Tag: Ontario

The shawarmas of Ottawa

So many shawarma places, so few good ones

Ottawa is supposedly the shawarma capital of Canada, based on the high density of restaurants. From anywhere in downtown, it’s at most a few minutes walk to a shawarma restaurant. However, in terms of absolute number or quality, the claim is somewhat dubious as Montreal and Toronto have a larger and more diverse Middle Eastern population.

The only true food specialty in Ottawa is BeaverTails, a flat doughnut. If you’ve already tried that, you might as well check out the everyday food of this city. Don’t expect gourmet options. The celebrated shawarmas cost less than $10 and are considered fast food. From what I can taste, there isn’t anything unique about it. It’s close to Lebanese-style and similar to other places in Canada.

Ottawa
Ottawa

Here are some shawarma places that are consistently at the top of “best of” lists. For a fair comparison, I ordered the same thing at all restaurants: a small chicken shawarma wrap with all toppings and sauces.

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Bang Bang Ice Cream and Bakery

Best ice cream in Toronto

If you didn’t know, the best time to get ice cream is in the dead of winter. Go during the night if you can. That way, you can avoid summer lineups. It might sound like a joke, but not until you see the queues at Bang Bang Ice Cream during warmer months.

Exterior of Bang Bang
Bang Bang Ice Cream

Bang Bang seems like any other boutique ice cream store on the surface. Indie, takeout only, free samples, some creative flavours, but not eyebrow-raising like Death In Venice. Their strength lies in perfecting what they do. I am no ice cream connoisseur but Bang Bang is superior to chi-chi ice creameries I’ve tried in foodie American cities.

Their unique claims to fame include ice cream cradled in Hong Kong egg waffles (鷄蛋仔) and signature flavours like Totaro (ube and coconut) and London Fog (Earl Grey). “Bakery” is in Bang Bang’s full name, though they really only produce confections that can be slathered with ice cream. This isn’t a knock on their baked products. They are good but ice cream is really Bang Bang’s raison d’être.

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