Vanipha Lanna

Vanipha Lanna is a Lao Thai place at 863 St. Clair West (between Dufferin and Bathurst). We went to check out the Laotian dishes. The waiter warned the food would take a while and he was right. 

Laab gai (larb gai) is the a northern Laos speciality, eaten at Lao/Thai celebrations. It was a really intense chicken with lime and herbs, kind of like ceviche, and it wasn't really to my taste. 

The soop puck was interesting. It was a steamed vegetable dish that came with puffy rice bits, kind of like pieces of breakfast cereal.  

The best dish we had was gang hoh. It was like a curry, fairly spicy, served with veggies and thin glass noodles. Overall, I'd say the food was interesting, but not that great. And I was kind of hungry when I left, not a good sign. 

Soop puck, with shrimp chips and crispy rice.

Gang hoh was similar to familiar Thai dishes.

Sorry Laos, this was all we could manage to eat of your national dish. 

The ice cream, however, was really great: this is coconut and mango. 

Spice City Doggie Bag Index: Two stars

★ Don't bother taking any leftovers home

★ ★ Take leftovers home and stuff in the back of the fridge indefinitely

★ ★ ★ Tomorrow's lunch

★ ★ ★ ★ Proudly present the leftover as a present to significant other or roommate and then wait impatiently for them to eat it so you can steal some

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Midnight snack. Is it midnight yet?

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Tacos El Asador

This is one of my favourite downtown eateries. It's a Salvadorean/Mexican joint filled with picnic tables and it's always busy around dinner time. It's located at 690 Bloor Street West at Clinton.

The guy at the counter is friendly and cheery, passing along the orders to the woman in back. Every time I go there it's always the same. They rush around and give me everything I ordered except for one thing. Then nothing. Nothing. I'm certain they've forgotten me and then they rush out with the missing item.

The menu is quite varied, with hard tacos, soft tacos, pupusas, grilled meats and burritos. Most things are only $2 or $3.

When I pay the bill, the friendly gentleman at the cash muses about how strange it is that women in Canada pay for dinner at restaurants, instead of always the men. 

Quality Latino game shows.

Soft taco with pork. Highly recommended.

Rice con queso.

Cheese pupusa, made of fried corn flour. Warning, I have seen what a diet of pupusas does to the posteriors of women in El Salvador and recommend that you eat these in moderation. 

Spice City Doggie Bag Index: Four stars

★ Don't bother taking any leftovers home

★ ★ Take leftovers home and stuff in the back of the fridge indefinitely

★ ★ ★ Tomorrow's lunch

★ ★ ★ ★ Proudly present the leftover as a present to significant other or roommate and then wait impatiently for them to eat it so you can steal some

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Midnight snack. Is it midnight yet?

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Anjappar Chettinad Restaurant

This place was a recommendation from a very friendly Indian Tamil cab driver. It's a Southern Indian place in Scarborough, 3080 Eglinton East.

I was a bit skeptical, as it's a buffet place, and usually an Indian buffet means lukewarm, low qual bland food. But wow, I was wrong.

We were there in between buffet time so we ordered off the menu. We got the "non-vegetarian meal," with chicken. A few minutes later we had a platter full of wonderful samplings. Rice and paddadam, sambar (a veggie stew), kootu (lentil dish), poriyal (spicy potatoes), thick yogurt, and a few pieces of tender curry chicken.

Everything was super tasty and perfectly spiced. Some items were similar to standard Indian dishes while others had unique flavours from the region.

The restaurant had a very low "white person ratio"--around 5% I'd say.

We also ordered the sweet ghee dosa. It was two pancakes slathered with a sweet syrup served with yogurt, mint chutney and a few other chutneys. It was all quite tasty, although not as amazing as the non-veg meal.

This place is a real find--great quality food, great variety, and the bill, including two naan breads, was just $20.

OK, the sign might make you think you're at Big Boy, but stick with me here. (All photos in this post by Dana Lacey)

Anjappar is one of several restaurants in Scarborough with food from the Chettinad region of India.

The "non-vegetarian meal" is truly a delight. High quality, great variety.

This is the sweet ghee dosa.

Big Boy's showing his age these days.

Spice City Doggie Bag Index: Five stars
★ Don't bother taking any leftovers home
★ ★ Take leftovers home and stuff in the back of the fridge indefinitely
★ ★ ★ Tomorrow's lunch
★ ★ ★ ★ Proudly present the leftover as a present to significant other or roommate and then wait impatiently for them to eat it so you can steal some
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Midnight snack. Is it midnight yet?


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Caribbean Roti Palace

This is a classic joint just south of Honest Ed's on Bathurst (744 Bathurst Street). The service was far from friendly but I'd say the roti is better than average.

I had the boneless goat roti (goati?). The dough is nice and fresh. The goat meat is surprisingly tender but still flavourful. Unlike some roti places (Island Foods I'm talking to you) the meat roti at least has some potato to lighten it up a bit, although it's still a heavy meal.

Around since the days of 7 digit dialing.

Irie.

Boneless goat roti. Made out of boneless goats? Sorry, couldn't resist.

Spice City Doggie Bag Index: Three stars
★ Don't bother taking any leftovers home
★ ★ Take leftovers home and stuff in the back of the fridge indefinitely
★ ★ ★ Tomorrow's lunch
★ ★ ★ ★ Proudly present the leftover as a present to significant other or roommate and then wait impatiently for them to eat it so you can steal some
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Midnight snack. Is it midnight yet?



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