A Food-Lover's Guide to Little Persia

While there are Persian shops and restaurants all over the North Shore and indeed the Lower Mainland, the heart of the community is clustered around Central Lonsdale Avenue, between 13th and 21st streets. Here you will find ba eries, kebab shops, markets and more.

Ayoub’s Dried Fruit & Nuts
Step into Ayoub’s and enter a magical Aladdin’s cave of dazzling chandeliers and ornate silver urns filled with pistachios, cashews, almonds, dried fruits and all sorts of tempting snacky things. Find both raw and roasted nuts here — they are roasted fresh daily — as well as nuts fl voured with lime, salt, saff on and spices or mixed with dried fruit, seeds or chocolate. The selection of dried fruit goes well beyond cranberries and raisins — think apricots, dates, sour cherries, mango slices, mulberries, kiwi, candied strawberries, papaya spears and more. And if that’s not enough temptation, you can also find pomegranate molassses and the best deal on saffron in town.

Bakeries
At bakeries such as Afra and Rex, it’s all about the sweets, often made with phyllo pastry, nuts, rosewater and spices. Among the baked goods you will find: zolbia (a crisp, syrup-soaked fritter), baklava (phyllo pastry filled with nuts and spices), kataifi (similar to baklava, but made with shredded phyllo), cream-filled cakes, halva (a sweet confectionary made with sesame paste) and a wide range of cookies including chickpea-flou cookies (nan-e nokhodchi), rice-flour cookies (nan-e berenji) and walnut macaroons. Meanwhile, other bakeries, such as Amir, specialize in bread, specificall , flatb eads such as taftoon, lavash and barbari. Note that baked goods are often unlabelled, have no prices posted and are typically sold by weight.

Markets
Looking for fresh pomegranates or bunches of mint, halal meats, dried dates, sacks of rice, packets of barberries, bottles of orange blossom or rose water or every type of feta imaginable? You will want to explore the local Persian markets. The ambiance is often bare bones, with cans and jars stacked on stainless-steel wire shelving under fluo escent lights and, outside, wooden or cardboard bins overfl wing with fresh produce. But the prices are good, as is the selection, with treasures to be discovered around every cramped corner, especially in summer when you can find sour cherries and fresh herbs for a fraction of what they cost elsewhere. The best known of the markets is Persia Foods, which has four locations on the North Shore, including two in Central Lonsdale, as well as three in Vancouver and another in Burnaby. Vanak Market is another local favourite, while The Meat Shop & Deli sells just what its to-the-point name suggests — halal meats and deli items.

Restaurants
The best way to sample Persian cuisine is to take a seat at one of the local restaurants and indulge in the fragrant skewers, salads, stews and rice dishes. There’s lots of lamb, fish, herbs, yogurt and vegetables on the menus, mouthwateringly flavoured with pomegranate, walnuts, dill, barberries and saffron. If you’ve never tried Iranian cuisine, start with a cucumber salad and a koobideh (ground beef ) skewer served with saff on rice. Be aware that the menus aren’t always all that informative, so you may find yourself asking a lot of questions. Be advised, too, that not every restaurant serves alcohol, but the food is always freshly made and richly flavourful. Some popular restaurants include: Cazba, Kolbeh Deli, Mehman Restaurant and Yaas Grill House.