed.

As you shop you may be wondering about the aromas of delicious food wafting throughout the store and it’s nothing less than a dastardly plot to get you to purchase some of the warm foods from their kitchen. Whether it’s noodles, spring rolls or fried chicken, it’s all very delicious and the line-up changes from time to time. 

On my visit I enjoyed some of the city’s nicest wings: half were plainly battered and the other half were fried with a sweet and mildly spicy gochujang sauce. It’s no exaggeration to say that these were better than most wings I’ve had at restaurants. When you shop here, do yourself a favour and get these to enjoy at home.

La Latina

• Name + address: La Latina, 217 Dalhousie Street

• Website: none

With a number of Mexican eateries in the ByWard Market, it made sense that the folks behind El Taco de Oro on St. Patrick would open a grocery store.

It’s a bright, colourful space with the sun happily drenching the shop in tropical light. All manner of sweets and snacks are available but also items to help you prepare full scale meals at home. All the usual salsas and beans are in stock as well as banana leaf husks for your next tamale making party.

Adam’s Sausages

• Name + address: Adam’s Sausages, 1437 Michael St.

• Website: www.adamssausages.com

For more than 25 years Adam’s Sausages has been providing European-style meats and imported goods to Ottawans. All that time, owner Maria Przystal has also been the force behind the business and the checkout. 

As someone from the old country, it’s a pretty regular stop for me and I do have a few favourites from their charcuterie production. Their standards and recipes are decent and I have to accept the fact that I’m not going to have the exact tastes as from back home. Still, it’s a very credible approximation.

They also produce meats for others like the Continental Delicatessen in the ByWard Market.

Apart from the guilty pleasures like Haribo gummy bears, Milka chocolate bars and European Fanta (you can’t drink the North American version), there are a number of savoury staples that you’ll always find on their shelves. 

I go for Lowensenf (lion’s mustard), a mustard a little more sharp and flavourful than your average dijon and an iconic product from my home city of Düsseldorf. I also use a mustard relish from the producer Kühne. It’s the absolute best product of its kind for topping hamburgers and hotdogs and mixed with sweet chopped onion and the Japanese mayonnaise Kewpie, makes the tastiest tuna or egg salad sandwiches you’ve ever had.

Mario’s Food Centre

• Name + address: Mario’s Food Centre, 381 McArthur Ave.

• Website: www.mariosfoodcentre.com

Mario’s Food Centre is officially the oldest Portuguese store in all of Canada and we can proudly call it our own. 

Owner Felipe carries everything you could possibly need for your next big Portuguese food fest.

He carries chorizo from the famed Soares family in Montreal, cheeses, dried salt cod, varieties of rice, olive oils and delicious sodas. 

He also still has in stock the excellent Brazilian dessert treats Brigadeiros from the local producer Bianca Batalha. Bianca had planned on opening a shop in Kanata but currently plans are on hold.

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• If you’ve not yet shopped for your Asian groceries at Green Fresh, you’re missing a good downtown selection that will save you some drive time.

• Revisiting the Merivale food tour.

• Crafty Ramen takes proper soup recipes and delivers them to your door.