Toronto is hailed as one of the greatest food cities in North America, though you might not know it because Canadians can be so modest. But when I visited last fall, I was excited to eat, explore, spend time with Nishan’s family and enjoy some home-cooked Sri Lankan cuisine.
After a delicious new Canadian dinner at Marben in downtown Toronto, Nishan and I spent a couple of days in Brampton, where I was treated to an incredible Sri Lankan meal. Sri Lankan food isn’t for the faint of heart — it’s spicy, pulls no punches, and was almost too much for my wussy Iranian taste buds. There’s nothing a dollop of yogurt can’t cool, though, and I happily went to down on fiery mutton curry alongside seeni (onion) sambol, pol (coconut) sambol, biryani, fish cutlets, and hoppers.
What are hoppers, you ask? Similar to a crepe, hoppers are made from a fermented batter of rice flour, coconut milk and a dash of palm toddy. The batter is cooked in a hemispherical wok-like pan. There are many types of hoppers, like string hoppers and egg hoppers. Sri Lankan cuisine is nearly impossible to come by in the Bay Area, so this was a real treat.
After a couple of days in Brampton we were off to the Toronto suburb of London, Ontario. But first: Tim Hortons.
C’mon. What’s a road trip in Canada without a coup of Tim Hortons coffee and an order of Timbits doughnut holes?
Glad you had a great time in my hometown!
Sara, I loved it! And Toronto is one of the best food cities I’ve been to, hands down.
Man! I got to try Sri Lankan food just before leaving Bangkok. It was so good! It turns out that there’s this small area just off downtown BKK full of Indian and Sri Lankan restaurants and which I criminally slept on.
The food was delicious and spicy and incredibly cheap! Lucky for us it was like 1000 degrees out and we got to sweat some of it off after a late lunch.
Ruben — I know, right?! I can’t even find a single Sri Lankan restaurant in the Bay Area. It’s so good, though. And so slept on!