ottawa foodies

My one and only visit to the Real Canadian SuperStore happened prior to Thanksgiving 2007. The "Loblaws" chain was advertising their cash refund event applicable on grocery orders of over $ 100 and over $ 250 dollers (believe the coupons were worth $ 10 ad $ 30 respectively). Anyways, I thought this would be the ideal time to check out the Kanata location of the Real Canadian SuperStore. Boy was I disappointed.

To begin with, the store is HUGE. It is way too big to find anything in my opinion. The grocery section is sooo small compared to the rest of the store. It really gives me the feeling that they are trying too hard to compete with the Walmarts and Costcos.

And to top it off the grocery items are sub-standard even when compared to other stores in the Loblaws chain.

For example, they seem to focus on "specialty" departments but ignore basic needs. They have an extensive fresh fish and seafood section, even selling live lobster. But they have the smallest meat department I have ever seen. Not only was there a poor selection of fresh-packed meats there were no frozen turkeys... and this was the week before Thanksgiving!

The produce department was not up to par compared to my local Loblaws. My overall impression was that all the fresh-packed foods (bakery, butchery, cheese, etc) were highly lacking. It's like this store concentrates on row-on-row of drygoods (and I noticed they didn't carry a lot of the items I usually purchase, be it the item itself or one in a particular size). They seem to be far too focused on all their non-grocery items.

Have to say they've lost a customer for good!
I won't be going back.

Occasionaly found fresh at loblaws. There are less hot than jalapenos, very fruity taste. I stock up and freeze when found.

It's available LWB. You just have to ask for it. It's surprisingly good.

I came to the Superstore tonight in search of mozzarella for caprese salad (it was 7, so all the other stores were closed) and the smell of the roasted chickens got me.

Anyway, it's about $6 for a kilo (2 lbs of chicken), which is a good price for a quick family meal, or for a bachelorette meal followed by leftovers tomorrow (and Tuesday). The seasoning is pretty good, nothing too special, and I would have done for some chalet-style sauce.

All in all, I'd buy one again.