A Bit of Persia in Chinatown
The large bright yellow sign outside of Shiraz Food Market distinguishes it from most other stores on the block. The community grocery store is at the intersection of Somerset Street West and Empress Avenue in the heart of Ottawa’s Chinatown. And yet inside, the small storefront is overflowing with aisles of Middle Eastern and Persian delicacies: dates, teas, canned vegetables, dried goods, breads, baklava, spices, nuts, and much more.
“Hello, my friend!” chimes owner Mina Patoo, as she flashes a warm smile towards the front door each time she hears it open, personally greeting customers as they enter her store. A visit is like taking a brief break from ordinary life to experience a bustling Middle Eastern market with its rich, exotic flavours, aromas, textures and languages of the region, but while keeping your feet firmly planted in Ottawa.
“This is a family business,” says Patoo, who emigrated to Canada from Abadan, Iran, roughly 35 years ago. “It’s been in our family for about 20 years, and we’ve all been part of it. I’ve been here for about two years, and before that, it was my cousin, who moved to Spain because the winters were too cold.” Her son, Ali Maj, also has the entrepreneurial gene and opened one of his three locations of Drip House, an Ottawa-based coffee house/cocktail bar, just steps away from his mother’s store.
Most weekdays, Patoo can be found in the store making house-made mezes like hummus, garlic sauce, tabouleh and grape leaves as early as 7 a.m. — although it only opens to the public at 9:30 a.m. Her customers come from all over Ottawa, and from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, to taste the fresh, healthy ingredients in her foods.
“I like when people love the food and many know what we make here,” Patoo explains. “Sometimes, they even come into the store just to ask me when the tabouleh will be ready, and when it is, I’ll see them come back to get it. The thing is, we don’t make too much of everything, instead, we make a little bit — most times, just enough — because we know what our clients want, and approximately how many will visit us each day. This way, we don’t waste anything, and sometimes, we even run out of our fresh foods.”
Patoo also furnishes the store with a cornucopia of products, all hand-picked and sourced by her. “It’s a lot of work, but I really enjoy it,” she says. “I like the people and I want them to feel happy. I try to get everything in the store that they might need, so they don’t have to go far for everything — yogurt, milk, eggs, and the list goes on.”
You can easily spend an hour or two wandering the aisles and picking up everything from bottled distilled herbs, naturally sun-dried green raisins, Persian smoked rice (Berenj-e-doodi), rosewater jam and walnut cookies (Nan-e Gerdui). There is an excellent selection of olives, oils, sour grapes and jarred preserves, as well as a vast array of bulk nuts, with more than 50 varieties, including Iranian pistachios (Pesteh) that are sold both fresh (with an outer softshell) and dried or roasted (in their usual hard shell.) Popular flavours include sea salt and lemon, as well as saffron, which, according to Patoo, has a “phenomenal taste” that can be savoured and enjoyed in each bite.
In fact, the best way to experience the full breadth of Shiraz Food Market is with recommendations from Patoo herself. A walk around the store and she’ll share some of her favourite staples, in- cluding cinnamon walnuts and sweet chili pepper jumbo cashews, as well as beautifully packaged Persian pomegranate ice cream.
And dates. Even before Patoo can share her pick for her favourite dates in the store, a customer comes in and asks for a box of Black Rubies of Bam. The bright red box is practically bursting at the seams with plump mazafati Iranian dates, rich in vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates.
“These dates melt in your mouth,” Patoo says, with a sparkle in her eye. “They’re too good to be cooked.”
At Shiraz Food Market, you certainly can visit with an agenda, or you can simply stop in to browse and end up leaving with several bags of treats and ingredients you didn’t know you needed. It’s a Middle Eastern treasure trove, and an opportunity for some of us to try (and learn) new things. Plus, there’s no doubt that you’ll find yourself in the company of some of Patoo’s regular customers who will proudly share just how much they appreciate the store, its selection, its quality of goods, and most of all, Patoo’s kindness — something that feeds her soul and makes happy, day after day.
Shiraz Food Market
725 Somerset St. W., Ottawa
sites.google.com/site/shirazfoodmarket | 613.563.1207
Going to the market?
Here’s a few things you might ant to pick up:
Tahini paste: Made from ground sesame seeds, tahini paste can be used in dressings, sauces and is one of the main ingredients in hummus. As well, you can drizzle it over roasted or steamed vegetables.
Tomato Paste: Shiraz Food Market sells a tomato paste that has a wonderful, rich flavour.
Labneh: A form of plain yogurt that is spreadable and thick, with a consistency like that of softened cream cheese.
Sumac: An herb that adds a sour and tart note to many savoury dishes.
Za’atar: A Middle Eastern spice blend that is a combination of marjoram, thyme, sumac, salt and sesame seeds. .
Pomegranate molasses: A type of syrup produced from reduced pomegranate juice for use in cocktails, sauces and salad dressings.
Rose water: A flavouring agent that be used to round off more intensely savoury spices such as saffron, and provide a high note to more mellow flavors such as roasted pista- chios and honey.
Ahmad cardamom tea: A warm and exotic black tea, reminiscent of Indian chai that can be served without milk, or enhanced when made as a chai latte.
