Marche Adonis coming to Mississauga?

[LJS2]

This middle eastern grocery store is sure stop every time we go to Montreal's west island. My sister in law (from Montreal) tells me that they are opening in Mississauga. If true that would be a fantastic addition to the grocery store landscape. It would be like a middle eastern T and T but more upscale with a huge butcher counter bakery etc. Does anyone have any info they can share about this?

[lagatta]

How is the trip from Etobicoke? I have two friends there, one has a car, the other doesn't (she lives farther south near the Queen car). Worth it by car? By public transport? (carless person also has a bicycle). They both love Middle Eastern foods.

[Kagemusha]

Public transit out to Miss. is dicey since the TTC/MiWay connection is awkward. Just drive up Kipling to Eglinton and head west--usually not a busy route on weekends.

[lagatta]

Thanks Kagemusha. Obviously the friend who has a car would drive there. I was thinking more of the friend without a car (these people don't know each other). The one with a car lives near Kipling, if I recall.

[lilaki]

i live in etobicoke and went here this morning (sunday). it was a quick drive out on the 401/403 and well worth the trip.

very impressed and will definitely be back!

[pearl3]

Public transit, I don't know, but--heading west in the car on Eglinton, as you advised, I admit to cursing you a few times, Mr. Warrior...

To be fair, there is very little specific information about the street number of MA on Eglinton, but even as a west-end person, it took me a while to grasp that I had to drive as far as Creditview.

However, I enjoyed a Mother's Day bit of food tourism there very much, including the solid wall o' feta, the nice work of the butchers, and some really excellent variations on baklava and kaitafi. Also, good take-out. I'll definitely go back.

[lagatta]

Here in Montréal, they are opening a branch in the west end of the city centre! (Though I think the Acadie-Sauvé branch is still closer to where I live near marché Jean-Talon).

Of course they have to see how it catches on in Mississauga and the GTA in general before any further expansion there.

[Nevy]

I went here just after lunch and the crowd wasn't so bad for Friday. It definitely is a welcomed addition to Mississauga. It's owned by Metro (I think 55% owned by them) and I think they did a great job on the renovation. The old Metro there was sad, dim, and not great.

I LOVE the fresh cheese section. The labneh is incredibly smooth. The fresh brined goat soft cheese reminds me of the ones I got in Dubai. The veggies are all good quality but prices are reflective of that. They have a huge butcher and fishmonger area (halal meat too). I didn't buy any but they all look fantastic. I would say the prices are in line with Michangelos and not as affordable (cheap?) as T&T.

They have a huge bakery and take out food section. The spanokopita was amazing. They did not spare any goat cheese or spinach in these. The phyllo pastry was crispy. They were saying they made them this morning and just baked them. You can really tell. They also had tons of other Mediterranean salads and kabobs as well.

I finally found my beloved Turkish Coffee here! The cardamom flavour was perfectly balanced with the coffee. They also sold fresh dates from Iran! Incredibly succulent. They also had Iranian pistachios (they're so much better than anything here) in their sectioned off bulk section. Like in Dubai, they have these huge bins that are only accessible to employees. You just point and they scoop things for you. They had cashews about 3/4 the size of my thumbs and these really great candied pecans.

In the bakery area, they had mountains of fresh baklava. Compared to baklava king and patisserie royale, this is almost as good but considerably cheaper. I know both bakeries charge $27-$29/kg. The most expensive item in that bakery area was only $22/kg and that was with huge chunks of fresh big dates and pistachios in it.

I really love this Middle Eastern grocery store. Thanks for letting me know it opened!

[Kagemusha]

Wow! Jumped into the happy mob packing this beautiful new store this afternoon. Good produce section, meats, fish, deli, prepared foods, sweets, nuts--an Eastern Med. T&T. Great fun to watch the large automated production line cranking out fresh pita. I may still go to several little Lebanese grocers for some items but this is a great one-stop store. Great place to pick-up a quick take-home dinner. Very happy they've landed. A nice addition next to T&T and Starsky in Mississauga.

[AhadSQ]

Just went in myself. Pretty good selection. But man they were packed!

[LJS2]

Glad to hear this. I will go in the next week or so then post about how it compares to the West Island location.

[LJS2]

I went yesterday. It is an airy brightly lit store that is well staffed and well stocked. It had all of the things that I look for when I go the West Island store in Monteal. Lamb kefte, Armenian and Turkish pizzas, marinated meats for the grill, large olive and nut sections, lots of middle eastern cheeses etc. Every kind of pita imaginable. The prepared food area is decent but seems a bit smaller than the one in West Island. The deli has several kinds of basturma. Lots of mid east pantry staples. I was surprised to see a lot of very unmiddle eastern stuff in the freezer section including frozen fries, McCain pizzas and Chinese finger foods etc. This stuff looks out of place in a store of this nature but thats just my opinion. Overall however it is a great store and a welcome addition to the GTA grocery landscape.

[lagatta]

Here in Montréal (I've never been to the West Island location, as I live much closer to Acadie/Sauvé), they've always carried some general groceries that are not particularly Middle Eastern.

[Nevy]

I noticed they started to carry a lot more since they partnered with Metro. I guess they're just carrying similar items to the Metro ones.

[lagatta]

Oh, I so wish we had a T&T here in Mtl; I've only been to the one in Ottawa. It is still worth going to more artisanal producers of sweet and savoury pastries - but Adonis often has products if searched in vain for in smaller lotal shops.

What is Starsky?

[pakmode]

Apparently Arz Fine Foods is opening up shop in MIssissauga too. Not sure where or when though.

[Kagemusha]

Interesting. My only regret is that these big stores will probably wound the little guys who will struggle to compete.

[Kagemusha]

Drove by Wed. aft. Store looks way brighter than the cave-like Dominion/Metro store it replaces. Looking forward to seeing what range of merch they stock. With T&T, Highland Farms and Starsky already here, this could really round out the variety of large "one-stop" markets in Mississauga.

[LJS2]

Bump. Does anyone know when it is scheduled to open?

[AhadSQ]

April 20th ish. As per the Landlord.

[justsayn]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/March%...
Per their fbook page -
"GRAND OPENING
APRIL 17th at 10 AM
See you all there!!!"

[AhadSQ]

Must of run ahead of schedule. I was talking with the land lord in early January.

[Kagemusha]

Drove by this afternoon. Very busy job site. I'd guesstimate 30-ish days to opening.

[AhadSQ]

It also looks very nice with the huge glass front.

[AhadSQ]

The new location is opening at Creditview and Eglinton.. They are gutting the whole place and starting new.

[Kagemusha]

Old news...

[jhimmyBhoy]

It is here in Mississauga, Ontario right across our complex..wow! Few steps from home..closest intersection: Eglinton and Creditview!

[Michael N]

Is it open?

[LJS2]

I was in Montreal over the holidays. I made my usual trek to the west island Adonis. I spoke to the manager who told me that their Mississauga store will open in about three months. It will be a bit smaller than the west island store (that one is about 30000 square feet). This will be the first of four stores to be opened in Ontario. Apparently the next one will open in Ottawa.
I hope the stores will be similar to the ones in Quebec. I guess we will find out soon enough.

[lagatta]

They will no doubt get a good reception in Ottawa, where many Middle Eastern people and aficionados of Middle-Eastern foods are already familiar with the Montréal, Montréal West Island and Laval stores.

[Kagemusha]

Drove by this a.m. after a New Year's haul from Starsky's. It's FAR from open--90 days sounds about right. It's in a medium-sized grocery space in a sleepy old corner plaza formerly occupied by a Dominion then Metro--both losers in that Creditview/Eglinton 'hood.

[pakmode]

I remember that corner. It's always been a tough one for Dominion/Metro - but that may just be specific to them. Hopefully Adonis succeeds.

[Kagemusha]

Merch at those stores was always mismatched to the area--being open 24hrs was all the site ever had going for it. NoFrills over at Mavis+Eglinton is usually busy as hell. Looking forward to Adonis.

[piccola]

Oh lord, I hope so! I would totally rent a car for a few hours and do a massive shop. Their prepared foods are great, too -- the various phyllo bites and mini pitas make an appearance at every family party.

[Kagemusha]

Hmmm. Looks like they sell Black Forest ham and pork products in their Montreal locations, so I'm not sure how that would fly with Mississauga's Muslim shoppers. Flyer offerings looked so-so. This end of town isn't exactly bereft of what they supposedly sell. Looks interesting.

[LJS2]

The only one I have been to is on the west island. While it has, I believe, a small Halal section I do not think that that store's target customers are the muslim shoppers. There are a lot of middle eastern peoples in Canada that are not Muslim perhaps more so on the West Island than in Mississauga? I am not aware of any store in the GTA that would compare to Adonis. If there is, please let me know so that I can check them out.

[Kagemusha]

It's a very diverse population in terms of nationality, sect, and faith(Assyrian Christians, Maronites, Copts, Sephardic Jews). Halal meats are widely available now but it's the variety of specific regional cuisines that's tough to source for anyone with an interest in but no direct connection to the communities and their foods. Most shops are small and inconspicuous, so a one-stop, large store would be welcome.

[pakmode]

What most stores do (including Adonis in Mtl, Sunny's at Don Mills and Eg and Arz on Lawrence) is have a separate Halal only selections. Separate slicers, fridges, freezers, display cases etc.

[lagatta]

Bonjour de Montréal.

I go to their oldest location at Sauvé and Acadie several times a year, (the closest to me but not truly close, and I don't have a car) and while they sell ham and other non-halal foods, I'm sure the halal products are kept apart from them, as there are many visibly Muslim customers (distinctive headscarves etc) as well as people from other faiths or none. They often have very good prices.

[Bhangra Pimp]

I wonder where they are opening up in Mississauga? It seems as if they're associated with the Metro chain, so, my guess might be an old Metro location?? I know the one at Creditview and Eglinton closed down...perhaps that might be the spot?? At one point, Arz Bakery was supposed to open up in Heartland...not sure what's going on with that. This Marche Adonis spot sounds like it's awesome!

[sbug206]

Seems so according to their Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/March%C...