1783 Main Street
204-334-2004
barakapitawpg@gmail.com
https://www.barakapitabakery.ca/
November, 2022
I’ll start with an excerpt from their website:
Lebanese Pita, the flatbread of the Middle East. Hot, fresh, and flavourful pita bread tastes divine. A pita fresh out of our oven and off the grill will surely boast the value of our traditional recipes, and to recognise flavour that pushes the boundaries. Pita bread is a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine and a favourite portable meal that can be grabbed on the go, which makes it a great lunch option in the modern world.
I’m not a dough or a starch person. To me, the dough just holds or acts as a conduit to the meats/mains/sauces. When people talk about pizza crusts, I just think of them as the holder for the goo. Pie crust? Give me the goo! Burger bun? It just holds the patties. So when it came to the pita pocket here at Baraka, I thought of it as just another starch container…
…and I am so wrong! It really is so much more! The bakery houses a massive gas-fired oven that sears dough in seconds. The charred portions of the pita tastes richly smoky and adds a lovely dimension to the filling.
I thought this would be the size of a pizza pop but in actuality, it's closer to the size of a football! It's massive and just one should be enough to fill the most demanding appetite. It's messy, so be prepared to have the ooey-gooey goodness drip all over your keyboard if you eat at your work desk!
This is the Beef Pita Pocket, which comes jam-packed with huge chunks of beef.
Quite often, I find beef overcooked and dried when I order Middle-Eastern dishes. They slice it off the vertical rotisserie, which spins constantly over heat, drying out the meat. This looks more like it's been formed into a patty and fried or broiled afterwards. It tastes deliciously spiced, with a crispy exterior and wonderfully moist interior.
There's a lot of minced spinach, held together with ample amounts of feta (pronounced FAY-TAH, not fett-ah). There's just enough garlic sauce to accentuate the package. This sauce blend melds perfectly with the beef and the pita, delivering the perfect bite with each sampling.
If you really don't think the pita would be enough food for you, you have the option of going with a platter, which has all the meat, the pita on the side, and a host of vegetables and rice on the side.
The Lamb Platter comes with an entire lamb kabob, sided with rice, hummus, taboola [sic], Greek salad and garlic sauce. The lamb tastes equally moist as the beef, and delivers a lovely taste and texture. By itself, the rice tastes lightly herbed but the garlic sauce makes a perfect accompaniment. If you like garlic, this is the perfect match and vampires will stay a block away from you after eating this. You also have tahini, which tastes a tad more bitter than what I'm used to. If that's not enough, you have a deep and complex hummus that pairs perfectly with any of the meats or starches.
The tabbouleh has a very strong taste of parsley, perhaps a bit too much for my preference. The salad comes with deliciously ripe and fresh tomatoes, dusted with feta on top. It's simply divine. You can wrap some of these fabulous ingredients into the pita side and eat it as a wrap, or just use the pita to sop up the remaining goodness.
This place is a gem folks! From their modest storefront, you would never guess what kind of great food hides behind those doors! Baraka Pita Bakery--love it!
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As usual, thanks for reading and good food to you!
Certified Kansas City Barbecue Society Judge – Badge #97736
Certified Steak Cook-off Association Judge – Badge #7788
Canadian Barbecue Society Member
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