MANILA -- During its run as a restaurant, Gourmet Gypsy Art Café aimed to bring global flavors and comfort food to diners. After being forced to close shop, they’ve reformatted their operations and found a way to continue serving the needs of the local community.

The former restaurant and co-working space along Maginhawa St. in Quezon City reopened last May 18 as a specialty grocery store, offering their classic dishes in frozen ready-to-heat packs, as well as a wide range of hard-to-find pantry items for home-cooked comfort meals.

With many people cooking at home and finding certain ingredients hard to come by, the shop now offers gourmet goodies for those on vegetarian, vegan and keto diets, as well as essentials that home cooks and bakers will love.

They’ve reworked their dining area into a two-level grocery space. Shelves are and former dining tables are now filled with basic pantry essentials, including pasta, condiments, nuts, milk and coffee beans.

Gourmet Gypsy's former dining space has been turned into a grocery area. Kara Santos

Sanitizing area Kara Santos

Gourmet Gypsy. Kara Santos

Grocery items. Kara Santos

Pantry supplies. Kara Santos

Specialty dressings, dips, sauces and cheese. Kara Santos

Grocery items. Kara Santos

Non-food items. Kara Santos

Pre-loved ceramic plates and dipping saucers. Kara Santos

Baked goods. Kara Santos

Bestsellers such as Mushroom Thyme Chicken (P395), Pork and Clam Favada (P495), Sri Lankan Braised Lamb (P595), Korean Galbijim (P750) and Squid Al Nero (P635) are now packaged as ready-to-heat frozen meals.

You can also find specialty dressings and dips like Hummus (P195), Basil Pesto (P200, Pomegranate Dressing (P28) along with cheese and artisanal ice cream. On weekends, they offer platters of salads, pasta, paella and entrees available to order.

Gourmet Gypsy also stocks non-food items including organic kitchen, laundry and cleaning products. They also have a special sale on pre-loved items including bowls, plates, chopping boards and sauce dishes.

The grocery implements essential protocols to ensure social distancing and sanitation to ensure everyone’s health and safety. Visitors must make an appointment to shop onsite and stick to their chosen timeslot so there’s no need to wait in line.

Disinfecting mats and hand sanitizers are in place at the doorway and customers are require to wear face masks and face shields for the duration of their visit. To reduce the environmental footprint, they ask customers to bring their own eco-bag. Online shopping and pickup services are also available.

With the reopening of Gourmet Gypsy as an on-site store and the ability to order items online, the former café hopes to continue connecting and building their inclusive community.

Gourmet Gypsy is located at 28 Maginhawa St. Quezon City, Philippines. Book your shopping appointments here.