KevV

... To add to earlier comments, apparently 'Markham and Eglington' in Scarborough is 'Tamil Town TO'. Anyone been?

As I am rarely out there, it would be good if someone could fill us in on this... Any takers? Yes Geoff, my neck of the woods - Parkdale - which also relates to Jake's question: Sure, I cook at home. I've got 3 cookbooks I picked up in SL, but usually tend to wing it. I love Sinhalese style daal, for example, with coconut milk added twice, their aubergine curry, deserts like love cake or wattalapan... (though I've never made the sweets myself). There are things like lampries - a Burgher dish - which would be fun, but which I haven't made yet. Seeni sambol is good and easy. Various other veg dishes... I'll cook them when I'm in more of a veg mood, although fish curries are great, as are prawns, crab... I'm not too much of a chicken man, however, and in SL people tend not to eat much pork, beef, lamb, etc, if at all. In another discussion someone asked where one might get fresh curry leaves - I mentioned you can get them at the Kana Super Market, which is around QueenW & Lansdowne/Jameson (south side). It's a Tamil shop with lots of spice mixes, rice (including samba rice, if you like that) and some produce too. Pretty good, and better prices than House of Spice in Kensington (mentioned recently in another discussion, but where I bought some stale stuff a few months back). Of course, I've been to the Indian area in the east end for a shopping trip, too. In Parkdale there are also several Indian and W.Indian shops selling spices, fresh coconuts, etc. For tropical fruit I suppose I'd look around Kensington & Chinatown. Haven't tried the King & Dufferin place, Geoff - kind of a diner from what I remember. ('Canadian & Sri Lankan Cuisine'?) I wouldn't be surprised, though, if their rice&curry set ended up to be pretty good despite the pretty modest facade. And a few days ago I noticed another place on QueenW almost right across from Kana's - not really a restaurant, more of a walk in, snacking/take out joint. I imagine they sell short eats, kottu, and such. I'll pop in to have a look at some point.

Okay, here goes... I mentioned that I once had a curry leaf tree in my backyard and was then encouraged to start a thread on where one might find fine 'Sri Lankan' food in TO. So this is it! To be honest, I have absolutely no suggestions of my own. I moved to TO in Feb and tend to cook at home, so I'm not the best person to ask. And so with Sri Lankan restaurants: I've never been to one here, but would be happy to hear of which are good - be they Singalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher, or whatever might exist out there... Finally, in honour of the most convincing suggestion made, I volunteer, at some point, to conduct a 'field trip' of sorts and report back to our eGullet readers. Kv

More in my neighbourhood, on the E side of Ossington, not too far south of DundasW (and closer to DundasW as opposed to QueenW) there is a pretty good place. Can't remember the name, but I'm more of a location than a name guy, if you haven't noticed.

If you are really ambitious, you can get curry plant seeds from Richter's in Goodwood, or online, and grow the plant in a window. ← I used to live in Sri Lanka and had a curry leaf tree in my backyard. Great for cooking, yes. They seem like hearty plants and certainly give off plenty of scent, but were also notorious for attracting different types of bugs. I'd be curious how well they'd grow indoors here. But fresh leaves are not hard to come by. I live near Parkdale and there is a Tamil shop and an Indian shop I've been to around Queen&Lansdowne, south side. Both sell bunches of curry leaves for 99 cents, the Tamil Sri Lankan shop being the better of the two from what I remember because they freeze theirs; the Indian shop just keeps them out and the leaves dry up. (Sri Lankans after all, especially the Singalese, are the ones that seem to cook most with curry leaves.) 99 cents (+ 15 cents GST ) will probably get you far more than you need unless you are cooking for 30. Just freeze unused ones. (Don't know if they're sprayed, but also probably good idea to wash first.) I'm sure if you have a Tamil shop in your neighbourhood they'd have some. No need to go to SLM where I imagine they cost more.

Whoa, I lived in Toronto 1990-1995 and my memories of downtown Chinatown are pretty good. I'm now back, been a few months now, but I haven't spent much time in Chinatown since. I'm sad to read so much bad press here. Has it really gone downhill so fast and so far - 'in the last 10 years' according to someone? And good heavens, who wants to go all the way to Richmond Hill!

I must be missing something. Does eGullet have political overtones? Am I being watched as I type this? What's that noise! ... Hey! ... (Uhh!)... If you've read this, you will also be in Danger. Big Brother

Sorry! I don't know.

I've hardly ever been up there, but I know that Finch&Yonge has a concentration of Korean things. It's not quite East Toronto, but it might also be convenient. As for communicating with a non-English speaking Korean shopkeeper, try some gestures to show you want a recommendation and mutter: 'mak-sang?' It can mean 'best' or 'highest quality'. (Sorry, my Korean is also extremely limited. But if you would also like to know how to say hello, order a beer, or say 'I love you' I can still help.)

A few people have been discussing where to get fresh kimchi... Certainly not hard to come by. Someone mentioned the big Korean supermarket - sth side of Bloor in the Korean area. However, the various other grocers around there will sell it too. I haven't really ever looked for it anywhere else as it's the obvious place to go. If you look at the type made from Chinese cabbage, some have labels - ie. a 'brand' - and others don't. I don't have particular recommendations which to buy and would just say choose what looks good to you - fresher looking if you like that taste, or 'less fresh' for a more fermented taste. I think most are made around Toronto, and some imported from Korea. Or ask the shopkeeper for a suggestion. (Can't see how there could be a language barrier with this, as I think someone mentioned; pretty easy question to get across.) Or just make a batch yourself! Koreans would scoff at me, but I don't think it's that hard, if you know how it should taste. I suppose you could freeze some, and also give some away. Makes an ideal stocking-stuffer, I would say.

Has anyone been to El Rincon Mexicano? (South side of StClairW near Christie.) I think I went there years ago. But a little too long to remember well, though I think it was good.

... What I think we mean is that, if you had complained, the staff might have been forced to share some of their kitchen drinks stash to keep you quiet. Free drinks to compliment your salt dishes! (Teetotallers: Please note use of 'wink smilie.')

Manolo - did you complain about the salt?

Well, with the reported over-salting of food, and now rumours of kitchen drinking getting some people worried, I just wanted to point out that - as indicated by my telltale use of 'rolleyes' (ie. ) and comment about 'a joking suggestion' - that the purported kitchen drinking is, in fact, only a joking suggestion. Still, as far as I'm concerned a kitchen crew can drink all they want as long as they do their work well. And, you know, it happens. As for the salt issue - no one has responded to that, but I suppose drink allegations are more scandalous than mis-measured ingredients or sodium sabotage. And someone wrote: Oh, you must mean the good places. ... Anyway, sounds like a bit of a put-down, thank you Fung Jiao Bao. You sound like a serious person, and so I refer you again to the rolleyes above.

Maybe the cooks were all surreptitiously knocking back drinks? I know when I cook and have wine, beer or whatever, at the same time, I tend to over-salt. Plus, you said you went Sunday night, probably the night when JW and the more 'strict' managers aren't there. I know that waiters and cooks tend to have a few back in the kitchen on such nights. I won't go into more detail, but I've seen it happen. (A joking suggestion, but you never know. Could be true!)

Another good comment from Susur in the Wed TorStar 'Food' section - although I'm not entirely sure I agree - was why serve food in restaurants that you can just make at home? Well, there's the issue of convenience - perhaps you can make it, but 'don't have time', etc. Lots of people are like this, though I think what is usually means is 'I don't know how to cook,' 'can't be bothered to try,' etc. Yet, it can sometimes be fun to taste things made by others which you have made yourself, and to compare. Sometimes, by the time I'm finished making something, I'm just tired of it and don't want to eat it. Let others do the dirty work 'cause I've had enough. But if someone else makes the same dish for me ... But I generally agree with what Susur said. It'd be nice to go for a meal where ingredients are used I just wouldn't/couldn't buy, where I wouldn't know the techniques needed to make dishes myself, where a recipe would combine things in ways I wouldn't have thought of.

Why not just stay in Toronto? Never go back west. We are far superior to Vancouver. Just wait to you see the CN Tower!

Oh-oh, by now poor 'Sonja' must be overloaded with recommendations for her brief stay! For years that place was N.side of Bloor, downstairs, but near Bedford&Bloor, or closer to Avenue than Spadina. I passed by a couple weeks ago and it is now gone. I remember Hart House ran a student cafeteria type operation for years, which was then shut down. I'd be interested to hear if they've re-vamped things and added fine silverware and such. Jeez, if only I still had credit on my old meal-card! Yup. See what others've written above.

[chuckle] Well, if you'd rather stain your own personal copy, for which you paid the big bucks, then go ahead! More trees will be cut down if you all buy your own, but at least for library types like myself this also means less competition for the copies available for lending.

Toronto Public Library has got about 8 to 10 copies on order. Today I reserved one, the 33rd person to do so. Doesn't usually take long to get to the head of the list, though.

Lots of 'trendy'-ish places are a few paces to the west of Bathurst/College, along College. A French place, Cafe Margaux, just before Ossington along College, N.side, looks good and would probably be considered affordable. There's also a few potentially nice and affordable places on Baldwin St, which is south of College, between College and DundasW, beginning at Beverly St a bit past Spadina and east of Bathurst. Try a google. Chinatown's not far.

If you google it, you can find the Casa Barcelona website which lists their menu(s). Yes, lots of tapas. But I guess, aside from paella, that's what comes to mind when people imagine 'Spanish food', and so they must sell well. There are other dishes too - proper platos - and so you can certainly have a full meal there from the looks of it. I've heard they're not Spanish either, not that it matters if the food is good. It's just that I lived for a while in Barcelona and was trying to figure them out. What's the Bcn connection? Their menu does list some typical Bcn, Catalan or regional dishes (tapas not being one of them).

A caution about Vince Gasparro's, even though I earlier recommended it... They have some nice stuff, but check what you buy as I think they try to unload the less fresh bits to unfamilar or unaware customers. They'll give discounts off prices displayed, too, but someone had also said they've been overcharged. Who knows? Nearby on BloorW, on the N. side, there is another butcher shop which I think might be called Venezia (or something similar - I'll check). I've heard they're good.

Someone in the thread mentioned above wrote: Myself, I have the Moka Express. (I had a better stainless steal one from another company which got stolen.) The Moka Express sells for as little as $13.99 here in Toronto - which is $11 or $12 US I guess. I set up the moka and then, while it heats, measure and start to boil whole milk in a small pot. Coffee finishes, stir and pour, and then the milk is ready, starting to froth. Pour it in. I do about half-and-half - a cafe con leche. A shot of whisky, brandy, anis or kahlua works well instead of the milk too, but you knew that already I'm sure...

Thanks PCD - which source was that from?