Adding feedback link for Jamil’s Chaat House
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We were out on the Golden Mile and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try Cafe Tea Talks, a Malabar/Kerala place. Since it was mid-afternoon, we took out and reheated the food for dinner.
One of their specialties is biryani so we ordered the Malabar beef version. It featured tender, slow-cooked beef; very coconutty and deeply spiced. The beef was embedded in fragrant kaima rice (extremely short grain). It came with some sort of beet sauce (pachadi?) and two containers of raw-onion and carrot raita.
Malabar cuisine apparently has a Yemeni connection and so we also ordered the Peri Peri Alfaham Mandi. A tender chicken leg was coated in a spicy sauce and served with basmati rice, redolent with cinammon and peppercorns. It came with what seemed like a spicy salsa and a garlic mayo. My wife preferred this to the biryani.
We also tried the kadala curry, made with black chickpeas. While rich in flavour, it was too salty. We also ordered some porotta, a soft, tasty, oily flatbread
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We tried Cumin Kitchen on the Danforth, after our intended destination for lunch was out of what we came there for. It was nearly empty on a Sunday at 2:00. Overall, pretty good. The tandoori item was the standout, so we would go back for more from that portion of the menu.
My wife started with the rose lemonade: rose water, lemonade, grenadine, soda - fragrant and refreshing.
They gave us complimentary papadums: crispy chickpea flour chips with cumin seeds, served with a side of tangy and sweet mango vinaigrette sauce - dry not oily and very tasty.
From the tandoor came 3 tender and juicy Australian lamb chops, marinated in a vibrant yoghurt-spice mix. The flavour was great and the accompanying yoghurt mint sauce was superfluous.
Bhindi dopeazyaI featured sautéed sliced okra, onions, and tomatoes, seasoned with chaat masala. I liked it, but my wife found it uninteresting.
Goat masala could have been cooked longer to make the tendon melt more. And the sauce could have been more flavourful. Decent but not great.
We had the above with some plain basmati rice and some nutty whole wheat roti cooked in the tandoor.
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I’ve lived in the east end for decades and have driven through Banglatown many times, but never sampled any restaurant there. So tonight we ventured into Woondall. Apparently they serve a buffet that doesn’t get going until later in the evening (we saw them setting it up), so we ordered a la carte instead. Well, at least we did after they finally stopped ignoring us.
Beef tehari featured tender stewed beef, full of complex flavour, embedded in aromatic basmati rice and garnished with fried onions. In addition to being delicious, it was quite rich.
Mutton khachi featured equally tasty but not as tender mutton on the bone, with a real kick in the underlying sauce. It came mixed with basmati rice and was garnished with sliced cucumbers, a deep fried boiled egg, a patty made with what seemed like some kind of pulse and potato, a red coloured potato, and more fried onions. If only they braised the mutton a bit more.
To drink, we sampled their homemade yoghut-based drinks. Borhani was made of sour doi, green chili, mustard seed, black salt, coriander, mint, and who knows what else. Mildly sweet, herbal, with a hefty kick, and odd, but fairly likeable. Mango lassi was very tangy and otherwise pretty standard.
Overall, worth a revisit, maybe for the buffet or the duck curry and chicken dishes.
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If you’re in the area, try Adda Bengali at Danforth & Danforth.
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I ordered take-out from Aangan tonight.
Overall, good quality. Prices are high.
Kokum chicken tikka, $32. I would order this again. Very juicy and nicely flavoured.
Raw Banana Malai Kofta, $32
I didn’t bother taking photos of my plain naan ($5) or basmati rice ($10).
Gulab Jamun, $18 (steep)
They have a $55 per person set menu, as well as à la carte.
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