Seven Tea Miles

Address: 1507 Merivale Rd, Nepean, ON
Hours: 4 – 9pm (Tue – Thu); 4 – 10pm (Fri); 12 – 10pm (Sat); 12 – 9pm (Sun); closed Monday
Website: https://www.seventeamiles.com/
Green factor: Compostable/recyclable food containers; plastic drink cups; garbage bin on site

While out in Nepean recently, I tried an intriguing food truck that I had noticed last year – Seven Tea Miles.

Located near where Clyde merges into Merivale, the Seven Tea Miles trailer has a beautiful wrap that shows off their chai focus and the food that they have, which specializes in Indian street food. My suggested videos on Instagram are almost entirely desi street food, so I was eager to try these guys out!

The food menu is very compact, with ten-ish items on any given day, which is comprised of sandwiches, poutines, bowls and samosas.

The samosa chaat was an easy call for one dish, while we also got the crispy cracker chaat. For drinks, their chai was the big draw for my wife, and she got a chai frappe, while I went with the spiced mango iced tea.

After a short wait, we had our food in hand and made use of one of the nearby Dairy Queen’s benches to eat on since we had biked over. Merivale Road is not known for its friendliness to cyclists or pedestrians.

To say we were impressed by Seven Tea Miles would be an understatement – our taste buds and our worlds were rocked!

The samosa chaat ($7.95) was wonderfully executed with crisp pieces of samosa topped with chickpeas, yogurt sauce, mint, coriander, chutney and a sprinkle of broken up noodles. It was bright and flavourful, but still had a savoury depth; it was simply a deliciousness dish.

Somehow outdoing the samosa chaat, the crispy cracker chaat ($7.95) was a visual and culinary delight. The crackers (puri) were bulbous, airy pockets which were filled with yogurt and chutney. Miraculously, they maintained their crispness to the very last bite, although with how good these were, it disappeared quickly! Lentil flour dumplings added textural contrast to an otherwise light dish and worked wonders at absorbing all the tasty sauces.

The chai frappe hit the spot after our first significant ride of the year on non-stationary bikes, with its hit of spice and delectable whipped cream topping. My iced tea was equally refreshing, if not as much of a pleaser for your sweet tooth.

I feel like Ottawa is sleeping on Seven Tea Miles and this is the official wake-up call! With their unique dishes and drinks paired with spot-on execution, you couldn’t ask for much more.