This review is from my visit in early December 2020, before Ottawa was in lockdown.
So I love Lebanese meat pies, and I introduced them to my parents and my parents now love them too, lol. I had them for the first time at Aladdin's Bakery and I always compare all meat pies to the ones at Aladdin's. I live near Aladdin's, but my parents live in Orleans, and I've been trying to find some meat pies for them closer to their home. I was super excited when I stumbled across Shami's Bakery on Google. And knew I had to check it out for my parents.
So when I arrived, I realized that I had been there before, when it was called Al Jabal Bakery. The phone number is still the same. Not sure if it's just a name change and makeover, or if it's actually a different business, as the last time I was at Al Jabal Bakery was in 2015.
Anyway, I got 8 meat pies to share with my parents. They are $2.50 each, taxes included. I really liked that the dough was thin and crispy (I hate it when it's thick and chewy), and the meat was plentiful. However, I found there was too much of a certain spice in the meat for my liking, I believe it was cinnamon or nutmeg. However, it was not too salty (which was my complaint with Al Jabal Bakery). It did lack that smokey flavour that I love with Aladdin's meat pies though. Still pretty good, especially for Orleans, lol.
Now the man who served me was super nice and friendly. He asked me if it was my first time there, and I said yes. I would have been more chatty with him and asked him about Al Jabal Bakery and the history of Shami's Bakery, but we are in the midst of the Covid Pandemic and he was wearing his mask around his chin (!) so I decided to keep the interaction short. He told me about all the other products that they sell at the bakery and encouraged me to return to try them. I agreed that I would. They had some interesting items, like stuffed pockets filled with turkey and vegetables, and I think they had a chicken and mushrooms one too. They also had the usual pockets stuffed with spinach and onion, spinach and cheese, meat and potatoes, and cheese and olives. They also sell kaak, and pitas.
I think I will return once the Pandemic is over and check out their other savoury goods.
The bakery is in the Convent Glen Shopping Centre. It's not visible from Jeanne d'Arc Blvd, even though the address is on Jeanne d'Arc. You can only see it from Orleans Blvd. Note that it's at the corner of Orleans Blvd and Jeanne d'Arc North, not Orleans Blvd and Jeanne d'Arc South. It's in the plaza with the Metro and the Dollarama (not the plaza with the Your Independent Grocer and the Dollarama). Lots of free parking. read more