SpiceCityTo

Journalist Sarah Efron explores strip malls and hole-in-the-wall restaurants in search of the city's best ethnic food

Thursday, June 23, 2011

This 24-hour Persian nightclub serves some of the best rice in Toronto

In a dingy strip mall in Don Mills, there's an amazing restaurant that serves what just might be the best rice in Toronto. Darband Restaurant, located at 879 York Mills Road at Don Mills, is a 24 hour bar and restaurant that serves Iranian food. In fact, the ten-year-old restaurant is often busiest at 4 a.m., as it serves as a gathering place after concerts and other events in the Persian community.  

Darband is a surprising find in an otherwise dire Don Mils strip mall.
Fairly quiet during the day, Darband is a late-night gathering place.

The kebabs are served with raw onion, parley and radish.

I used to work nearby and I came in here often for lunch to get the delicious koobideh kebab ($8.99), skewered strips of seasoned ground beef. The portions were giant, so I would save half and eat it for lunch the next day. It was always served with a mysterious plate of raw onion and parsley. Turns out this is meant to aid digestion, the waitress told me. A jar on the table of sumac, a red powdered spice, is also supposed to help with digestion.  

A wide selection of booze. Also 100% halal?
Maust 'khiar with pita.
Also on the menu: fesenjan ($8.99), a fried walnut pomegranate sauce mixed with chicken and rice, and ghormeh sabzi ($7.99), sauteed vegetables with veal cooked with dried lime. Vegetarians be warned: you won't have much to eat here, save the fried eggplant appetizer.

I started out with the maust 'khiar, a yogurt and chopped cucumber spread with mint that was similar to tzatziki. Then I had the chenjeh kebab, made of marinated spring lamb tenderloin ($10.99). The lamb is succulent, tasty and perfectly spiced. And the rice...! It's incredibly fluffy and buttery, with some of the long basmati grains tinted yellow from saffron. 

This style of Persian rice is made by partially cooking it by boiling it; then the water is drained and it's steamed to completion, resulting in a fluffy rice where each grain is separated. It's cooked with some oil, salt and saffron, which adds some colour to the plate. 

The lamb kebab with saffron rice.
Grab some pistachios or candy from this vending machine for $2.
Has anyone else been to Darband? Where else in Toronto serves great rice? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Darband Restaurant, 879 York Mills Road. Open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Tel: 416 445 1777



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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Spice City Toronto is now on Facebook

Spice City Toronto has a brand new Facebook page! Please 'like' it here to get news and discussions on the best ethnic restaurants in the Toronto area.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Doubles: The best thing to come out of the Caribbean since roti

I recently had the pleasure of discovering doubles: a mini roti/sandwich that is a staple of Trinidadian cuisine. After one bite I was planning a holiday to this magical island that produces this great food.

"It's called doubles because it's made with two skins, two pieces of fried bread called bara," explains Melanie Linton, the owner of Melo's Kitchen, a Trinidadian food stall in Downsview Park Merchants Market.





The fried bread gets its yellow colour from tumeric. Channa, a chickpea curry, is put in between the two pieces of bread. The curry is similar to Indian channa, which was brought to Trinidad by migrant workers. "Trinidad is diverse," explains Melanie. "We are a mix of people from India and Africa."

After bringing out the piping hot doubles, Melanie says, "we're gonna dress it up," in her melodic accent. She offers sweet and spicy condiments such as mango chutney, masala mango, tamarind and shado beni chutney, made from a Caribbean herb.

"At home doubles is a street food," explains Melanie. "Guys on bicycles go around with coolers with channa and all the condiments in it."

In downtown Toronto, you can pick up great doubles (sans condiments) for only $1.50 at Patty King, (187 Baldwin Street), a well-loved take out joint in Kensington that serves legendary Jamaican patties. In Scarborough, I've tried doubles at ACR Hot Roti & Doubles at 2680 Lawrence Ave. East (sadly soggy and most likely microwaved) and at The Roti & Pelau Shop at 15 Lapsley Road (pretty good).

Where else in Toronto has great doubles? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments field below.


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Saturday, June 11, 2011

Part II of Spice City's visit to Downsview Market, the most diverse food court in Toronto

In the last post, Spice City Toronto discovered that the Downsview Park Merchants Market (40 Carl Hall Road) has an amazing food court packed offering up cuisine from all sorts of far flung countries. Here, we visit a few more of the notable restaurants the market has to offer.

Rincon Cubano Dona Barbara (below) is a Cuban restaurant run by the Suarez family. "We opened this place a few months ago in honour of my dead grandma," explains the teenage girl helping out with the stall. "These are her recipes." During the week, her father works as a dental technician and her mom stays at home with the kids. For $9, you can get a generous plate of tasty marinated beef served with beans and rice, plantain and cassava.




Melo's Kitchen (below) serves up the classics from Trinidad and Tobago, such as macaroni pie and corn and shark soup. The owner Melanie gave me a piece of shark meat to sample—a strongly flavoured fish cooked with lime, salt, black pepper and thyme. The cassava pone, a chewy desert square made of brown sugar, pumpkin and coconut, it also quite good.

During the week, Melanie is a cook for a daycare, and she also serves food at various festivals during the summer. "When you have a regular restaurant, a certain set of people come in, but everyone comes to the flea market," says Melanie. "They try my food and they like it."


El Sabor Dominicano (below) is one of the older stalls in the market—they've been serving up food from the Dominican Republic for six years. They sell chicarrones, tripe, beef, chicken and plantain. The owner, Ahuilda, takes care of seniors during the week, but she hopes to use the stall to launch a regular restaurant at some point.


That's not all the International Food Court has to offer. There's also a Tex-Mex joint, a fresh juice and sugarcane stand (below), a Filipino restaurant and a halal jerk chicken (!) place.


The International Food Court is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Admission is free. There is free parking or you can take bus #101 from Downsview Subway Station.

Thanks to Jennifer Hollett for the photos and Gilbert for the tip.

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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The most diverse food court in Toronto is in this airport flea market

Who would have guessed that the food court with the most interesting cuisine in Toronto is located inside the Downsview Park Merchants Market, a flea market next to Downsview Airport?

Located at 40 Carl Hall Road, the market is home to merchants hawking used stereos and $5 T-shirts. But the gem of the market is its International Food Court, which is billed as an "international food festival every weekend."

Two dozen food stalls with tiny kitchens are sprawled throughout the food court and in other corners of the market offering cuisine that is hard to find elsewhere in the city. In fact, you could call this the food court of the future, because due to demographic trends and the growing popularity of international foods, you may see some of these items show up in your local mall at some point.

There are no chains in this food court. The businesses are family owned, and weekend-only hours and cheap rents (around $650 a month) mean that many of the patrons are dabbling in the restaurant business while holding down other jobs during the week.

El Rinconcito Peruano (below) offers ceviche, fried fish, and beef dishes. The owner explains that she hasn't translated the menu signage, as most of her customers speak Spanish. "This place is very, very authentic," offers an enthusiastic Peruvian customer. "This food is something that my mother would have made."




Pupuseria Delicias (below) sells made-to-order pupusas for $2.50. These Salvadoran thick corn tortillas are stuffed with beans, meat, cheese or zucchini and spinach. They also sell tamales with chicken or elote (corn). Wash it down with horchata, a milky sweet drink made with cinnamon.


Comida Ecuadoriana serves Ecuadorian fare such as empanadas and ciccarones, a thick cut of pork that is similar to bacon. When the owner, Catalina (below), isn't at the market, she's working at her Ecuadorian restaurant, Latin Flavour (4040 Steeles Ave. West). "I can't afford to advertise in the newspaper, so this is a good way to advertise my restaurant," says Catalina.
Soon, another enthusiastic customer comes up to offer his praise the restaurant. "Ecuadorian food takes a long time to make but it's quick to eat," he says.

Read the second part of Spice City's visit to Downsview Market.



The International Food Court is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Admission is free. There is free parking or you can take bus #101 from Downsview Subway Station.
Thanks to Jennifer Hollett for the photos and to Gilbert for the tip.

  • Share your own thoughts on the International Food Court in the comments field below.
  • Follow Spice City Toronto on Twitter.
  • Recommend a place for Spice City to visit at SpiceCityTO @ gmail.com 


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