This shop is surely one of the nicest discoveries I have made so far in my Mooncake career. Small in surface area but big in everything else. It took a relatively long time before I finally walked in here because until recently this place was the quintessential hidden gem. No name on the facade, no awning, but plenty of garlic and ginger outside the door. One day I went inside anyway and my attention was then mainly drawn to mountains of sweets in bright colours:

Just look at that:

Pakistani sweets:

Pakistani street food

I thought: I'll go past there again with my camera. But food got in the way. Sometimes I just don't know where to start anymore – the list of places is long. By now a few years have passed and Saeed, the owner, has done up his shop (now with an awning and name on the front) but even more importantly: he has started selling unmissable snacks and drinks. To eat there or to take away.

My all-time favourite snack right now is samosa chaat – a popular street food snack in countries like Pakistan, India and Nepal and, as of now, in the Netherlands too. What a winner. Just look at this:

The samosa is made by Saeed’s family and has infinite layers of flavour. When you bite through the crunchy exterior, you reach a generously filled, soft interior with potato, peas, a hint of chilli and cumin here and there, and garam masala. This little parcel on its own is already worth cycling out of your way for, and you can also order it on its own without the chaat (I say: definitely take a mountain of them and stock up your freezer!).

Tamarind chutney

But promise me you'll also order the samosa chaat to eat there. The chaat is a mix of spiced chickpeas, potato pieces, red onion, coriander, tomato and green chilli accompanied by a mint yoghurt sauce and not forgetting: imli ki chatni. Tamarind chutney. Someone should give the inventor of that a Nobel Prize! Below, it's the brown sauce in the foreground:

Enjoy.

He's got it all

You mix all these elements together and enjoy a heavenly fusion. A little sweetness here, a touch of spice there, another bite of your samosa. Seriously tasty. Order a homemade masala chai or mango lassi with it (made with honey-sweet Pakistani mangoes) and you're sorted for the next few hours. Now this is proper food! You can keep going on this, and for a long time too! Just for a laugh, put a slice of white tiger bread next to this with some fruit sprinkles… or a stick of celery with coconut oil. Then you really can't understand how there are people who survive on that?!?! But they do exist. I couldn't do it. This samosa chaat satisfies so many needs. The need to satisfy your hunger for a long time, the need for something comforting, the need to give your taste buds a really good shake-up, the need for a break. A chance to take your mind off things. This well-filled bamboo plate gives you everything you are looking for. The Samosa Chaat: he’s got it all.

Chai tea latte doesn't exist

Oh and: the family mixes and grinds the blend used for the masala chai themselves. Drink that chai and never fall for that powdered rubbish in trendy tins with far too much sugar to even be able to taste anything anymore. After this, you will never want the rubbish chai that the average coffee shop in the Netherlands sells. Which is also often called chai tea latte, which is weird because chai means tea.

For my segment on BNR Nieuwsradio I interviewed Saeed. You can listen back here.

Gol gappa a.k.a. pani poori

But… there is even more. E.g. gol gappa a.k.a. pani poori. Available in a packet as well as a street food snack. The crispy spheres below are slightly cracked open at the top and filled with a mix of chickpeas, coriander, and finely chopped pieces of tomato and onion.

Next, the whole little device goes bottoms up in a watery mint or tamarind sauce, and then you pop it entirely and (do yourself and those around you a favour) in one go into your mouth. Great for parties!

All sorts of exciting sauces and a pani poori starter kit:

Pakistani curry in no time

Supervet. Oh and the red leaflets on the left of the photo, we'll zoom in on those too in a moment:

A step-by-step guide to making a really good curry at home that you can take with you. Super fun. And what's totally brilliant is that Saeed's family also makes their own curry blends:

Prepared for you to shine with. For curry with chicken, lamb, vegetables, etc.

Pakistani delis

Fill another box with Pakistani delicacies such as walnut halwa, rasgoola and gulab jamun and you'll steal the show, I'm telling you:

Or take these flashy ones with you:

I feel like going to a disco now.

All the spices of the rainbow

And while you are there, make sure not to skip the spices aisle! I'm starting to get the strong suspicion that Saeed sells every single spice that exists on our planet in his little shop. I discover something new every time:

And also all the spice mixes that matter in the world:

This below is apparently very good rice. It's Saeed's favourite. He sells other brands too, but he says this is by far the best. So grab a bag to take with you and try it out.

Canned bitter melon (sopropo in Surinamese cuisine and bitter cucumbers in Germany :-)):

You'd rather not skip the Kitchenware department. There is all sorts of fun stuff to discover. For instance, I found this charming pan there:

Goat's milk face wash and snake oil

Finally: not edible, yet fantastic: the cosmetics department. From goat's milk face cleanser to papaya, rice and saffron soap, snake oil and ubtan – a mixture that women (as well as men) rub their skin with before getting married:

There is so much fun to be discovered at Saeed's. His shop is in the top 3 of my favourite places in Amsterdam-Oost… And now as I write this, I think: it's at number 1. Everyone down there.