Breakfast in Iran: Trying Uncle Reza’s Sangak Bread

Sangak Bread

Once in a while, I manage to catch an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Where I cannot wanderlust, I rely on good old television! One of those episodes I caught featured Iran. And while Iran is all over the news for different reasons, it was refreshing to see another part of it—especially food!

I may have forgotten the rest of the show but what stuck in my mind was the scene of people lining up in bakeries in the morning to get their hot Sangak bread. Sangak is a plain, rectangular, or triangular Iranian whole wheat leavened flatbread.  'Sang' in Persian means stone or pebble. 'Sangak' means little stone. The bread is traditionally baked on a bed of small river stones in an oven. Then it is hung up to cool down a bit or handed off to the customers in line.

Sangak bread at Uncle Reza's

 There are, apparently, a couple of varieties of this bread offered at Iranian bakeries: the generic one which has no toppings and the seed bread with poppy/sesame seeds.

In one of the complexes off of Yonge St., I found Uncle Reza’s. Grandma and I saw some folks coming out of the bakery holding the flatbread I saw on the show! So, into the store we went to give this a try.

Fresh off the oven, we got a seed bread. It was straight on one end and pointed on the other. 

On the modern side--oven for Sangak bread 

And as we were paying, we asked what they usually ate with this bread. The baker’s wife recommended this bean/chickpea mixture (with free taste!) to go with the bread. A good source of protein along with some freshly baked flatbread, it was a good meal to start the day! I believe it was called, Abgoosht—a very tasty, mashed mixture of beans, chickpeas, potatoes and fried garlic cooked in wonderful spices.

Abgoosht --a perfect companion for Sangak bread

Grandma and I had our second breakfast of the day—a delicious, hearty Persian/Iranian breakfast! I am no expert in Iranian food nor do I know how this compares to other Sangak breads. But this was really good! I cannot wait for the kids to try this!

Greek outside of the Danforth—Santorini’s at Thornhill

Santorini's: Greek dining in Thornhill

On a rare weekday lunch, hubby and I managed to go on a date. So, seize the moment we did! We opted for some fine dining at Santorini’s in Thornhill.

I ordered grilled Kalamari (as it was spelled in their menu) with Tzatziki and lemon sauce. It was delicious! It was a very filling serving of 4 good-sized squids, perfectly charred. Grilled veggies and mixed rice were on the side. Looking at the many photos on the white-washed wall while enjoying my Kalamari made me wish I was having this meal in Greece instead! 

Grilled Kalamari at Santorini's

Hubby got his favourite Lamb Souvlaki dinner. A delicious Greek salad with a healthy amount of feta complemented his meal. The meat was nicely done and perfectly seasoned.

Lamb Souvlaki at Santorini's

Service was good, as I expected and especially since we were one of the few patrons this weekday lunch. And as we actually ordered from the dinner menu, it cost about $25 per person without wine.

A wonderful Greek meal outside of the Danforth added to a once in a blue moon weekday lunch with hubby makes for one special moment.  They apparently have special events with music and dancing as well on some nights. I hope we don’t have to wait for another blue moon to check it out!