ottawa foodies

Blubarry - glad you enjoyed those desserts. I had a hard time getting past the extreme sweetness, couldn't take more than a small bite of each, purchased 9 different kinds and gave up after trying 5. Felt like I was eating condensed/compacted sugar. Way too sweet for my liking, had a hard time even deciphering what flavours they were. My only hint was the different food colouring used and even then it was difficult. I could easily see how others with a sweeter tooth than mine would enjoy them. Quite cheap as they only charge $5.99/lb and it provided us an opportunity to try something new.

Unfortunately we arrived late on Saturday and their freah-made meals were almost empty. Ended up trying Karrara for the first time instead.

Glad this store opened as they have a lot variety and items I have never seen before. Bought a bunch of different spices and such and looking forward to trying out some new recipes.

The place is the biggest indian food store I have seen in Ottawa, very clean and organized and the staff were very friendly. A welcome addition!

This is a plate of sweets from Silk Roads that I brought to a luncheon yesterday. I don't know anything about Indian sweets, and the guy working the counter was nice but couldn't really describe them in detail because he said that he didn't know the english words to describe the flavours. My favorites were the little cylinders with the green centers, and the bright pink which had coconut in them. I really enjoyed the ones with the thick orange layer on top. Not sure what they were, but might have been carrot, pumpkin or sweet potato.

There are also many Middle Eastern and Indian convenience foods. Last night I used two packets from a brand called "parampara" and made chicken hyderbadi and vegetable biryani. When I opened the packets expecting to find powdery mixes, I was pleasantly surprised instead to see that they were spice pastes, and a quick check of the ingredients found lots of real ingredients and few additives.

I like the store, and the staff are polite and did try to be as helpful as possible. I am fascinated by some of the ingredients (like dried pomegranate seeds) and I'll be going back to experiment a bit in future.

Visited yesterday and was very impressed.

Lots of yummy stuff. Lots of different rices, fruits and veggies, pickled stuff, tons of spices and spice mixes, frozen fish (sharks etc), good selection of halal meats, frozen meals, boxed stuff, hookahs, cleaning supplies, dairy, etc etc.

There's a take-away counter that has some decent deals on food - I tried the butter chicken meal. The chicken and sauce was delicious but there wasn't enough of it. Came with a generous portion of rice and a good amount of chana masala.

I was in a bit of a hurry but I don't think anyone will be disappointed if you're looking for Indian, Afghan, Middle-Eastern foodstuffs.