I went to G&D in Chinatown earlier this week. You must wear a face mask while shopping (they don't provide them) and some makeshift plastic was hanging in front of the cashiers. it did seem like they were busy packing up a lot of delivery orders so it could be worth phoning and asking for a delivery. It isn't advertised anywhere. The store is full, boxes in the aisles and not many people shopping there. I used to get a lot of Asian groceries nearby at Sakaris but they closed just before the pandemic. Depending on where you live Marché Lian Tai (used to be Marche Hawai) may deliver. I ran the text on their website through Google translate and that is what it seems to say. https://www.marcheliantai.ca/ Sushi Depanneur on Mont-Royal delivers groceries as well as sushi if you phone them: https://www.sushidepanneur.com/

Yeah, I went to Marché Newon a few weeks ago and didn't buy much. Great variety of countries represented by the products but nothing really jumped out at me, except maybe that I didn't really know which of 4 brands of Szechuan peppercorns to buy and they weren't called that either which also made it hard to shop. Found it more exciting to go get food at Fondue Chinoise Expresse in the same mall which is always fun, trying to customize my mala tang or mala xiang guo just right. Still, the Marché is handy if you are nearby and need to grab some tofu or noodles or something particular.

So many new dumpling places in the Plateau! But what I have found more interesting is that one of them, Yum Yum Soupe Dumplings on St-Denis below Duluth, serves a very good and hearty bowl of Malaysian laksa. When I asked why they told me the chef is Malaysian which also explains the very nice Pad Thai that reminds me of noodle dishes I've had in Kuala Lumpur. They use large shrimp in those dishes which is also fun. Anyway, thought I'd give a head's up as Nonya cuisine is hard to find in this city.

My comment is way up on the thread for some reason. Here it is again: It seems like the Breadbox bread is almost all cooked and we just reheat it and crisp it from frozen. So it really just makes me think I should consider heating loaves of bread sometimes and not worry about subscription boxes at all.

It's very easy to make a sourdough starter from scratch if you use organic rye flour like La Milanaise to get going, btw. Mine is so lively it even continues growing in the fridge. I'll dry it and put it away for the summer soon. I don't do all kinds of fancy kneading though, just a quick overnight no-knead recipe.

Toledo does do fancy rising, from what I can tell. I love their big $7 Patriarche loaves, will try the rye! They had a bread with caramelized hazelnuts I need to pick up one of these days, maybe only available on weekends?

Ha, good point. Here's a list for you to explore, especially with Google Maps where I regularly add photos of my meals

Japanese along Rachel: Noren, Raku, Ichigo Ichie, Yokato Yokabai, Izu Sushi, also Otto Bistro on Mont-Royal

Filipino: Hao the bun place is gone but there will be a dairy free ice cream place by the same owners nearby

Dumplings: Imagine dumplings on Rachel, Harbin Dumplings on St-Laurent, P'tit Frere Dumplings on Duluth

Korean in the neighbourhood: Restaurant Hoya (Mont-Royal), Resto Seoul (St-Denis), Luna (on Rachel)

Bistro Californie on rue St-Denis recently changed its name to Resto Seoul and offers very delicious poke bowls along with sushi and other Japanese items on their menu. I've been twice now and tried the salmon poke which was great, and had the tuna bowl today. The bowls come with copious amounts of edamame, chick peas, avocado, quinoa and more and the dressing on the fish is nice. The owner then showed me his poke menu which has even more options than I realized, like a grilled eel poke bowl, Korean style spicy ones. He seems to be morphing his menu and signage alot so it is fun to go in and see what is available. Now he's also offering a Korean bbq dinner that I'll try soon. It's a build it yourself kind of bbq menu, where you can select your marinated meat, 3 side dishes and extras for about $20.

It's not far from Wok 'n' Roll which looks to be closed. That's too bad. Rue St-Denis seems to be suffering from some kind of urban chaos, probably developers leaving buildings empty as they cash in on bank loans and move along to their next investment. Nearly all the clothing stores are gone but thankfully the new big Rachelle-Bery seems to be doing well and is a very welcome addition to the hood. And the Japanese, Chinese and Filipino places along Rachel kind of make up for the losses. I now have three decent dumpling places very close to my house, a big change from the casse-croutes that were here when I moved to the Plateau about 15 years ago.

I've been to their downtown location a few times and the food is consistently good Their Facebook page is worth following too as they have a library made up of donated books, free lunches for Concordia students during the week, and other fun social media perks. They had a dumpling making event for Chinese New Year. Oh, I see they have a digital fortune cookie on their website, will have to check that. Anyway, nice to see imaginative and creative marketing! They have mala xiang guo, dry hot pot, a hard dish to find, although I prefer the one across the street from Fondue Chinoise Express but the ambiance is much nicer at Aunt Dai.

I bought the Indofood nasi goreng envelope recently as some Indo ladies I know really like it, haven't tried it yet. Those are easy to find usually at Marche Hawai. I usually make nasi goreng from scratch with lots of shrimp paste. In the past I bought some soto ayam and rendang jars that I liked but they weren't Koningsvogel. I really like the bumbus by Munik but they are far and few between.

You can find lemon grass, laos or galangal root and lime leaves at places like Sakaris and that goes a long way to imitating the spice pastes, I find. Also, much depends on red shallots, cumin and coriander. I often use a scoop of Thai Tom Yum paste from a jar that works well in a pinch as it has many of the same spices as the Indonesian jars. Plus it is easy to find everywhere. Good luck! I'm making a big Indonesian feast here today for some teenagers but that will be all about peanut butter and coconut to fill them up.