ottawa foodies

Thanks. That is so sad to hear about the father dying. I was really hoping they would reopen since I loved their products and so did everyone else that seemed to shop there. All of my favourite stores are closing ;(

The Middle East Bakery has not reopened. There was a CTV news piece with one of the daughters who indicated that it was unlikely that they will. The patriarch passed away shortly after the fire. Very sad. However, the Shiraz Market has reopened at Somerset and Empress.

Does anyone know if/where the Middle East Bakery has reopened?

Sadly looks like Middle East Bakery will be closed until further notice due to yesterday's terrible fire. Hope they can get back on their feet after this seeing as the business has been in Ottawa for over 40 years.

My craving for hummus brought me here and the big winner was the pita bread. Delicious and warm. Unfortunately the hummus was not great and the garlic sauce was poor. I will go back for the bread. Do they sell the regular sized pitas and I was out of luck or just the large bread?

The pitas here are amazing, freshly made and cheap. I bought a container of hummus & bag of still warm pitas for $5.

They've cleaned up the store and now have an area with various dips. I often stop in to pick up the fixings for falafel to make at home for a quick and easy dinner.

The topped flatbreads are fantastic. Quite agree re. chewier. And nicely, lightly charred. I think my favourite is the "hot cheese" variety, but the tomato and onion zaatar is fantastic for a sandwich. Definitely bread to go out of your way for. I've been picking it up at La Botega Nicastro in the Market, and it's always fresh.

I always forget about this place - until I find a pack of their spicy zaatar bread or mint & cheese bread at Produce Depot! This stuff is addictive, moreso if you buy it fresh - direct - from the store on Somerset! They make fresh pita, zaatar bread, cheese bread, cheese & mint bread, spicy cheese & zaatar bread, etc. Clearly, I enjoy bread + cheese + herbs. Therefore, I love Middle East Bakery! The pita there is also slightly different than some store bought brands in that it's got a "chewier" texture, and thinner bread - ideal for wraps since it's a bit more flexible. Overall, a local fav of mine for pita & lebanese cheesy/herby bread products.

I should note - I'm referring to Mid-East style flatbread, not western sandwich "Wonder"-ful bread.

Pretty good zaatar here, less roasted-sesame flavour than Sandrella's, but has a twangier-herby-sumac-thyme flavour that I love.

We served this along with our Christmas cookies. $1.25 per piece. It was well received. :-)

[EDIT: No, we didn't charge our guests $1.25 per piece. That's the price at the store. :P]

We just did a taste test on various Baklava from Middle East Bakery and Malak Pastry. The panel of judges consisted of my wife and her sister, who have spent many years living in the middle east, and me, who is without any qualification other than being a huge lover of Baklava. Our findings:

Middle East Bakery
* Available only with walnuts (topped with a green dusting of pistachio powder).
* Delightfully crispy upper phyllo layer had a nice toasted flavour and shattered wonderfully upon biting into it.
* Honey syrup was perfectly sweet, with a nice natural taste.
* Perfect buttery flavour.

Malak Pastry
* Nice and dense, well-soaked.
* Syrup was nice at first, but quickly seemed too cloying -- more like glucose than honey.
* More chewy than flaky, but still delicious.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the Malak Pastry product before, and being a huge fan of the well-soaked Baklava found in Greek restaurants, I was surprised to find that I really preferred the Middle East Bakery product. It tastes of high quality ingredients and great skill. If you love Baklava, you owe it to yourself to try this one!