Continental Delicatessen

Continental Deli is a cute Polish and Eastern European shop in the Byward Market and truly a hidden gem. I go there often during my lunch break and pick up a sandwich, which is always packed, meaty and delicious. They also have Kubuś, a tasty European drink that I haven’t managed to find in Canada as of yet. Highly recommended, their cold cuts, salamis and cheeses are really flavorful, and surprisingly inexpensive!

I’ve been here a few times now. I always get their Ham and Cheese Sandwich to go ($ 5). You get lettuce and tomatoes with it and your choice of mustard or mayo (or both). The bread is a crusty kaiser and always tastes fresh. They usually have some bread in a basket behind the counter to make the sandwiches, but when they are out, they ask you to get a bun from the place where they sell the buns which is on a wire shelf that does not look very sanitary.
However, the lady puts on gloves when she makes your sandwich and removes the gloves when handling the cash. Big points for this. If they kept their bulk buns in a more hygienic place they would get even bigger points from me.
They sell lots of candy and cookies from Poland and they also have lots of Polish desserts. Also deli meats.
Great place to grab a tasty sandwich in the Byward Market if you don’t feel like standing in line at La Bottega.

What a selection of sausages and cold meats, pierogies, etc. A great selection of Polish and eastern european specialities. Thaey have take out specials for lunch, I had homemade pierogies that were very good!

After buying some fresh bread in the Market, my mom wants to get some meat to make sandwiches, and we found Continental Delicatessen.
They have such a wide selection of deli meats, fresh meats, specialty meats, and sausages. They focus mainly on Polish fare, but they also carry other European meats, such as Italian and German sausages. They also have ready-​made meals, including sandwiches, soups, perogies, cabbage rolls, and baked goods and pastries. They even have gourmet cheeses, jams, chocolates, and various sweets. We were quite surprised with the selection in such a small space.
Though we were very tempted to make a larger purchase, we agreed that we’d stick to some kind of meat, and the keilbassa looked far too good to resist. We bought half a coil, which we found to be a little more expensive than a grocery store’s deli prices, but there are shops with higher prices out there. The keilbassa was very flavourful, and not dry or too chewy in any way, just as we would expect from this kind of specialty store.

Continental Delicatessen is a little slice of Eastern Europe in the middle of Ottawa’s Byward Market. The store offers deli meats, cheeses, and packaged goods such as crackers, cookies, oils, canned fish, etc. The packaged goods are a trip — the labels are all in Polish or other Eastern European languages. There was one brand of chocolate called «Negroes», which is a marketing disaster waiting to happen. Besides the bulk items, Continental Deli also sells ready-​to-​devour hot soups & sandwiches, perogies and goulash. It is a little claustrophobic inside, accentuating the feeling of warmth and closeness. But, having been to Eastern Europe, it is a very authentic deli shopping experience.