ottawa foodies

Their unique take on a peanut butter cup is unsurprisingly decadent and delicious. The outside is a thick fudge-like ganache while the interior is a relatively fluffy peanut butter cream. The exterior muffin paper sticks to the moist product so you have to kind of pry it away with a utensil as you devour it.

The peanut butter sandwich cookie is pretty amazing if you love peanut butter the way I do. It is very thick, very sweet, a little salty, and all delicious. Two thick peanut butter cookies are held together with a generous layer of peanut buttercream.

O. M. G.

I've stopped in a few Saturdays to try a variety of items. I (we) have enjoyed everything we've tried. Anna (one of the sisters) told me when they decided to open the shop, she wanted the food to be like her mom would serve. She takes pride in what she makes and she should.

None of the desserts had that sticky overly sweet syrup that so many do.

Galaktoboureko - Custard layer between layers of phyllo soaked with honey syrup. * oh so good. this was my fav dessert when I was a kid.

Traditional Kataifi - walnuts rolled in shredded phyllo, soaked in honey syrup * I'm normally not a fan of walnuts but this dessert made a convert of me. This was so good we ate it huddled around the box in the kitchen

Traditional Baklava

Apple Phyllo roll - good but not too much apple, it was more an apple jam

Lemon poppyseed cupcake- dense cake, good icing. I would have liked a bit more icing

Spanokopita ( spinach and feta )
Tiropita (three Greek cheese blend) - this was the winner of the two

Barley and Lentil Salad
Chickpea Salad

The salads are a bargain (IMO) at 4.50, they are generous portion, 1 served 2 people. For 10.50 we had filling lunch of 2 phyllo rolls and a shared salad.

Next trip I have to try the Loukoumades.

Stopped in today to grab a quick snack to take home. My son picked out a chocolate cupcake. I'm happy to report the cupcakes are now at least twice the size they were before. It is $3.50 but could easily satisfy 2 people. I am not a chocolate lover, but this was really moist and delicious. There were at least 5 different flavours (4 chocolate based, plus a carrot cake).

I also bought two salads. I found $3.99 for these salads to be very fair. I had lentil, bulgar and feta and the other was chickpea and hard greek cheese with a lemony dressing. Bean based salads are really filling and my husband and I split the two of them for lunch. We also had a three cheese pie (phyllo & Greek cheeses) and spanikopita. These were fine, but I'd probably try something else next time.

Since the canal will be open soon, and so many people take advantage of parking on Rochester on the weekends, it is definitely worthwhile stopping in here.

They are not open on Sundays.

Last weekend I tried the vanilla kataifi and it was delicious. A small container of honey soaked pastry shreds, with almonds, topped with a vanilla custard, whipped cream and toasted almonds. It was really good and 4 of us split the container and were very satisfied. They also offer a chocolate one with pistachio.

Today I had an order of sugar and spice loukomades. It takes at least 5-10 mins for the order because they make it fresh each time. The loukomades are tiny, fried dough. The dough is similar to a cruller type donut, but these are small (timbit size) chunks. When hot, they are rolled in sugar & cinnamon. They also have honey & cinnamon. They load up a paper box similar to a fry truck box, all for under $4. There were enough to pass around and everyone have a couple. Really, really yummy!

Everyone who works here is very friendly and happy to explain all the various sweets.

I feel I should add that the salads are rather expensive. $3.99 for a small Greek salad is too much. The feta adds cost sure, but that's too much for salad.

We stopped by here shortly after it opened. My son had a cupcake, my husband had some type of strudel-phylo type dessert and I had a slice of coffee cake. Everything was great. I found the cupcake expensive at $3 (normal-small size). I think it cost more than the slices of cake, but other shops charge around that much for a cupcake so it is on par.

I've been meaning to stop by and try more treats. They are open on the weekends, which is rare in that area. Morning Owl and another coffee shop both within 2 blocks of here close for Saturday and Sunday.

What really stood out to me and makes me want to come back more often is that it is a family run place. The family is all extremely friendly and welcoming. Spots like this where really great people, making really good, affordable food deserve to be noticed.

The Nutty Greek Bakery is a relatively new establishment on Beech at Rochester. They have a ton of excellent baked goods, yogurt, coffee, sandwiches, sausage rolls, spanakopita, etc. I have sampled a few of their goods and they’ve all been excellent.

Sandwiches - they offer a chicken pita, pork souvlaki, and gyro. These are filled with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, onion and very tasty tzatziki. The pita is warm and very fresh as well, although not made in-house. Meat portions are excellent, definitely not skimping on protein here. I have had many chicken pitas - when they opened the chicken tasted a bit bland, but in the past couple weeks it has been more seasoned and way more delicious. I’m not sure if an actual change was made or if my memory is making things up here, but I definitely saw an improvement to an already great sandwich. I am not sure if the chicken is cooked from scratch here or just reheated, but I will ask on my next visit. Either way it’s delicious. The one pork souvlaki sandwich I had was good, although the pork was a little fatty. I will eat it again though. I have not yet tried the gyro.

The best part about the sandwiches is the price - before tax, chicken is $5.99, can’t remember the other 2 but also low. These are incredibly fresh, healthy and tasty. They are also made fresh to order and I’ve never waited more than 3-4 minutes.

I’ve had a number of pastries from the Nutty Greek, and while I can’t remember the names, the standouts were the custardy-thing in philo and the sour cherry feta cheesecake. Very good, and again all made in-house. The sausage rolls weren’t greasy and tasted great.

The space is bright and all their baked goods are on display. The staff (all family from what I can tell) are friendly and funny, and will tell you all about their food and how it’s made and when etc. They take a great deal of pride in their establishment. There is room for maybe 10 people to eat in the restaurant. If you order take-out everything is packed up securely for you.

To summarise - high quality, inexpensive, authentic and fast Greek food in a beautiful and friendly environment.

After reading FF's comments, I had to try them. We had three each driving away from the place and the other 6 are waiting for me to make some hot chocolate for us to go with them. Truly addictive.

These fried-to-order doughnuggets are ridiculously delicious. I love the traditional ones that are tossed with honey syrup. I've also tried them coated with cinnamon sugar and that was delicious too. I have found no better way to feed a doughnut craving.

The quality and value make these a no-brainer choice over those anaemic slabs of fried dough you have to line up for on the canal.

sourdough - I'll definitely try the honey next. It was what they suggested, but I had kids with me and thought they'd like the cinnamon sugar better. It is a generous serving, so I'll have to wait until I have a companion. I'd say there were a dozen in the box.

oh loukomades, you make my heart twitter. I've never found these in Ottawa, and I loved them when I lived in Greece as a kid. I now have another must visit place on the list. BTW get them with honey, that would be the more traditional way of serving them.