Restaurant Review: Samosa House

SAMOSA HOUSE 9405 118th Avenue Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

One of the best and most underrated areas for amazing food in Edmonton is Alberta Avenue. This part of the city has had its issues over the years but now it's a mecca for incredible cultural dining experiences all along 118th Avenue. One such place is Samosa House, a family-owned Somali restaurant with absolutely no online presence. Named as a Favourite Value Eats spot on the Edmonton Food Faves We Crave 2022 list, I was excited to give Somali food a try. The location itself doesn't look like much on the outside and the inside might be the epitome of a hole-in-the-wall... But at this point we know not to judge a book by its cover. Visiting on a Sunday evening, I entered into the somewhat confusing space. There weren't any other customers and it appeared that this was the type of place where we were meant to order at the counter. There were several glass cases fitted with warming stations, however there was no food to be seen in any of them. The most wild of all was the dining space - a small area crammed full with large booths wrapped in faux leather and emblazoned with the bright blue Somali flag. At first I didn't understand the colour scheme but then I looked up the country's flag and it all made sense. The booths are arranged in a maze-like formation unlike anything that I have ever seen before. There were no other decor elements but there was a TV mounted to the wall showing the TLC channel. It was odd, but again, I was more interested in letting the food do the talking. The people working were incredibly sweet and friendly. It was obvious that English was not their first language and they couldn't have been more kind and welcoming. This was especially true for the older woman, who I assume owns the place. Somalia is the easternmost country in Africa, situated on the Horn of Africa. I am not familiar with Somali food and there were many terms on the menu that I did not understand. While this was overwhelming, I wanted to do my best to sample as much as possible and to get a feel for this country's cuisine. I did notice a few similarities between Somali and Indian food, but only in a few instances. It's always so exciting to try something brand new for the first time! I appreciated the effort that the woman working made to offer some guidance and after our order was placed we entered the booth maze and found a place to sit. The food was brought out to us once it was ready. Starting with drinks, I noted a lot of interesting shakes to choose from with flavours like mango, orange, and banana. However, I went for the Sweet Somali Chai Tea ($1.50). As a person who already loves chai, I was very interested to try the Somali version.

I was asked if I wanted milk in the chai and I replied yes. Served in a cozy little mug, I was impressed by the frothed milk on top. I found this chai to be a lot sweeter than the Indian version - and I loved it! It still had that aromatic, warm-spicy flavour profile but with a lot more sweetness. I would certainly enjoy drinking a cup of this chai any time! With a name like Samosa House we obviously knew that we needed to try the samosas!! The Samosas ($2.00 each) are sold at an incredibly reasonable price point and have become the type of item that people like to stop in and grab on the go. Offered in three kinds; beef, fish, and vegetable, we tried all three!

Served with basbaas, a bright green hot sauce, this condiment is eaten with all sorts of Somali dishes. Ultra crispy and golden, I marveled at the uniform triangle pockets before me. The dough seemed less thick than an Indian samosa and I wanted to grab and bite into one immediately! Each samosa is served piping hot and positively packed with filling. I was pleasantly surprised to find contents that actually looked fresh and real - not some indiscernible mystery mixture. The beef samosa was stuffed with a spiced beef mixture while the vegetable one contained bright veggies like peas and carrots. However, the fish samosa was my favourite! (Everyone at the table agreed.) The fish was flavourful, well-seasoned, and was the most unique. We all wanted more fish samosas! I loved dipping each one into the zippy green sauce, the reason for their popularity seeming obvious. There are lots of food items on the menu that I was not familiar with, such as; muufo, buur, mindazi, malawax, and baajiya. We tried to get as much information as possible but I couldn't help but feel that I was missing out on delicious food simply by being too ignorant to the cuisine and its terms. Upon further research, I now know that muufo is a flatbread similar to naan or injera and that we definitely should have ordered this! Buur and mindazi are African donuts and they sound amazing. Malawax is a sweet crepe and baajiya is a fritter. I am now armed with much more information and I will be ready for my next visit! Samosa House also offers meals. They're essentially plates of food that could serve as an entire meal for one person - or you could share it among a few people like we did. There are several proteins to choose from but the obvious winner for the adventurous (which we are) is the Camel Meal ($20.00). Yes, camel. I didn't even know that you could source this type of meat.

Cubes of tender camel meat slow cooked and finished with our own sauces and sauteed with onions, peppers, and cilantro.

All meals are served with your choice of rice, pasta, chapati, malawax, fries, or muufo. Many of these choices are types of flatbread but since we were unsure of what to do, we chose the rice. The meals also include a side of housemade garlic mayo, a side salad, and a mango juice. It's pretty great value! I have never tried camel before and I had no idea what to expect in terms of flavour. It was very tasty! It has a similar texture to beef but a stronger flavour that is a lot like lamb. I found it very enjoyable and we were all pleasantly surprised by it! The rice was especially delicious and we were delighted that a basic item like rice could taste so good. Known as bariis iskukaris, this flavorful and fragrant Somali rice is made with basmati rice and a blend of aromatic spices like garlic and cardamom. I enjoyed the garlic mayo to dip my bites into, however the side salad was a bit sad. When the dish was served to us the server placed a whole banana (still inside the peel) on the table. We blinked at each other, not knowing what we were supposed to do with it. Eventually we were told that we should eat the banana with the camel. So we peeled the banana and sort of just put slices all over. I have no idea if this is what we were meant to do but the sweet freshness from the banana did compliment the dish well. Overall, this was a great new experience! Wanting to add one more authentic element to the meal we (pretty randomly) chose the Ambulo ($12.00) and hoped for the best. This dish also came with a mango juice.

Traditional Somali meal with adzuki beans and corn grits cooked until soft and served with sesame oil and sugar.

This is a famous Somali dish! Served with a bottle of sesame oil and a jar of regular white sugar, we were told to put both of these on top. This dish wasn't all that flavourful but was very hearty and mostly felt like eating a plate of beans. It was decent as a side dish but I wouldn't ever order this as my main meal. Not wanting to miss out on dessert, we ordered two. First, a Slice of Pineapple Cake ($3.00) which felt familiar.

Served as a nice big slice, this cake was very much like a pound cake, spongy and crumbly, with pineapple on top and caramelized edges. It was nice to eat and there wasn't anything shocking about it. It wasn't too sweet either. But the second dessert! Halwo ($7.50 for 1/4 a kilo) was a lot more exciting!

Sold by weight, they will sell you up to a kilo of this stuff! We were told that it is best enjoyed with a Somali coffee. This popular sweet is made of sugar, cornstarch, oil, nutmeg and cardamom. I have never had anything like this before. The texture is dense but gelatinous, similar to a Turkish lokum. The flavour is like Christmas with it's warm blend of spices. My husband was especially enamored with this dessert and claimed that he wants to purchase many kilos of it. He also said that he loves his new Somali grandma. This meal was absolutely full of exciting new food experiences! The value is also incredibly good. The next time that I visit I will order the Asria Combo (which the woman working recommended) because it includes many of the other items that I wasn't familiar with and didn't end up trying. On our way out the door our (aforementioned) Somali grandma insisted that she make us two more cups of sweet Somali chai to take with us. She used an espresso machine to froth the milk and handed them to us free of charge. I cannot overstate how lovely, generous, and kind these people were - this alone makes me want to return. Don't let the weird dining area deter you - the food and people at Samosa House are worth it.