Safari Snack House

While we were in the Deer Lake Park area, we came across a small complex of restaurants and little grocery stores right on Canada Way near the entrance to Deer Lake. One of the restaurants was a place called Safari Snack House which advertised the "Best Samosas in Town". This piqued our curiosity, so we went in.

The place itself is not just a restaurant, but a mixture of retail, take out and catering space, with a few small tables for eating in. The atmosphere is lively and friendly, with locals stopping in, and large, colourful murals of zebras, giraffes and lions.

The menu items were pretty interesting, with many East African dishes with a touch on Indian influence. Almost all of the menu items were under $10.

We ordered the Kabab ($5.25 for 4), which were different from anything we've ever had. These were really tender balls of gound meat which were deep fried to a deep brown crispness. The meat was delicious and nicely spiced, and the chutney that came with it was a tangy and wonderful complement.

Next we had the vegetable samosas ($5.25 for 3). These didn't look too impressive when it arrived, but these were great. The pastry was particularly good and crispy, and the filling was corn, potato, and peas.

We also ordered Mogo ($5.95), which was a huge plate of spiced, thick cut cassava fries. We'd never had cassava fries before, and it was different from regular fries. The texture and taste vaguely resemble potatoes, but the cassava is much denser and has a sweeter undertone (though it's not sweet). We enjoyed this a lot, but it was a bit too much for just the two of us.

For dessert we had a deep fried rice and coconut cake. The fried dough on the outside was crispy and chewy, and the inside was soft and pillowy, but the whole this was really oily. It was astounding the amount of oil that came out of the cake.

We really enjoyed Safari Snack House. It is different from anything we've tried, and we will definitely come back. However, our meal was a bit much because everything was deep fried. We felt a little unhealthy after this visit.