Recommended Pakistani/Indian/Desi food spots in Toronto GTA

[elvisahmed]

Adding feedback link for Jamil’s Chaat House

Jamil's Chaat House

I will comment on the setup first as it did effect the overall experience. The space is tight and a lot of counter seating which is tight as well for someone who is slightly above average height for Canada. I was quite uncomfortable during the whole meal and that’s without wearing or holding heavy winter jacket etc. I wonder what was here before maybe a cafe as the space seemed to be geared towards that (more on this later as I didn’t see a stove) Stairs to go down are also a bit of unnerving ve…

[DrJohn]

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

[DrJohn]

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.