Speciality Canadian websites

[brendan mc aleer]

does anyone know of any canadian version of lepicerie where i can buy speciality products and not have to pay the crazy postage price,

thank-you

[ElsieD]

http://www.oliveolives.com/en/

Is this what you are looking for? They are in Montreal and I have gone to the store and they have amazing products.

[DerekW]

Gourmet Warehouse ship. The shipping's not cheap, but if you're ordering a bunch of items maybe it makes sense. Good place to visit, if you're in Vancouver at any point.

[TylerK]

I've never been able to find a Canadian online vendor that has one stop shopping for everything I'm looking for. The following list of places has most of the stuff I haven't been able to easily find on store shelves.

http://www.goldaskitchen.com/ - food ingredients and cooking supplies. This is the first place I check.

https://www.qzina.com/catalog - mostly sell larger quantities but have a some things I can't find anywhere else for pasty/confections

http://www.chocolat-chocolat.com/home/pure-chocolate/index.html - All your chocolate making needs.

https://www.halfordsmailorder.com/eSource/ecom/eSource/items/1-S1-lV1BS.aspx - I get most of my sausage making supplies from here

[mkayahara]

It would help if you could give us an idea of what kind of "specialty" products you're looking for: Pastry supplies? Modernist ingredients? Chocolate supplies?

[ElsieD]

It would also help to know where you are located.

[Okanagancook]

City Chef is very good: http://www.citychef.ca/

[Tri2Cook]

I haven't ordered from l'epicerie recently, did they greatly increase their shipping rates in the past year or so? I've ordered from them many times in the past, large orders and small, and never thought the shipping bad. I know they used to show an estimated shipping cost on the shopping cart page as you add items but the actual shipping cost was never anything remotely resembling that number.

[brianl]

I'm going to assume you are looking for modernist ingredients. Here are a few

http://www.dcduby.com/elements/ - I've purchased from them before, they carry a good selection of ingredients.

http://www.otbfoods.com/otbfoods/ - _Really_ rough website (sorry Hector, but...), they carry some of the Texturas line. You'll need to create an account to see pricing.

http://www.gourmetwarehouse.ca/ - Haven't ordered from them, just aware of their existence (sorry, just realized someone posted this one already)

http://www.molecule-r.com/ - Again, haven't ordered

Ultimately though, if you're looking for the more specialized ingredients, you're stuck ordering from the US. On a recent order from Modernist Pantry I paid $39 shipping then another $40 at the door in duty/brokerage/taxes, on a $230/2kg order. When you look at it that way, it is expensive, but we don't have a lot of options. I also tend to try to make my orders from the US larger, as some of the costs are fixed (brokerage, shipping to point). I would avoid UPS for international shipping, their brokerage fees can be a bit high (I'm being nice).

Hope that helps,

Thanks,

Brian

Edited January 29, 2013 by brianl (log)

[Baselerd]

Specialty what?

If you're talking meat or perishables, shipping will always be expensive because they usually overnight/2-day it or package it in dry ice, or some combination of all of the above.

[Okanagancook]

If you're looking for free shipping and no brokerage fees try creativecookware.com. There is a min. order amount for free shipping but it's around $50 I think. Excellent service, sent via Fedex and I think their prices are quite good.

[brianl]

Just found out about this place:

http://www.powdertothepeople.ca/

This was apparently started by chef Marc Lepine of the Ottawa restaurant Atelier. They do have some items that the other Canadian resellers do not carry.

Thanks

Brian