Around the World in 196 Plates

Country 004 – Trinidad and Tobago (Leela’s Roti & Doubles)

Published on March 29, 2015March 29, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 900 Rathburn Road West, Unit 1, Mississauga
Website: http://leelasroti.com/

Well, that was disappointing.

I’ve never tried a double before (a doubles? Does it have to have the S?), and I’d certainly heard good things about Leela’s. Trying something new? At a reasonably acclaimed restaurant? Yeah, I was excited.

And the place was packed — so packed that I couldn’t even eat in the restaurant (I ate in the car, which is always fun).

If nothing else, it’s crazy cheap. I got a double ($1.25), an aloo pie ($1.50), and a bottle of Trinidadian soda ($2.00), and the whole thing came up to just over five bucks. And it was a fairly substantial amount of food, I should note.

I tried the double first. A double, for the uninitiated, is essentially a chickpea curry sandwich made with a special type of fried bread.

It was actually pretty bad. It probably didn’t help that it had obviously been sitting around for quite a while, giving the bread a mushy, unpleasantly sodden texture that was really unappealing.

The filling is essentially bland curry mush. It’s just kind of there, without any real personality: a gentle, ineffectual poke to your tastebuds. Nothing about it pops.

It also had an unpleasant undertone that I can’t quite put my finger on. The closest thing I can compare it to is particularly ripe boiled cabbage. That flavour wasn’t too strong, fortunately, but it was definitely there, and it was definitely off-putting — to me, at least. I think it’s safe to assume that, in the process of updating this blog, I’ll be eating dishes that would be classified as acquired tastes. So I don’t know if this was just a bad version of a double, or a taste I simply haven’t acquired.

The aloo pie was clearly the superior of the two items. Featuring a spiced potato filling surrounded by a crispy fried pastry shell, it was nothing particularly mind-blowing, but it was tasty at least.

The filling is essentially like a smoother, less dense version of what’s in a samosa. It tasted okay, but again, it was kind of bland. It was spicy, at least, which helped give it some personality.

The fried pastry shell had a crispy exterior and a pleasantly chewy bite, but it also tasted very strongly of stale oil.

So no… not a fan. But if you’re looking to get full on very little money, then sure, come here with a few bucks in your pocket and go nuts. Just don’t expect anything that great.

Country 003 – Cuba (La Cubana)

Published on March 15, 2015March 15, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 392 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://www.lacubana.ca/

I wasn’t even sure if I was going to write about La Cubana — it feels more trendy than authentic, but I’ve got 196 countries to get through, so I’ve got to take ’em where I can get ’em.

I started with the Corn Frituras, which are kind of like hush puppies, only way lighter and fluffier. Dipped in the perfectly tangy sauce that came on the side, they were addictive and amazing. I could eat about a million of them.

One of the reasons I wanted to check this place out was the episode of You Gotta Eat Here that featured La Cubana. In particular, the Medianoche, which comes with braised short rib, looked quite enticing.

Apparently the brunch Medianoche is completely different, because I got a ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top. I googled it, and it seems like this is a more authentic version of this dish (sans the fried egg). I probably wouldn’t have ordered it if I had known, because I’m not a huge fan of ham and cheese, but yay for authenticity I guess?

Anyway, it was a fine ham and cheese sandwich; there just wasn’t anything particularly interesting about it. My biggest issue was the bun, which was unpleasantly dense, and honestly just got in the way. The sandwich was also a huge, greasy mess, so after a couple of bites I tossed the top half of the bun and ate the rest of the sandwich with a fork and knife.

The sandwich comes with rice and beans, red cabbage slaw, and tostones. Rice and beans has a tendency to be a bit dry, but not this version. It’s definitely above average. The slaw was kind of like a much more subtle sauerkraut — also tasty. The tostones (essentially a mashed and fried plantain) had a pretty good flavour, but had the approximate texture of rubber cement that’s just about to harden. I’ve never had tostones before, but I’m going to assume something went wrong there.

Country 002 — Colombia (Las Delicias)

Published on March 2, 2015March 15, 2015 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 59 Dundas Street West, Mississauga
Website: None

Hidden away in a sketchy little plaza in Mississauga, Las Delicias is pretty much the very definition of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

The friendly proprietor quickly sussed out that it was my first time in the restaurant — and my first time eating Colombian food, period. She recommended the Bandeja Paisa, a decadent smorgasbord that pretty much dares you to finish it (I did).

Clockwise on the picture above, starting at 12:00 – a fried egg, Colombian sausage, fried plantain, crispy pork belly, corn biscuit, and steak, all served atop white rice and beans, with an addictively spicy bowl of hot sauce served on the side.

Nothing here was particularly great — in fact, I suspect that almost all of it is probably better served elsewhere. The pork belly was tough, and bordering on leathery. The corn biscuit was almost rock hard. The steak was overcooked and chewy. The plantain was soggy.

And yet I enjoyed it more than you’d think. Everything taken together, and topped with that great hot sauce, added up to something surprisingly satisfying.

The sausage — which had an odd, yellow colour on the inside and a unique texture — was a highlight. And it’s hard to mess up a fried egg. The beans, too, were quite good — kind of like a less dense refried beans.

I was disappointed at first, but the dish slowly won me over. It was a huge amount of food and I cleaned the plate. Of course, that probably speaks to my gluttony just as much as it does to the quality of the food, but still. I enjoyed it.

Country 001 – Spain (Bar Isabel)

Published on February 16, 2015March 15, 2015 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 797 College Street, Toronto
Website: http://barisabel.com/

Though I’m assuming this blog will entail going to a whole bunch of hole-in-the-wall type places that you probably haven’t heard of, I’m starting big: Bar Isabel, frequently named one of the best restaurants in the city.

Reservations are advised here; I called hoping for a Saturday evening reservation about a week in advance, and the only thing I could get was 10:30, so yeah, they’re pretty popular.

There is a reason they’re popular. Oh man, is there ever a reason. It kinda sucks starting the blog with this place, because I suspect that it’s going to be all downhill from here. The food at Bar Isabel was, as advertised, amazing.

We tried a few things but I’ll skip to the three highlights (everything was really good, but these three were outstanding).

The first was the Roast Bone Marrow; I’m not sure how authentically Spanish this dish is (chef Grant Van Gameren brought the dish with him from his old stomping grounds at the Black Hoof; presumably because it’s so damn good), but oh man.

It’s impressively presented, with a couple of enormous, bisected bones featuring a generous amount of quivering marrow waiting to be scooped out, accompanied by a few pieces of perfect, toasted bread and an intensely flavourful chimichurri sauce.

You scoop some of that unctuous, rich marrow onto a piece of toast, and then maybe top it with some of that sauce or a little bit of salt, and I can’t even tell you how good it is. I don’t have the words. It’s like the best bread and butter you’ve ever had, but meaty and rich.

Next up was the Grilled Octopus, which might just be this restaurant’s most highly-regarded dish. Surprise surprise, it was delicious. If you think octopus has to be rubbery and tough, you need to eat this immediately. It was perfect, with a texture I’d describe as being half-way between a pork chop and a scallop. It was ridiculously tender, with a nicely crispy exterior that provided a really satisfying textural contrast.

Whatever they marinated it in suited it perfectly, because it was so damn tasty. Again: I don’t have the words. It was served with creamy roasted potatoes and some kind of bitter greens and everything was amazing. AMAZING.

We capped things off with the Basque Cake, another dish that seemingly everyone said you had to try, and again, everyone was right. I’m going to try to ease off on the superlatives because this is getting ridiculous, but it was definitely one of the better desserts I’ve had in a while. Rich and custardy in the middle, surrounded by an amazing crust and crispy, caramelized edges — not to mention the decadent sherry cream it was topped with — it was the perfect end to a pretty outstanding meal.