Pandemic or not, we still need to eat. When COVID-19 shut down businesses and left people jobless in March, Torontonians found themselves inside their homes with a lot of free time to get creative and pivot. While a lot of people were spending more time in their kitchens learning how to cook online, starting to bake homemade bread or experimenting with cookbooks, these people used the global pandemic to turn their passion for food into a career. Here are our favourite homecooks now offering food delivery in Toronto.
Home-cooked food delivery: 5 new services to try
The Good Good Sub
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If Wes Anderson met Asian-style café desserts, the Good Good Sub would be it. They’re whipping up dreamy desserts that magically show up to your door.
The team of two launched their dessert subscription box to fill a gap in the quarantine market for sweets and treats, but have since solidified a set menu. It includes fluffy matcha tiramisu, nine flavours of chewy mochi muffins like sesame or birthday cake and cloud cheesecakes – or opt for a mix of everything with their signature set.
They deliver to downtown Toronto, Richmond Hill, Markham, North York and Scarborough.
O.G. Fine Foods
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Pizza delivery is great, but focaccia delivery is even better (what can we say, we like our bread). Pivoting from acting and serving to baking focaccia, Tarek Gader started O.G. Fine Foods as a passion project.
The menu includes three types of fluffy focaccia: the Original, made with Roma tomatoes, feta cheese, olives and oregano; the Aphrodite, with onions, kalamata olives, baby red potatoes, oregano and parmigiano-reggiano stravecchios; and the Phoenician, with ricotta, basturma, pickled sweet peppers, za’atar and organic free-range eggs – topped off with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. Vegan options are available.
Order through food vendors such as the Larder, Project Gigglewater and Mimi & Ry to have your focaccia delivered to downtown Toronto.
Cho San Sushi
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If you’re feeling a treat-yo-self moment from the comfort of home, Cho San Sushi can deliver with their omakase-style sushi bentos right to your door. Using his background as a chef at Toronto’s Zen Japanese Restaurant, Li Qiang Zhang began catering dinners at customers’ homes before launching Cho San Sushi once quarantine hit.
The menu features neatly crafted nigiri and maki, using fish such as chu-toro (fatty tuna), o-toro (extra fatty tuna), salmon, yellowtail, grilled mackerel, sea bream and fresh sea urchin flown in straight from Japan.
Order through Instagram or by phone to have your beloved bentos delivered to Markham or Richmond Hill, or they are available for pickup in the Markham area.
QT Kitchen
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The QT Kitchen team is serving up dainty Vietnamese pantry delicacies to spice up your quarantine home cooking, with items such as shrimp satay, Thai chili sauce, pâtés and vegetarian-friendly “fish” on the menu. If the summer weather has you feeling parched, they also have healthy drinks like mung bean pandan milk, sesame lotus milk and herbal tea to quench your thirst.
Named after the original owners Quynh and Trang, the team of four worked in different industries such as marketing and design before quarantine became their new reality. They decided to drop off homemade care packages to family and friends amidst the pandemic – and the rest is history.
Order through their Facebook shop to have your goods delivered to downtown Toronto and the GTA.
facebook.com/qtkitchenhomefood
Bawang
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Sometimes during quarantine, you just don’t want to meal prep for the umpteenth time. That’s where Bawang comes in with Filipino comfort food. Their rotating menu introduces modernized homey classics from the Philippines, with dishes like beef mechado, lechon silog, chicken afritada and adobo ribs. Fragrant garlic fried rice and lumpia are available on the side with every order.
After losing his job in advertising, Wesley Altuna started Bawang, which means “garlic” in Tagalog. Just as garlic is a base for cooking in many cuisines, Altuna went back to his roots with his food delivery service.
They deliver to Toronto, East York, North York, Etobicoke and Scarborough – or get pickup from their College Street location.
Coffee and Loaf
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Coffee and Loaf is serving up classic treats that go best with your morning coffee. Their desserts come in seasonally-themed boxes that change with the time of year.
On the menu for this season is family favourite banana bread, fluffy matcha cake with sweet vanilla cream, a non-traditional tiramisu, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cherry cookies.
Before quarantine, Elizabeth Ng finished her contract at a Toronto hospital. With the job market empty, she turned to baking and experimenting with old and new recipes. Her dream of opening a virtual bakery became a reality with Coffee and Loaf.
Order through Instagram or by email. Delivery free within Markham, Richmond Hill, North York, Thornhill and Scarborough. Pickup or alternate arrangements are available for those outside of the delivery range.
