Union Food Market

So small, but so well stocked. I’ve literally done my week’s grocery shopping here before! Tasty baked goods, too. The Union Food Market is a great neighborhood feature.

The human condition is currently such that one can barely cross the street without succumbing to the most egregious bout of existential nausea. If the merest thought of food fills you with dread, because you are fully aware that feeding the wretch you once called «I» is to embrace futility, then the Union Market is the place for you. It is certainly not the kind of place where you fear you’ll be consumed by the infinite, dark lifelessness of the void (although such a place surely awaits us all). It is a place where the soft finger of a lovingly rolled cod cake may kiss first your throat and then your quivering stomach, only to call gently back to your soul, «Come out from there… and here, wash me down with this 8 ounce decaf Americano.»
Perhaps the smallest hint of a smile will appear at the corner of your mouth as you watch a tiny sparrow peck at a carelessly discarded crumb, whilst you devour a chicken leg ravenously and swig on a Gregor Juice. «Happy Planet?» you may ask yourself. «No,» you’ll think, «but I’m glad for this. I’m glad for this transient moment of simple, carnal pleasure.» I also recommend the hot apple cider.
Fun fact. The Union Market was the inspiration and muse for an obscure East Vancouver experimental boy band known as the Hungry Men. The Hungry Men were rumoured to have destroyed nearly all copies of the «People Album,» although at least one copy is said to remain in the basement of the Union Market.

Cute little store… sells hard to find Portuguese food items. Good coffee and treats.

What a great place to buy your groceries.
Has plenty of homemade food of great quality under 5 $ cost (most of the times less than 4 $), local products and a great energy from the staff.
Totally recommended. And they have great coffee that is not mentioned at the description

This tiny community market is a gem! Very friendly staff (community members) and tasty & cost effective pastries and other refreshments. I’ve been living in the neighbourhood for about a month now and while I’ve seen this marketing, just now I decided to stop in. A cozy little hanging out spot for members of this community that also attracts those pasting through as it right on the Adanac bike path!

This is just a beautiful store. Visited while on a biz trip to Vancouver because they are one of the rare places that sell SparkMouth craft ginger ale. I bought every bottle in the store and flew them back to Toronto with me. Happy to have found this place! Friendly staff too!

LOVE IT

I actually do live around the corner. Great place to get whatever you need for a reasonable price! Snacks, lunch, treats or groceries — it’s all there!

One of the keystones of the hood. Lovely, friendly people, irresistible baked goods, and a whole bunch of useful grocery items from home made chorizo sausage to chocolate chips. We’d be lost without Union Food Market. BIG thanks for everything you do.

Portuguese Egg Tarts!
We stumbled on Union Market by accident. It’s a great little place (kind of like a fusion of Benny’s and Wilder Snail combined) and they’ve got delicious baked goods, salt spring island coffee and various snacks in the middle of their little store.
Their Portuguese egg tarts ($ 1.50) are amazing! Even though the ones from T&T are a bit cheaper they’re more eggy and the ones from Union Market have a creamier consistency which I prefer. Their carrot cakes are yummy as well! They also have samosas and even fried chicken which I’ve been curious about.

Always pass by bicycle on the Adanac bike-​way going to East Van. Decided to stop by yesterday. Nice clean Deli Grocery inside with quality selection of grocery, food and snack choices for there neighbours /​customers enjoyment.
We had some salmon sandwiches on brown bread for lunch. Tasty and very fairly priced. The seating area in the front of the story was busy with a group of camera buffs trading stories and people visiting. They could have a few more chairs to match tables capacity. Union Food Market knows what its business is all about and its worth checking out if you in the area-​but if you live in the area-​you already know about this place.

This is a quaint little grocery store with a café. It’s in the midldle of a bunch of houses in a neighbourhood. Not where you would expect to find a convenience store. I didn’t buy groceries when I came here, but instead had some snacks.
Cod cakes — pretty good, but would likely have tasted better if they were fresh, they were under a heat lamp. I also had the Portuguese custard tarts. It was not labelled as such but I knew what they were from the carmelized custard top. Very tasty, and a lot less eggy than the Chinese version. It’s lighter in colour and slightly sweeter. I would recommend trying them here. Buying Portuguese custards tarts that are made by Chinese people is not the same — I’ve tried it. These are very different.
I also noticed that the coffee was quite inexpensive. $ 1 for 8oz and $ 1.50 for 12oz if I remember correctly. Can’t attest to the coffee quality since I didn’t order any.
There is a covered area out front with some table and chairs if you want to sit down and have a coffee
I will be back if I am in the area.

Such a cute neighbourhood market. Operated by Portuguese people, they have a selection of Portuguese baked goods, as well as your corner store items.
I came here for the orange fritters. It’s listed in Vancouver Magazine’s 101 Things To Taste 2011 Edition. Verdict? It’s a nice light fritter (almost like the texture of a Chinese donut), dusted with sugar, and a hint of citrus taste.
I also discovered that they have Portuguese custard tarts. Now here’s where I got excited. Bought 2 for myself, and enjoyed every single bite of it. It consists of a soft flaky crust, enveloping a sweet, creamy custard!
I ate both of them, consecutively.

I love union market !! I live in strathcona and this is the best little neighborhood market in town. Anytime I need a last minute bag of flour, liter of milk etc union is to the rescue.
They have a great selection of tasty baked goods, which you can never pass up the opportunity to purchase.
The staff are very friendly and get you out the door quickly and enjoying your newly acquired treats. They also have a lovely patio to enjoy a coffee and the traffic going by.

Judging by my fellow Unilocaler’s who have had nothing but rave reviews about this market (and it’s deli) I don’t know if it was just not in the cards for me to visit when I did.
If you DO decide to visit this place, and you drive, for the love of god listen to google maps. I don’t know the neighbourhood very well so I had no idea there were so many dead ends. So when google tells you the best way to get to this place is to turn on Campbell off of Prior St, do it. Don’t do what I did and think you can just go to the next street and double back on Union, it doesn’t go through and then you end up near Hastings by the time you find a through road. But I digress.
I went to this market with the express purpose of trying their baked chicken and I left really disappointed. I should add that I like my cooked chicken hot unless it has just come out of the fridge. I was disappointed in the quality; it was over cooked, warm at best, and lacking in any flavour. It was definitely homemade style and I’m sure it’s more palatable when it’s actually hot and hasn’t been sitting in what I can only describe as a pretense to a warmer. Don’t come here expecting to eat it on their patio, best to take it home and re-​heat it in the oven. Even better, go to Duffin’s or LA Chicken.
I think if the owners have no intention of serving anything hot, they should just store it in a refrigerated display case. It was also really odd that there was no advertised price of the chicken (either by piece or by weight). When I asked how much the chicken was their response was, «Well it depends because each piece weighs a bit differently.» When I asked what the price was per 100g, the response was, «Well each piece is usually anywhere from $ 1.50 to $ 3.» Huh?!
That said, I was also extremely disappointed with the customer service. When I entered the store, there was a customer before me who couldn’t make up his mind about what he wanted and kept asking questions about every other product on the main counter. He was completely oblivious to the fact that there was someone else (me) waiting for service from the only staff person on duty.
While I was waiting for someone to help me with my chicken order I scanned around the store. I must say, for a store of its size, it has a lot of stuff that’s actually worth making a trip to a corner store for.
At one point, there was an older gentleman who looked like an owner or manager and he kept mulling around the main counter and even heard the cashier say to me, «I’m sorry, I’ll be with you in a minute…» and all he did was look at his co-​worker, look at me, and then walked away. I ended up having to wait 10 minutes before I got any service. The best part was when right after the cashier finished attending to the customer with a million questions, her cell phone started ringing and she answered it right in front of me. Not a store phone, her cell phone.
The things I do for chicken. Will I ever return? Not likely. Mostly because it’s a b***h to get to but also because first impressions are everything.
1 star for having a good variety of offerings in terms of groceries and snacks
1 star for having a decent ginger beer stocked (you’d be surprised how hard it is to find good ginger beer in this city)
–2 stars for customer service
–1 star for the baked chicken

Fresh baked bread & snacks, espresso & coffee are a few of the offerings Union Market has, plus a little outdoor sitting area, on the bike path.
A jammed packed quality neighbourhood market of fresh & frozen produce, is just what you need at 10am saturday and your friends turn up for breakfast…

One of Vancouver’s best-​kept secrets in a neighbourhood that might also be considered one of Vancouver’s best kept secrets.
Open 7 days a week, ‘The Union’ is a local favourite and literally a lynchpin of the community. The outdoor patio is a great meeting spot and people-​watching favourite. You’ll find friendly staff and locals
Old timers like myself still refer to this family run shop as «The Gomez» — from when Mama Gomes ran the bakery and fed many a bachelor. Today, the market still feeds many a bachelor, couple and family alike. All your staples can be found here, along with some specialty Portugese imports: seasonal favourites, baccala (salted codfish), membrillo and more. The real stand out though, is the fresh baked goods: Macau style egg tarts, cod cakes, meat pies, fruit pies, fresh breads, cookies, croissants, brioche, sauage rolls, fried chicken, oh my!
Ask about Andy’s home-​made chorizo!

Fantastic little pit stop along the Adanac Bikeway and obviously a great small community business. They have display cases full of tempting food from the pastry family, great coffee, and a big shaded patio to rest your tired ol’ pedalling legs. Dogs, kids, yuppies, hipsters, and even the tragically spandex clad, everyone is welcome here.

This little market is a hidden gem that not too many people know about for the fact that it’s wrapped inside a residential neighbourhood. Most of the people I know who know of this place either are cyclists and come by here as it’s along a popular route, or they have friends living in the area.
This little convenience market feels like the type of small business you encounter in a more rural town, providing a small offering of a large variety of products. It’s a coffee shop /​store so there’s a nice sitting area out front complete with bike stands for those coming along the bike route to stop for a break.
It’s definitely gotten a lot nicer and the people who work here are still super friendly. This store alone will make you want to live in this area.

Off the beaten path and isolated on the Adanac Street bike route, this coffee shop/​market sells cereal, pasta, canned goods and other kinds of things you’d expect to find in a bomb shelter. With it’s large awning stretching out of what used to be a regular house, it looks like somebody decided to have a garage sale in their pantry.
But the locals love it, perhaps because of its unpretentious mom and pop feel, and the very friendly service from the cashier is contagious, leaving every shopper and coffee buyer polite and chatty. There is a nice outdoor patio for sitting and watching the fit people coast by one their 10 speeds, and a lot of neighborhood kids come here to spend their allowance on candy or buy some last minute flour for their parents.
Buying things here makes you feel like you’re contributing something back to the community, after taking so very much. Simplistic and independent, it the quickest way to pretend that you live in a small town, even though it’s only a short walk to downtown Vancouver and the suburbs sprawl out in every other direction for miles and miles.