Sahan sits smack-dab in the middle of a Wexford strip mall… the kind of unassuming spot you could drive past a dozen times without noticing, and yet it has quietly held court there for more than a decade.  Neighbours have come and gone, but Sahan has stayed rooted… a steady landmark in a part of the city that keeps reinventing itself.

Somali food still feels a little mysterious to most Torontonians… which is half the fun of discovering it on a #wednesdaysinscarborough field trip.

Alwal (goat ribs) are the star of the show… reason enough to head north by northeast.  Spiced with pepper and harissa, they’re still smoky from the grill.  A splash of chilli-vinegar makes you wonder why you ever bothered with barbecue sauce.

Suqaar, a Somali stir-fry of chicken, onions, peppers and tomatoes, shows up like it owns the table.  Every main comes with a choice of rice, Somali flatbread (sabaayad) or spaghetti (a nod to the Italian past). The small salad on the side, dressed in creamy cucumber, somehow tastes like something our mother might have made on a weeknight back in the day.

Owner Mohamoud Jiirdeh keeps the menu short and the cooking honest… and he treats us like regulars every time we walk in.  That is the part we secretly look forward to most: the free-flowing hospitality.  You start with a bowl of lentil and lamb soup that is as comforting as it is simple.  Before you have even unfolded your napkin, a big glass of fresh mango juice appears.  Then the tea keeps coming… black, lightly perfumed with cardamom, cinnamon and cloves.

There is nothing fancy about Sahan.  Instead, it is a taste of another place brought to life in a strip mall in Wexford… served with warmth and without fuss.