Walking passed, I would not have guessed that Paramount Fine Foods is actually a restaurant not a grocery store. We were amazed at how quickly the place came together once the renovation started.

Then shortly, we received an invite for their pre-opening to try out their food. Upon entering, you see the Shawarma grill on the left with a hostess up front. It’s probably one of the most beautiful restaurants you’ve seen with an open Shawarma grill.

According to a long time customer that sat next to us, he told us the owner who started this was actually an interior designer. He brought Paramount in Mississauga when it was struggling and then he turned the business around into a successful franchise with more than a dozen locations. He wanted to have a decent halal restaurant where he would not be embarrassed to bring his date. Well, he succeeded.

Paramount has gained some loyal fans mainly due to a few simple reasons: their complimentary warm pita bread freshly baked in-house and the quality of their meat.

We started with their moutabbal – grill eggplant blended with tahini sauce, drizzle with olive oil and topped with a few pomegranate seeds, perfect for dipping into with the warm pita bread.

For the main, we shared the mixed grill so we are able to sample all of their meats. The dish was very generous with a grilled skewer of beef striploin, a skewer of shish tawouk (chicken), two skewers of kafta (ground beef mixed with spices), spicy bread and a small salad. The meats were all very tasty. We were especially impressed with the shish tawouk, since the chicken retained its’ juice and wasn’t dried unlike many places.

There’s bakery at the back and it looks really impressive. We had a piece of their Baklawa, it was delicious, surprisingly not as sweet as anticipated, so it was perfect for us. Just enough to wrap up the evening.

Paramount Fine Food
1250 Bay Street, Toronto, ON » View Map
t. 416.960.3434