Australian Foods
I spent a few years of my childhood growing up in Sydney and still crave all the traditional aussie foods like proper meat pies, tim tams, twisties, vegemite etc. Does anyone happen to know if there are any stores at all in the GTA where I could purchase any Australian grocery items, or a bakery where I can get a good meat pie or sausage roll? I've been able to find some Walker's British crips in a couple of places, which was great, but that's about it. Many thanks in advance!
Rani
Jul 09, 2003 12:05PM
My husband is Australian and since moving here, we've hunted down a couple of items you're looking for...unfortunately the Timtams have yet to appear! Vegemite can be found at most Loblaws (Queens Quay definitely has it) but not at Dominion.
As for meat pies, after many, many attempts we found that the meat pies from a sausage maker at the farmer's market at St. Lawrence on Saturday mornings to be the closest thing. If you enter from Front Street, they are the first operation on the right hand wall...their specialty is chorizo sausages. They've got regular meat pies, steak and kidney, steak/mushroom, chicken pies. They're really, really good, tons of filling, no fat and the pastry is bang on. (Their honey breakfast sausages also rock). At home, bake them for half an hour at 350.
For sausage rolls, at the same Saturday farmer's market, there is a bakery stand on the far left wall, mostly breads and pastries but they've got sausage rolls and they're as good as they are in Oz.
For both items, they often run out by 11 a.m. or so.
If anyone knows where to find Twisties or Timtams in GTA, we'd like to know too!
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You can order them online (Tim Tams) here:
http://www.homesick.com.au/shopping/f...
I don't know if that is of any value to you or not.
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TIM TAMS!
My boyfriend--Aussie, moved here for me how sweet--and I ABSOLUTELY PIGGED OUT on these things when we were in Oz together on a couple of occasions. Oh god, there goes my figure! :)
Thank you!!!!!!!
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i just bought a pack of Tim Tams at the Ex on Saturday.
you can get Tim Tams at this store 2 blocks north of Lawrence on Yonge St. i forgot the name of the store, but they were the people who set up the booth at the Ex where i bought my Tim Tams.
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oh yeah.. and i forgot to mention... finding the store shouldn't be pretty hard because the name of the store was something Australian something or other. so you won't be mistaking it for something else.
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Yes, Vegemite is available in many Toronto Loblaws.
I found Violet Crumble bars over ten years ago in a Toronto store, but they stopped carrying them.
There are a few online options. And even a few storefronts catering to Australians in California. I've included a link to a previous discussion on the General board.
Good Luck
Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
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Tim Tams have just be produced/released in the UK. You might be able to get a shop that sells UK biscuits to stock them for you. No idea if the recipes are exactly the same.
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Thanks everyone, for the suggestions and reminiscing! Since my post, I was able to find Vegemite at the Sobey's at Yonge & St. Clair - and happily purchased it, even though the sales girl gave me some very funny looks. Toronto Chowgirl - I can't tell you how grateful I am for your recs. We went to the market last weekend and found the pies you spoke of. My husband thought I was a tad crazy wandering around trying to find the right stall....but I scored some meat pies & a steak and kidney. You were so right..it rocked! I felt like I was standing on the beach in Sydney again:)
I've been told that Violet Crumbles can be found at the Sugar Mountain downtown, so that's my next project. Furthermore, I've heard rumours that the elusive Tim Tam has been spotted at some IGA's in Toronto. The name & packaging is different, but the company is Arnott's & it is in fact the same biscuit inside. I'd love to hear if anyone stumbles across these anywhere. We can pool our resources and have a full on Aussie pig out session!
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Violet Crumble Bars in Toronto? Thank you! Thank you! This is very exciting. Now if I can just get them to bring in Minties life will be great.
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Thanks Rani. The Sugar Mountain on Richmond St W does indeed carry Violet Crumble Bars.
The saleswoman said that they started getting them fairly recently. They also carry a very limited selection of Tim Tams--I bought some Double Coat Tim Tams. Funny thing is that it doesn't say Tim Tams anywhere on the bilingual package. It just says Arnott's Double Coat Chocolate Biscuits. Strange.
Link: http://www.sugarmountain.net/stores/s...
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Can't help with the sausages or meat pies but you'll find Australian spices (Bush Dreams) at www.theepicentre.com
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wheres GTA
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Australian food companies have been particularly wary of allowing their food to be sold outside of Australia.. that said, as has been mentioned Vegemite is consistently available at Queen's Quay Loblaws and a few other locations.
Tim Tams were available at Dominion for a while but it looks like it Arnott's is now rethinking it entry strategy into North America. You can still find them in a few stores, specifically there is a 24 hour mini-mart type store located between Wellesley and Carlton on Church (on the right hand side going south) regularly stocking the biscuits.
Milo is carried by both Loblaws and Dominion, although Dominion has recently just discontinued the line. Originally it was imported from Jamaica, but now they are making it locally in Canada. Slightly different texture but tastes pretty much the same.
Everything else and you are pretty much SOL. It's a shame because there is a tonne of good Aussie food that really needs to be shared with the world... Cherry Ripe bars, Nutri-Grain, Twisties, Kingstons, Cordial, Cadbury Snack.. I could go on, but you get the point.
Fortunately you can order most of it off the web. Simply Australian is a suggestion.. they don't rip you off like most sites + their selection is very good. Shipping is from Seattle, I ordered a good $80 worth of food last time and the shipping only cost me $25 to Toronto. Looks like they took a lot of care in the packing as well... so I would highly recommend them.
Now if only I could get a VB or a XXXX in Toronto and I would be all set :)
Link: http://www.simplyoz.com/products/auss...
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Caehlan:
You'll find XXXX at the LCBO on the corner of Spadina and Dundas. It's in the back corner to your left when you walk in. They also have a big range of Aussie wines. Do you know anywhere that sells the Australian import Milo? or only the Canadian made stuff?
Thanks.
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