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New Indian-style grocery opens in Vernon as number of restaurants swells

Explosion of Indian fare

Victoria Femia

The popularity of Indian cuisine is clearly growing by leaps and bounds in Vernon.

The number of Indian restaurants has exploded over the past couple of years, and now Vernon also has its first Indian grocery.

Shahi Grocery has opened up in the old Peoples Store location at 3700 27th Street.

It's been open for only two weeks, and owner Arshad Aziz says business is already going well.

Aziz, who also owns the Shahi Pakwan restaurant by Seaton school, says the increase in Indian restaurants across the city is what motivated him to open the store and meet the demand of residents for more Indian food choices.

“Everyone is noticing it, new Indian restaurants are opening in the town, which means the demand for Indian food or for the spicy food or flavoured food, is increasing day by day,” says Aziz.

“That’s why I knew, outlets or new restaurants are coming into town, and in order to keep up with that market we tried our best to gather all those high-quality spices and ingredients so that people can actually make those delicious, high-flavoured dishes at home.”

He says along with Indian food, the store also offers Thai and Middle Eastern items.

“We are offering very good quality brands and products ... most of them are imported from the subcontinent because it’s very famous for spices,” says Aziz.

“We tried our best to gather all these big brands so that we can offer the best quality, best spices to our customers in Vernon and area.”

Shahi Grocery also has dairy products and specialty imported sweets, and will soon have a meat section.

Aziz notes there are step-by-step recipes on several of the products in the store to assist those new to cooking Indian cuisine in preparing the perfect dish.

A quick Google search reveals a wide array of Indian choices for those who want to dine out, from longtime stand bys like The Curry Pot, to more recent offerings, such as Kal's Naan Stop, Saffron Touch, and newcomers Haveli and Namaste, which opened over the past year.



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