Warm Persian bread, sweets made the old way, and a full Iranian market under one roof.
On one side the oven runs all day. On the other, shelves stocked with everything a Persian kitchen needs. Most days you will meet the family who runs both.
Sangak, barbari, and sweets, fresh from the oven.
Spices, cheeses, rice, and everything for a kebab night.
Afra is run by one family. The same hands shape the dough, pull the bread from the oven, and box the sweets, the way it was done back home. Come in and you will likely meet them.
Baked on the stone wall of the oven and handed to you warm. You pick it and bag it yourself.
Thick, golden, and crisp on top. Best within the hour, so we bake it through the day.
Thin and soft, for wraps, cheese and herbs, or the kebab table.
Soft and light, the everyday bread of a Persian table.
Thin pastry, pistachio and walnut, a touch of rosewater and saffron.
Saffron brittle from Qom, crunchy and not too sweet.
Light rice cookies that melt in your mouth.
Mixed boxes for guests, for Nowruz, or just because.
Bread by the loaf, sweets by the box or the pound. Everyday prices, cash or card.
Slow cooked wheat and meat, some of the best in the city. Warm and filling.
Thick herb and noodle soup, the way grandmothers make it.
Golden, crisp saffron rice cake, a North Shore favourite.
Herb frittata, fresh and green, great cold the next day.
Past the bread counter is a full Iranian market. Spices and dried herbs, feta and fresh cheeses, basmati and Persian rice, pistachios and dates, tea and rosewater, and everything you need for a proper kebab night, down to the skewers and the saffron.
A trip to Afra is like a trip back home, the only place in the lower mainland with salad olivieh that tastes like mom's.
The bread is good, especially the same day. Get the sangak.
Baked right here, all day. The sangak comes off the oven wall warm and you bag it yourself while it is still hot. That is half the reason people come.
Yes, and we do it often. Call a day or two ahead for big trays of sweets and fresh bread and we will have it ready for you.
Come ask. The shelves have the herbs, spices, rice, and cheeses you need, and whoever is at the counter has probably made the dish a hundred times.
Right out front on Pemberton Avenue, a quick in and out even at lunch.
