A community of foodies must curate, nurture, cultivate, and celebrate its ethnic culinary diversity…read moreor risk becoming a "food desert" with ingredients available only through big box chain stores and the Internet. Betsy's South African Deli is one of those outposts of culinary diversity that absolutely delights me, first for simply existing and having a wide variety of ingredients, packaged foods, and ready-to-eat items available, secondly for celebrating themselves with summertime braai (a South African take on what we call BBQ or grilling), and third, for being only a short walk from Whyte Ave (and also convenient to the ETS bus system). They even have the much beloved three-legged cast iron potjie, should you want to be making stew the correct South African campfire way! Oh, the memories this visit to Betsy's brought back of our time in SA. On hand are several varieties of borewors (sausages) ready for your grill and both biltong (think jerky) and droewors (dry sausages) for your hand. Join their Facebook group for notification of their events. Enjoy the braai!

During my exploration of ethnic food stores, I figured this small shop. Just right beside Paraiso…read moreTropical South. I was planning to go there once my bf is in town. With his Dutch descendant background, it's always good to know other people who have similar cultural background. I always have a high curiosity to learn other cultures of people and was so excited with their meat products such as Biltong (similar to jerky), Chili Bites and Boerewors. Boerewors is a South African sausage with a name that is derived from the Afrikaans/Dutch words boer ("farmer") and wors ("sausage"). The lady there is very friendly! She offered us some samples of biltong and chili bites. The chili bites are quite tasty. She told us many stories about South African foods. I love her hospitality!

There are many halal butchers in Edmonton. I have been to multiple locations in the city over the…read moreyears. Oj's Halal is located in a halal grocery store on the north side of the city. The butcher is very friendly and always willing to help. The butcher makes sure to acknowledge you even if it's busy and remembers his clients. The meat is very fairly priced and its so clean. Oj's does a great job with their Kalbi Ribs as well If you are looking for great product as well as service definitely check this place out, you will not be disappointed.

Stumbled upon this family owned business during Chinatown dining week. They have live seafood,…read morefresh butchered meat, Asian groceries and cooked food for catering and takeout. Some of the staff are a bit shy possibly due to the language barrier, but the daughter in law Prices of meat and groceries are about the same as other Asian markets. Catering food is great for the price, because they are a butcher and live seafood market you know the meat is fresh. Great place to call ahead and get enough Chinese and Vietnamese food for a party.

I was looking for supplies to make my own Bun Bo Hue and came across this…read moreplace while searching the net. Lo and behold they actually make this dish in quantity for group meals along with Pho and other soups etc as well as chicken wings. It is a medium sized place with dry goods,some vegetables and a meat market . For $60 you can get a 'self assembly' package of all the ingredients you need to make soup for 4 or 5 people including pre-cooked noodles,meats,vegetables ,toppings and broth. You order a day ahead. I bought the Bun Bo Hue version and it was very good. It contained liberal amounts of everything i needed . Well worth the money in these times. Broth was very good. The staff was very friendly and helpful. I will definitely be going there again.

Everything here is over priced. And this is not the worst part of it…read more All of these experiences that I am going to explain has been numerously repeated for me and my friends. They do not give you a detail receipt, and will just show you the total. When you add everything together yourself, 90% of time you will realize they are overcharging. They charge tax for food items that are tax free (e.g. Bread). If you tell them why you did it, They always apologize and say it was a mistake. But this mistake happened just for me 5 time in a row. Lots of items on their shelf is expired. I showed an expired jar of pickles to the owner and his response was, the expiry date has no meaning for pickles. They will get better with time !!!!!!! I hope no body calls health Canada on them. One of my friends went there and after check out they gave him a bottle of canola oil as gift. Surprise surprise, the oil was expired 6 month ago !!!!!, I am pretty sure sooner or later they will kill somebody, I was looking for fava beans, and realized he is selling the Chinese store fava bean just 100% more expensive. Overall, I rather go to Afghan groceries or as a matter of fact any other grocery store to shop for my ethnic food items. BTW, if you have a chance to travel to Calgary, Vancouver or Toronto. Please visit any Iranian store to find out how bad this place is and how a decent Persian grocery store should look like.

Mini Super Pars is a small, family-run Iranian (Persian) grocery store with a charming feel to it…read more Entering the store, one first notices the convenience store kinda size of it, with three aisles formed haphazardly by random cabinets aligned side-by-side. A warm pot of tea is always brewing which is awesome (it's free) and very Persian in taste. After equipping yourself with a cup of tea, you begin to navigate the maze of Persian things that are available here. From the traditional stone-baked thin breads (packaged in plastic, which is fine, from what I've heard), to saffron infused crystalline sugar, spices, sweets, yogurt drinks, pulses, grains and so on. Even a full cabinet of "Persian" tea and a couple of cabinets with lots of different canned items, some of which could be procured from any supermarket, but many of which are strangely unique in their use in Persian food. I liked the grocery store. They also have prepared sweets, including baklava. If I'm not mistaken though, I think the Persian baklava is made with rose water and sugar syrup (as opposed to honey and syrup). It might be worth trying, in that case! The shop owner was approachable and friendly. I like that they have tea brewing (and it's tasty - try it!) through the day. Very inviting feel.

We called before we ordered through skip the dishes, we asked if their butter chicken came with…read morerice. They said yes. We ordered two orders. When it got delivered, we had one container with no rice. I called again and they rudely said "that's two orders in one". Package your orders separately because there's no way to know that's one portion size or not. Secondly, we had absolutely no rice. They were arrogant on the phone and they're sketchy. Because they don't put what their orders contain on skip , skip can't refund you because technically "it didn't say it came with rice". This restaurant has no idea about customer service. Save your money and order from a much better restaurant that takes their customers concerns seriously. Sorry excuse of a restaurant.

I have been coming here for years to order takeout, and despite the sliding descent of quality or…read moreboth food and service, have not been deterred yet. Today, however, when I placed a pickup order for the first time in some months, I arrived to find neither of the employees wearing masks as one prepared to hand me my food. When I asked why no one was wearing a mask while handling patrons' food, I received a chuckle in reply. It was at this point that I left the store, but a couple of blocks away I found that one of the employees saw fit to chase after me, to explain that it "was hot" inside, and this is why masks weren't being used, as though this is suddenly a valid excuse to not take the most basic of steps during a global pandemic. A large reason I have continued to come here is the fact that they are very conveniently located, despite the overall quality of most of their menu offerings steadily becoming lower and lower, but this was the proverbial final straw for me. Special shoutout for always being made to feel like a second class customer because my 'white' manner of speech didn't match my 'brown' appearance.

Really great grocery store for fresh produce and middle Eastern products. They have a lot of Halal…read moremeat, great bread products, and lots of imports of candy, and jarred goods. What I would like to see more of is a deli with things premade....hummus, salads, etc. That would be nice.

Love this grocery store! My go to place for anything Lebanese - garlic sauce? Check. Premarinated…read morefresh chicken breast cubes for shish taouk? Check. Delicious bulgar and meat footballs called kibbeh? Check. Various dried spices if you're feeling adventurous? Double check. Probably a million other things I have no clue about but are fabulously delicious? Absolutely! They have a little Paradisio Bakery permanent popup in their bakery section so we always pick up some of the city's best baklava and other random treats while picking up groceries. This grocery store is locally owned and the owner is super friendly and has a lot to be proud of.

Best Beef Jerky! Best Service! Friendly staff. I only wish it were open longer on Saturdays.read more

I was very excited when I saw this business! I love pickled eggs and Jerky and especially I love…read morepickled eggs that were made with beets! :) They had all sort of products that I love and before I even think about it I bought a bunch of stuff! :) The girl who helped us was very nice and helpful and I know I'll definitely go back there again! :) and I recommend this business! :)

I love this place for meat , the guys that work there very friendly , always greeted with a smile ,…read moremy order is fulfilled accurately , fresh and clean . Very tasty sausage . I highly recommend this place for halal meat