581. Middle Eastern and South Asian Supermarkets Adonis and Iqbal – 2016

9 Jan

Categories: China, Egypt, Food, India, Korea, Lebanon, Middle-East

Exploring our wonderful, giant, ethnic supermarkets is fun and free, but it’s dangerous because of the temptations, especially in Adonis. This “multicultural” supermarket has one branch each in Scarborough and Mississauga.

While you can find most anything there that is also available in Loblaws or Sobeys, Scarborough’s Adonis has a huge selection of freshly-made baklava and other snacks. You might find yourself buying one of each just to sample on the spot or to take home. They all looked very yummy.

I was tempted to buy the Middle-Eastern “pizza” covered with za’atar, the popular spice mixture made of dried thyme, sumac, toasted sesame seeds, and sea salt, I bought a couple different Kebbe meatballs and they were good.

I wanted to try the date and the pistachio maamoul (short bread filled pastries), and the cheese rolls and samosas. Unfortunately, I only had room for the date, which was delicious. Unfortunately also, my husband was on a no-gluten, no-dairy diet. I couldn’t take any of these home.

Our group of four friends had planned to meet at Adonis for lunch. We found the cooked foods very appealing. My friends liked their stuffed zucchini and the seafood noodle with squid. We could try two different dishes in the same take-out container for about $6.49. Next time I want to try the fresh fish, cooked on site. Cooking fish would have taken 20 minutes, I’ll order that before going exploring. Adonis has tables and chairs where you can sit and eat.

The only other place I’ve seen octopus like this is at the St. Lawrence Market. My Egyptian-born friend found some pastries she hadn’t seen since her childhood in that country.

I was fascinated with the many choices available of tahinis, feta cheeses, pickles, and olive oils. What were the differences? There were also many varieties and sizes of ghee, the clarified butter used in Indian cooking. I remembered having to buy a large size once, the only size available, in our neighbourhood supermarket. I only needed a small amount for a recipe and had to throw out the rest.

I wanted to take home many of the frozen Middle Eastern foods ready for a microwave, but what to buy? I was glad to have a guide.The availability that day of fresh lichees, my favourite Chinese fruit, was a big surprise. Its usual season is June and the Spadina Chinatown that week didn’t have any.

Among the different syrups were rose syrup and mango pulp. I bought a couple cans of the latter (@$4.59) so I can make my own mango lassi at home. (Just add yogurt and water.). I liked the beautiful arrangements of its fresh vegetables and the decoration of its cakes.

I will return to Adonis the next time I’m in Scarborough. It is a bright, clean, beautiful store with a friendly staff, eager to help. As for Iqbal, I’ll go there for its larger-sized quantities of spices, rice, and nuts. Though they are not related, Iqbal is to Adonis as No Frills is to Loblaws. Iqbal is more like a warehouse,

I would prefer to go back to Adonis because we felt welcomed there and its weekly flyer is on line. It was really an interesting place to meet with friends for an adventurous lunch.

I wouldn’t recommend Iqbal for a pleasant lunchtime adventure. It has no handy tables or bake shop. I couldn’t find cooked ready-to-eat dishes to eat on the spot or take home. Its Halal meat section is like an old-fashioned butcher shop where you can watch butchers chopping up carcasses. I also found curious men there staring at us foreign-looking women. I didn’t feel welcomed there especially when a clerk told me not to take pictures. But it does have a shop next door with a good but simple Indian thali dish and lots of burfi sweets. It also has a huge number of boxes outside containing free ethnic newspapers. These were mainly South Asian like the Canadian edition of the highly regarded Times of India. I also found a free booklet advertising Muslim businesses and featuring interesting stories like the one about Muslim athletes in Canada. This directory should be of help to Syrian and other Muslim refugees.

Marché Adonis Scarborough, 20 Ashtonbee Rd., Scarborough, ON M1L 3K9. Website.scarborough@adonisgroup.ca. http://groupeadonis.ca/en/contact/find-us.php.

Iqbal Halal Foods, 2 Thorncliffe Park Dr #5-15. (Turn north-west at Tim Horton’s). http://iqbalhalalfoods.com/

Please let us know about other interesting ethnic supermarkets, especially ones that will let us take photos and have places to eat. You might remember my blog about the Middle Eastern supermarket Arz in 2013. It’s in Scarborough also. It is on: http://bit.ly/1Xuuev8. Its website is: http://bit.ly/1R120Vs.

581. Middle Eastern and South Asian Supermarkets Adonis and Iqbal – 2016

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