Kiaresh M.
Yelp
So yesterday, for the first time, I went to Shah Bazaar. I found out about this place some time ago when I went to Shahs of Kebab and asked them for some very specific and hard-to-find Iranian dessert and delicacies. They gave me a business card for this store and said that what I wanted will always be available in this store.
From the outside, this store is almost invisible. A small market place which serves as an extension to Shahs of Kebab, but let me tell you something, what this store lacks in size, it makes up for it in hospitality. From the second I stepped into the store, I was taken back nearly 40 years to the small stores on Iran, where you were not a customer and them the shop owner, but rather this was their home and you were their guest. A time when customer service meant something and word of mouth was the only way to grow the business.
From the second we walk in, they gave us tea and let us sample all sorts of items that were at display. They were knowledgeable in their products and in the end gave us freebies for just visiting their store. They had freshly made food, desserts, and delicacies, and they said that if I wanted any dish at all, they would prepare it in a day or so. Even when I asked for items they didn't have, they didn't just say no, we don't have it, they offered similar items and helped to find what I was looking for.
I am sure many of you may know a small moms and pops Indian, turkish, or middle eastern shops that you go to in order to find rare spices. Over the last 20-30, the food from this region has become more popular and so people look for ingredients for these food. But I can tell you that many of items sold in this Iranian store are not found elsewhere. That is because of Iranian politics, the food, and not just the food, also the culture and the history of Iran, has remained isolated and is mostly unknown to the western culture. For that reason, what you find in such stores, the food and the desserts, cannot be found in other stores, at least not the way it is made in Iran. So if you are looking for something exotic, go to this store and try out different sweets. You may enjoy it.