Tag Archives: food

World Cup of Dining in Toronto 10&11: Ethiopia and Iran


Posted by Patrick Okens

Ethiopia: World Cup sticklers can take a big bite of spicy kitfo. I know Ethiopia did not qualify for Brazil 2014. However, I could not find a Cameroonian IMG_20140314_191139restaurant and since there are three other west African nations in the tournament, I decided to point my taste buds towards east Africa.

An Eritrean cabbie recommended Wazema, on the Danforth at Greenwood. When I entered with my friends, the restaurant’s patrons were all Ethiopian (although over the evening the clientele became more mixed). One of the gals with me had spent time in the country, but the other had never tried its food, so we settled on a sampler. It came on a platter covered by injera, a spongy sourdough flatbread, with various foods heaped on top. These included the aforementioned kifto (spicy, raw ground beef), tibs (stewed meat), ayibe (like a dry, crumbly feta cheese), and vegetables. Observing the right-hand-only rule, we used pieces of injera to pick up food with our fingers. Good stuff, but gets you sweating!

Feeling culturally enriched, we proceeded to Menchies on Bloor for unreasonable helpings of frozen yogurt topped extravagantly with too much of whatever we wanted.

Iran: If you ever invite two Greeks and a Spaniard out to dinner for 6pm, expect them counter-propose a much more civilized start time. So, we started with the movie instead. If you’re into watching buff Athenians and Spartans slaughtering Persians in gory, theatrical 3D slo-mo (as well as the pouty, sexy villain IMG_20140315_211115Eva Green), then “300: Rise of an Empire” is a worthy use of 102 minutes. After seeing Greeks make a meal of king Xerxes’ army and navy, it was a great pleasure to have Persian food with friends of the Hellenic persuasion.

After a cold, moonlit walk from the theatre, we strode into the small-but-packed Sheherazade (College at Bathurst), with an 8:30pm reservation more in line with Mediterranean dining sensibilities. It was kebabs all-round, with saffron-flavoured rice and – for me – Doogh, a house-made salted yogurt beverage that tastes better than it sounds.


World Cup of Dining in Toronto (7-9): Croatia, Belgium, Greece


Posted by Patrick Okens

A European triptych from the past week.

Croatia: Rakija is a distilled fruit liqueur, highly potent, and popular in the Balkans. When I showed up, late, at Rakia Bar (Bloor/Euclid) on a snowy IMG_00000217Saturday night, my friends were already there catching up on one’s stint working at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. The waitress, in her Serbo-Croatian spiked accent, recommended the plum rakija to go with our appetizer plate followed by my stuffed peppers. I caught a whiff of the rakija before I saw it – potent indeed. But I’m committed to cultural experimentation so after that one I had a grappa (not just an Italian thing, it turns out). As we gossiped about Sochi, downed our drinks and savoured a great meal, I took a look around the bar. It’s been around since 2006, and was designed (I imagined) to look like a rustic-yet-stylish Balkan mountain hut, with wood-paneling and furniture. The young folks at the next table weren’t particularly rustic or Balkan, but seemed to be having a good, rakia-fuelled time.

 

Belgium: a classy experience (and the restaurant was great too). I almost ruined the date by telling the lady opposite me that she ran like an elephant. ButIMG_20140305_193736 it’s a credit to the high-quality fare and ambiance at the Brussels Bistro (Queen St. E in the Beach) that this was – I hope – forgiven. I ordered an obligatory moules Ostendaise avec frites, and we shared choucroute topped with top-notch bacon, which our waiter proudly claimed had been named one of Toronto’s top dishes. Belgian beer was also obligatory. Duvel pour moi, Delirium Tremens pour madame. Hers came in a glass dotted with tiny, pink elephants.

 

 

Greece: it’s always good to ask a local. So if you know someone who grew up half-Greek on the Danforth, you get them to pick the restaurant. And thus, the IMG_20140306_181531souvlaki-plus-blue-and-white-walled, Santorini-postered, experience. As with the Japanese sushi, Greek fare is no longer an exotic experience for Torontonians. But if you want a comfortable backdrop with hearty food for a catch-up with someone you haven’t seen in a while, this was the right sort of place.