I thought of starting a thread that covers harder to find dishes/cuisines
Some examples here
Singapore food and especially chili crab , black pepper crab
Moroccan food tajines are getting harder to get and the only option in downtown isn’t worth visiting
Jordanian food I tried mansaf today so maybe that inspired this thread
Bulgarian food a friend’s parent is from there so they wanted to try one
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Adding the feedback for today for Jordanian food. I am not that familiar though I think I have tried this dish in Dubai not knowing what it is. As expected rice is quite rich and full of raisins and almonds. The lamb shank itself was very bland. I even had the hot sauce (very mild at best) and yogurt based sauce on the side that didn’t add much to it. Hmmm maybe someone else can chime in here to confirm whether this is authentic
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Singapore style chili crab is now sold at Little Hot crab so on my list of places to visit. I recall lion City used to offer it but one had to order ahead. No source for black pepper crab as far as I know.
Here is the link for little hot crab
https://www.instagram.com/littlehotcrab?igsh=MTY4cnZ0NjdmbmJrNg==
We don’t have much in the way of Scandinavian restaurants, particularly Danish. We have very little Cajun/Creole. We don’t have much Hawaiian beyond poke bowls. Hungarian is getting scarce.
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Will the Danish pastry house count 
They even opened one the Yorkville village recently. Yeah I hear ya I remember I dessert food spot on bloor West I used visit for their desserts and food that closed a few years ago. The name escapes me.
Maybe Karelia Kitchen, where Alma is now located.
Fika in Kensington makes nice kannelbullar (they always contain both cardamom and cinnamon), semla, and sunshine buns. The owners are Asian Canadian as far as I know. The baked goods taste Swedish to me.
I tried a lot of Danish Pastry House goods around 2015-2020. I liked their breads and some of the cookies. I’m not that impressed by their danishes and puff pastry-type goods. After I stopped taking VIA in March 2020, I stopped visiting Union Station, and I haven’t bought anything at the Danish Pastry House since then.
Some Scandinavian imports are available here:
If you ever drive out of town, there is Danish food in Puslinch, not too far from Guelph.
Also, one of the chefs at Donna’s is Danish, and he occasionally features Danish meals. Notice of upcoming meals is usually posted on Instagram.
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Toronto doesn’t have too much modern upscale Russian food. The Stop on Roncy is apparently excellent.
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I tried a Moldovan restaurant in Oct 2023. I wouldn’t say what I had was quite as tasty as some Georgian meals, but I’m always game to try new to me cuisines.
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There’s also Maven , a new Central European restaurant with some Ashkenazi dishes on Harbord. I’m looking forward to trying that one out.
https://torontolife.com/food/whats-on-the-menu-at-maven-eastern-european-jewish-harbord-village/
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I don’t think there are any Bulgarian restaurants around at the moment.
Mak Deli on Lawrence West would have some Bulgarian imports as well as Macedonian imports.
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I am interested in Khoja Cuisine. I rarely get to Scarborough or East York, so I haven’t had a chance to explore.
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There are a lot of Serbs, Croatians and Bosnians in Etobicoke and Mississauga. It’s not elusive there, but it’s interesting for me. I really enjoyed the cevapcici and burek from Sarajevo Grill last year.
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Burns night is this Saturday. The Caledonian is the only Scottish pub downtown right now. I think there had been another in the Upper Beach about 8 years ago but I’m not sure it’s still in business. The Caledonian serves haggis and a couple other Scottish specialties.
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People are complaining about the high prices. Matty’s Bar Clams is the only Maritimes restaurant in Toronto right now.
I don’t understand why the places that serve Halifax Donairs never seem to stay in business longer than 2 or 3 years.
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There are almost no German, Austrian or Czech restaurants left. I think there’s one German restaurants left in Scarborough, and a couple bakeries. One German bakery left in Mississauga and another in Oakville.
Prague Deli in Scarborough might be the only Czech restaurant.
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No Belgian restaurant. There was a place called Café Brussels on the Danforth in the 90s.
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Not much in terms of Dutch food other than the place on the Danforth and one shop near Weston IIRC. I am surprised that the GTA doesn’t have any pannekoek restaurant, considering Calgary and Vancouver have had a couple places for decades.
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Burmese.
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Danish Pastry House is good, but it’s not really a restaurant.
I thought Karelia Kitchen closed. I liked it.
For Czech, I like Prague Restaurant out in Scarborough. They have a nice patio in warmer weather.
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Yes, Karelia Kitchen closed. Alma is in the space where Karelia Kitchen used to be.
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Apparently there is a Burmese place in the Bayview village called Popa Burmese kitchen and Etobicoke has Royal Myanmar. Might try the mohinga at the Bayview village spot I guess.
Now defunct Rickshaw bar had Burmese influence dishes as the chef/owner (happens to be a friend of mine) resided there for few years and had some dishes at home from that region that were a staple
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Thanks.
I had a nice meal at Rickshaw Bar. Where does your friend work now, or what does he do now?
She is working at a health retreat South of the border as director of meal prep and wellness.
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If you can cook crab, the prepared chilli crab sauce from Prima Taste (from Asian supermarkets) is not bad. The only thing is they usually use mud crabs (which tastes different and only shows up in infrequently in our markets) but I prefer cooking it with dungeness (more meat).
As for mansaf, your picture looks like they didn’t give you enough yogurt sauce? At the Hangout Street food market on Parliament, they give you a bowl of that steaming hot yogurt sauce that you’re supposed to douse the dish with. The yogurt sauce is definitely a very distinctive taste and nothing like other yogurt-based sauces I’ve tried. The chef is from Jordan and he says he gets people traveling from Mississauga to eat his food. See his video as to how much sauce there is: https://www.instagram.com/mansafjito/
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A stand in a gas station in Richmond, CA serves Yemeni cuisine. The chicken mendi in the photograph is outstanding.
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Toronto has one Yemeni restaurant that I know of, that is located on a stretch of the Danforth that was once part of Greektown. Greektown has been shrinking as people have moved to the suburbs, and retired from their businesses.
This is the Yemeni restaurant located on the Danforth.
There are some other Yemeni restaurants in Mississauga.
Monasaba in Mississauga
Yeah I used to do that but prima taste chili crab mix can’t be found anymore (t&t supermarket) was my source.
They had a mansaf version with lots of yogurt I chose this one as what’s to try the rice with raisins
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I have been to Popa and really liked it, although I have only ever visited a few other Burmese restaurants…
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You mentioned khoja cuisine (Ismaili you mean I reckon) again rickshaw bar Ismaili beef curry was my go to dish for a while. There was talk of opening a similar spot at Agha Khan museum but never materialized. The current one is managed by McEwan I recall not anything special imo. I tried there visiting chef tasting menu as well a while ago not worth a trip on that occasion
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I went to the Aga Khan restaurant the year it opened with half a dozen Chowhounds. It felt watered down. I haven’t heard anything about it in years.
I started this thread about Khoja recipes.
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Cambodian?
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