Shan's Foods: a gem in the middle of uptown

not too long ago, i sat on a southbound 151 bus, staring through the window feeling depleted and exhausted. lost in my day dream of getting home, after we passed foster, i noticed a sign that read "100% halal zabiha". i perked up.

reason being, indian/pakistani cuisine is one of my all time favourites. mostly because i'm a spice addict and really, no one does spice better than the south asians, but also because as a gluten free wheatard, part of re-learning how to cook for myself involved learning about indian and pakistani food (millet and chick pea flour as well as the myriad of dishes involving lentils are a wheatard's best friend).

i scanned the sad little strip mall of windows and realised that Shan Foods perhaps wasn't a crappy chinese restaurant, but possibly a chinese-pakistani restaurant! after discovering usmania chinese on devon, the silk road style of cuisine has become a bit of an obsession for me. either way, if it was pakistani or chinese-pakistani, the prospect of having a pakistani restaurant - period - within 6 blocks from my house got me excited.

i came home and told the boyfriend about my possible discovery. we promised each other we'd go check it out. and 3 weeks or so flew by.

last week, my friend anthony posted a facebook update about having eaten there. i commented by asking if it was any good. he replied yes, and cheap too. oh man, things are getting good and looking up for food-crazed sunny!

tonight, when i got home to find lucy canceled yoga due to her friend going into labour, the boyfriend brought up going for mexican. while i love me some al pastor tacos and guacamole, i was in the mood to cook. however, after realising it was close to 8pm and i'd be cooking for an hour before food would be ready, i threw out, "what about that Shan restaurant down the street?" i was curious to find out if it was chinese-pakistani or just pakistani anyway.

so in the miserable rain, we trudged down sheridan to Shan's. i cannot stress how well rewarded we were for that soggy and chilly 6 block walk. turns out, Shan's Foods is mostly pakistani cuisine. we ordered shami kabobs, samosas (for the non-wheatard), masoor dahl, lamb biryani and keema aloo. of course, i had to have a lassi - salty for me, thank you - and we gobbled up just about everything. the food was nicely spiced, the service fast and friendly and the bill was cheap! the bill total was all of 26 smackeroos.

also surprising were the grocery aisles stocked with indian curries, various spices, a nice array of lentils and remarkably, ground millet and teff flours! Shan's Foods also happens to carry a fresh selection of injera (ethiopian bread to accompany those amazing curried wat and lentil stews they make, but that's another story) as well as fresh produce staples like red onions, garlic, cilantro, chilies, curry leaves and ginger. i can't tell you how thrilled i am to know i can run there for my last minute cooking needs.

also, there is a sweets counter full of halwa, ras malai, galub jamun and barfi, among other things. i was too stuffed to even contemplate sweets after all that food. it's just another reason to return.

uh, hello, pakistani gem of uptown? where have you been all my life? actually, that life would only be the two months i've been living in crazy crackhead uptown. and who'da thunk there'd be other perks to crazy crackhead uptown besides cheap rent and proximity to the lake?