ottawa foodies

Great place to get some fresh ground meat! I live in the area and often saw Africans buying ground beef for Kitfo here. Finally bought some myself as well as some mitmita spice and made some great kitfo. It wasn't ground too finely and would have also made great steak tartar. They also make great kofta here, I froze some this summer and brought them camping for dinner on the first night of a trip and it was a big hit.

Ahmed, if you look under the title, you'll see a link titled location that will show you where it is.

Where is it located?!

I popped in here yesterday mainly because of the Captain's feature article he did on them ;-) I'd driven past the place so many times over the years and always wanted to pop in. The chicken drumsticks are even cheaper than at the little Muslim place around the corner from my house, and only about 10 cents more per kg than Costco! The little mini sausage were fantastic and went over especially well with the kids.

Did not have much of a chance to browse as I had the 2 boys with me and they were rather rambunctious. But I took a quick pass up and down the aisles and was pretty impressed with what I saw at a first glance. Small but diverse selection of huge jars of olives, at close to Costco prices again on those. #1 son was especially excited about that since he at 7 years old is already a major olive aficionado. Seemed to have a good (quality-wise, not diverse) variety of artesanal cheese.

Definitely going back soon when I have a bit more time to myself.

I love this place.

Went this afternoon and picked up some rose water, raw pumpkin seeds, lemon salt pistachios (ohmygod!), pickled lemons, and some nuts.

Good selection, good prices, and the staff are very nice. They let you browse, but are always on hand to answer your questions.

Here are some pictures I found on Facebook for the Al-Kalaa Mini Mart.

Notice the well stocked shelves and cleanliness.

Here is the inhouse butcher at his showcase.

The Makanek Sausages are in the trays in the middle of the display.

(Notice he has a big Halal beef in his hand)

All the meat at Al-Kalaa is Halal and is locally produced with no antibiotics and are fed well with grain.

Not the 'French' kind ...but the good 'ol coconut kind with a meringue base.

Totally yummy ... totally addictive.

A buck a crack for a big one ... enough to share with a loved one.

This tin is host to the largest, tastiest nuts I've found in town. Pistachios, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, chick peas. Lightly salted and perfectly roasted, the quality is top notch.

I had dropped in a few weeks ago and bought the cheaper ones available in bulk packages. The friendly proprietor pointed out the tinned ones -- at twice the price I figured this was just an upsell, but I went back to try them this weekend and the quality speaks for itself. $12 for a 500g can. Please don't buy them all, save some for me! ;-)

It is the "Super Extra" mix from here: www.choucrihamasni.com

These are popular in the midle east.

A wide assortment of nuts.

From peanuts, pistachios, pumkin seeds, cri-cri (coated peauts), hazel nuts, cashews etc.

Prob due to price!
I go to a local baklava store and you can easily pay $1-2 per piece depending on size and if you want extra nuts on top.

A container like that can easily be $15.00 plus tax!

Al-Kalaa's baklava comes from a bakery in Montreal. Good ... but with all the bakeries in town, I wonder why they get their's from Montreal.

The Al-Kalaa's kofta is great.

Juat as cheap as lean ground beef.And all the work is done.

They use Halal beef ... locally grown on grain and no antibiotics.

Just slide in a bamboo or metal skewer in each piece and BBQ.

Ohh ya !!

What a way to impress your firends when they come over for a BBQ or even better yet... take a tray to a BBQ party... surely you will be the only one with kofta.

Really good with tahini mixed with water, lemon juice and garlic (with a bit of salt).

I think they get their Zaatar bread from the Middle East Bakery Middle East Bakery on Somerset St.

These picked cucumbers come in both large (see picture, third jar from the left) or small jars.

I like them with sandwiches made with pita bread.

Here is the olive selction at Al-Kalaa Mini Mart.

My favorite is a 'house prepared' green one, called Farmiski.

The peanuts from the Sudan come in large containers for approx $2.65.

They are half the cost of Planters with 3 times as much peanutty flavour.

These are what peanuts are meant to be.

Top-notch homemade product available for bulk purchase here! It is rich and creamy, with less sourness than you might encounter elsewhere.