Saanich loves food—from farm-to-table bistros and diners to sushi and curry, the district has just about everything. But some felt there was a gap in the district’s culinary palette—a gap that could only be filled with shawarma, kebab and falafel.
“There was a lack of Persian food,” said Aylar Ebrahimi, who transitioned from a career in health care to one of the owners and founders of Niloo, a new Persian restaurant in Saanich.
“I decided to start introducing this kind of cuisine here in Victoria, and it was a great opportunity for us,” she said.
“Many people are coming here to try the food we’re making. They’re enjoying it and coming back and back again. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life.”
Ebrahimi had no professional cooking experience, just a passion for sharing the cuisine of her home. While it's been a lot of learning and hard work, she says she’s living the dream.
The owners of Niloo are three Persian families, all of whom have been involved in the region’s Persian community since immigrating to Canada over the past decade. Together, they pooled enough money to open Niloo, a name that translates to “water lily,” a symbol of resilience due to the flower’s ability to thrive in harsh conditions.
“It was a lot of work for us and a big investment. But we had this dream—this vision of making this happen,” said Iman Ronaghi, another of Niloo’s co-founders.
Niloo operates out of the Royal Oak Shopping Centre on West Saanich Road. Despite taking over what was previously a vegan restaurant, the Niloo owners installed a commercial kitchen and transformed the space.
“It’s become one of my favourite places to eat—it’s so good, right?” said one customer stopping in for lunch.
“When I take people a wrap, I give them [Niloo’s] business card.”
They serve a bounty of fresh Persian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean fare, but their emphasis on grounding their menu in the palette of Persia is what sets them apart from other restaurants with similar options.
“Coming from Iran, whenever we went to those restaurants, we really felt that the flavour was different, and we wanted to bring the Persian take on that—like what it was originally supposed to be.”
“Persian food has lots of different flavours that people here aren’t familiar with,” said Ebrahimi.
“The food we are making—we spend lots of time on it. It's not just cooking fast; it’s a different level of preparation. And it’s healthy—we use a lot of ingredients that are good for the body.”
Despite the foreign origins of their menu, their ingredients are anything but. Even before tariffs spurred a push to shop Canadian, Niloo had been sourcing as locally as possible, while keeping everything halal and made in-house.
It’s an effort you can taste in their food—from olives marinated in pomegranate molasses and topped with walnuts to perfectly cooked kebabs and saffron rice, to a chicken shawarma that somehow manages to be both delicious and filling without putting the customer into a food coma.
Shawarma and kebab are naturally some of their best sellers. In many parts of Canada, you can’t step outside without tripping over a shawarma wrap or slipping on garlic sauce—the general popularity of the dishes has helped give their business an immediate boost.
“A lot of people come in and say, ‘Hey, we really missed this. We’ve seen this in Vancouver, and we’re so happy you’re here now,’” said Ronaghi, though he thinks some lesser-known items on the menu deserve more love.
“One thing a lot of people haven’t tried yet is our lamb shank. We cook it in a way that’s tender and juicy, and we serve it with two types of rice—one that is special to Iran.”
Tackling the project without external investment has made otherwise straightforward tasks—like installing a 10-foot fume hood—more difficult than expected, especially when the crew meant to install it didn’t show up the day it was delivered.
"It was three of us—three guys from the business—standing there with that big hood coming off the truck, like, ‘Oh my god, how is this going to happen?’ So when you say challenge, I think about that day,” said Ronaghi.
“We were able to call in some friends to help, so we really had the support of our community—friends and some other business owners from town. It’s like three, four tons.”
With plans to roll out a Persian breakfast, a community behind them and new regulars stopping by all the time, Niloo is ready for the future as they continue to share their food and live their dream.
