SpiceCityTo

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

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Stellar patties and reggae tunes in Toronto's Little Jamaica

Want to try some wonderful Jamaican patties and buy suspiciously cheap reggae CDs in one stop? Head to Randy's Take-Out, a classic Caribbean joint at 1569 Eglinton Ave. West in Toronto's Little Jamaica neighbourhood. 

"We've been on this block since 1978," explains Jennifer, one of the shop's owners, in her soft Jamaican lilt. She's part of a Chinese-Jamaican family that runs the restaurant.

Customers line up to get piping hot patties for $1.33 each. Each patty has a delicate, flakey crust. We quickly inhale the beef patty, which is filled with a spicy paste, and the chicken patty, made with hot peppers and curry spices.

The vegetable patty is surprisingly tasty, and includes callaloo, a Caribbean leaf vegetable. The ackee and saltfish patty isn't on the menu, but it's worth asking for: the smooth taste of the ackee fruit and lip-smacking saltiness of the codfish make Jamaica's national dish a wonderful combination. 

At the counter, make sure you clarify if you want one single patty or one box of patties—many of the customers here buy them by the box. Fresh patties are $13.50 a dozen or $13 frozen. In addition to the patties, curry goat and oxtail are also on the menu. 

If the island food gets you in the mood to hear some great reggae tunes, you're in luck. During our visit, vendors speaking in thick Jamaican patois were peddling compilations of Jamaican tunes right inside the shop. At $3 a CD, you can't go wrong.


Randy's is located at 1569 Eglinton Ave. West at Oakwood. Hours of operation are Monday to Thursday 11am to 8pm; Friday 11am to 9pm; Saturday 11am to 6:30pm, Sunday closed. Randy's is cash-only and there's no seating. 

Thanks to Tonya from What's on my plate for the tip. 

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Monday, October 17, 2011

Excellent halal grilled meat across from the Danforth mosque

In the shadow of the beautiful Madina Masjid mosque at Danforth and Donlands, there's a solid block of  of halal restaurants. Makkah restaurant, located in the middle of the block at 1020 Danforth, is known in the neighbourhood for its top notch Pakistani and Indian eats. Makkah is the formal name of the city of Mecca, which is depicted in a large photo in the restaurant's dining room. 


 
Grilled meats are one of the specialities here. On my first visit, I had a plate of piping hot spiced beef kebabs for just $5. It came with salad and naan bread, which is baked in clay oven in the front window of the shop (see photo above). The plate came with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce that was so tasty I had to eat the very last drop.

  
 
On a subsequent visit, I tried the tandoori chicken (below). This tender pink chicken is marinated in spices and yogurt and broiled over charcoal, giving the edges an authentic barbecue flavour.

I also sampled some food from the steam tray. If you're expecting the lukewarm, bland, overcooked fare you normally get from Indian steam tray restaurants, you're in for a pleasant surprise. I ordered the meat thali for $6.99. I got chili chicken--big chunks of good quality boneless chicken coated with an intense layer of spices. It came with piping hot dahl with telltale red chilis sticking out to warn you of its fieriness. The plate also came with perfectly cooked mixed veggies and an entire plate of pilau rice.

 
 
The restaurant was established 18 years ago by two owners from Bangladeshi, although some staff, like the charming man above, come from India. The customers come from a wide range of backgrounds and neighbourhoods.

"I live downtown but I come here because I love spicy food," enthuses one client, Farhad. "I'm from Pakistan originally. My mom was too tired to cook today, so I came here. This place feels like home." He ordered two whole tandoori chickens ($15.95 each) to go.

There are some other interesting items on offer here: you can get tandoori quail, complete with salad and rice or naan, for $7.99, and foot-long kebab sandwiches for $4.49. On Tuesdays, they offer their spicy chicken biryani for a eyebrow-raising price of just $3.49.



Thanks to Miguel and Neeraj for the tip. 
Makkah restaurant is located at 1020 Danforth Avenue at Donlands. Tel: 416 406-2500. Delivery from 3pm til 11pm with $15 minimum order. Makkah has a second location at 2980 Danforth Ave at Victoria Park. Tel 416 693 2222. 

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Slushed ice soup and other tasty Korean specialities

"You've got to try Korean cold noodle soup," enthused my friend Hannah. "The broth is made of slushed ice."

Slushie soup sounded pretty terrible, I thought, but figured that Hannah, a Korean-Canadian writer who had explored the subject in a Toronto Star story, was worth listening to. We went to Tofu Village at 681 Bloor Street West to try the dish. 

While listening to sickly sweet K-pop music, we ordered up a sizeable feast. Tofu Village is known for its soon tofu (above). Pronounced "soon doo boo," it's a soft, creamy tofu served in a stone pot. You're given a raw egg, which you crack into the piping hot dish when it arrives at your table.

We ordered two kinds of slushed ice soup: the mul naengmyeon (above, $8.95) is made of cold buckwheat noodles in broth. Hannah explained that food trends are huge in Korea, and this dish has become popular in Korean restaurants around the world recently.

The noodles feel strangely cold in your throat, but the slushy texture of the broth is pleasing. The dish's punchy flavour, provided by the daikon, sesame seeds and spicy pepper paste, quickly won me over. The bibim naengmyeon (below; $8.95) had very little broth, but also featured cold buckwheat noodles.


More and more great dishes kept rolling out from the kitchen. The seafood and tofu pancakes were fried delight, and I was thrilled to see the stir fried spicy rice cake arrive at the table. I tried these alien-like bright orange sticks on the street of Seoul during a brief stopover a few years back. The chewy, spicy combo makes this memorable dish.

The Korean BBQ beef ribs, called galbi, were also excellent. Marinated in a sweet soy sauce, this meat is incredibly tender.

Following Korean tradition, the waitress gave us the pot the rice was cooked in with some hot water added to it. Hannah explained that historically, impoverished Koreans would eat the rice stuck to the pot's edges this way to avoid wasting any rice.

Tofu Village is at 681 Bloor Street West, Toronto. Tel: 647-345-3836. There is another location at 8362 Kennedy Rod, A06, Markham, Ontario; tel: 905 415-0077. Hours 7 days a week, 11am to 10:30pm. 

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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Funny signs from Toronto restaurants (Part II)

One of the pleasures of exploring Toronto's ethnic restaurants is taking in the amusing signage and creative uses of the English language. If you share my (admittedly strange) sense of humour, take a look at my recent signage discoveries.  

Dumpling House Restaurant on Spadina in Chinatown asks if you've got dumpling.
This shop in Chinatown East has both vegetables AND food.
St. Andrew Poultry in Kensington has some very talented birds. 
Wow! Hamdi, an African restaurant on Carlton, serves tender lion! Ooops, maybe that's tenderloin....
Oxtail power in effect at the Haitian St. Clair Bakery in Scarborough. 
At the Downsview flea market food court, you can get smoothies by the litter. Hmmm. 
The Downsview flea market also houses a Chinese restaurant called (groan) The Great Wall of Taste. 
Meanwhile, the Lahori Chaska & Paan House in Little India sells nothing but taste! 
Sorry folks, you are not allowed to do drugs at Mainsha, a Jamaican place on Eglinton. 
Fickle Viet Chinese Cuisine is now open on Yonge, presumably aimed at a fickle Asian clientele. 
A very modest establishment, Very Fair Chinese Restaurant in Scarborough. 
It's sister restaurant, Very Fair Seafood Cuisine, is also very humble.
This "halal" shop on Dundas offers quote unquote halal meat. 

For more funny restaurant signs in Toronto, please take a look at Spice City Toronto's previous post here.  Thanks to Lisa for the tip. 
If you know of any other amusing signs at Toronto restaurants, please comment or email spicecityto at gmail.com.
  • Share your own thoughts on Toronto restaurant signs in the comments field below.
  • Follow Spice City Toronto on Twitter and like it on Facebook.
  • Recommend a place for Spice City to visit at SpiceCityTO @ gmail.com 
  • Taste the food of the world without leaving Toronto with the Spice City Toronto World Food Map.