Good mid-range Jamaican restaurants are hard to come by in Toronto. The majority are budget restaurants geared for takeout. Simone’s Caribbean Restaurant is one of the exceptions. It stands out in the competitive Greektown restaurant scene and has survived for almost a decade. A testament to its quality.
Toronto has a thriving Trinidadian food scene, so it’s hard to pick favourites. Leela’s Roti & Doubles should be in the top 3, given its breadth and quality of its offerings. There are few places where one can reliably get specialties such as saheena or bake and shark.
The original location is in Mississauga, close to Square One. They’ve opened up a second branch in Scarborough in 2020. Being a foodie, of course I visited the flagship location for this review.
Havana is not the first place one would think of for good food. Still, it’s the best culinary destination in the whole of Cuba and the best opportunity to sample traditional cooking. Spoilers: it’s mostly pork, beans, plantains, and yucca.
Standards are comparable to mid-range restaurants in Western Europe…provided one sticks to the tourist restaurants and eschews resort food. Normally, I avoid tourist restaurants but I haven’t come across a locally-oriented restaurant in Havana that’s worth recommending. Choice ingredients and skillful technique are unfortunately priced out of range for the vast majority of Cubans.
I assume that you’re not planning to go to Cuba to eat French, Italian, Spanish, or American food, so I’ve focused on the unique Havana experiences in this article.
Havana’s culinary scene has gone through ups and downs. It was mostly forgotten by the world after the Cuban revolution in 1959. Restaurants became state-run. It became a challenge to find somewhere that would accept foreigners, let alone with good food.
When Cuba opened up for tourism in the 1990s during the “special period” (período especial; tough economic times), the government allowed private enterprise in the form of paladares: family-run restaurants out of their own homes. That marked the renaissance of Cuban dining. Today, the range, quality, and ambience of paladares exceeds that of government-run food establishments. They are indistinguishable from regular restaurants elsewhere in the world, other than the discreet home residence beyond the kitchen.
The second challenge to deal with is the availability of ingredients. Especially imported ones that upscale restaurants advertise like olive oil and squid ink. The US trade embargo has made it difficult to secure a consistent and affordable supply chain. Tourists complain of how often most items on the menu are not available. I say Cuban chefs have to improvise like nowhere else in the world in the face of unstable supply issues. They have to be creative about substitutions and figuring out how to maximize the ingredients they have on hand.
A more recent challenge affects tourists as much as Cubans: currency. Since 2021, Cuba’s inflation rate has run amok at 70%. Before 2021, Cuba had two currencies: peso (CUP) and convertible peso (CUC). 1 CUC is exactly 1 US dollar and it was what (most) tourists used and restaurant menus were priced with. Now, there is just CUP, whose value continues to plummet against global currencies each day. Virtually all prices are quoted in CUP now and tourists have to use them for everyday purchases (with some exceptions). Until the currency stabilizes, you’re better off exchanging for pesos in the black market than at the bank or ATM. Otherwise, you’ll be wondering why you just paid 8.00 € for a slice of mediocre pizza. The street rate is two to three times better than the official one.
There are less than five Dominican (the republic, not Dominica) restaurants I know of in Toronto. Sazón Latino has the best atmosphere for a sit-down meal. It even has Salvadoran food for variety too.
Don’t tell Puerto Rico, but the Dominican Republic (DR) also has good mofongos. It’s a simple but labourious dish to make. Plantains are deep-fried, then mashed into a paste with lard. It’s served with an assertive and tangy garlic sauce. A good mofongo should be smooth like mashed potatoes and the sauce should cut through the fattiness.
Toronto has no shortage of good Jamaican restaurants. What it lacks is high-end and upper mid-range restaurants. Most Jamaican establishments are cheap takeout joints or family restaurants. Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen is a refreshing, fledgling step towards a different market: the hipster crowd of the King West neighbourhood. They put a modern spin on Jamaican foods and create some of the most flavoursome Jamaican dishes in the city.
Cuban food gets a bad rep from all-inclusive resort tourists who complain about bland buffets. Well, the lack of quality produce and purchasing power hasn’t exactly helped the dining scene in Cuba. Sadly, for outstanding Cuban food, one has to venture out of Cuba. Fortunately, you don’t have to go far if you are in Toronto. Just hop over to El Habanero & Churrobar in the outskirts of Scarborough.
El Habanero proves how good Cuban cuisine can be with quality ingredients and masterful technique. The dishes are not sophisticated but they are packed with flavour. The restaurant also doubles as a “churro bar”, which is exactly what you think it is and more. Besides churros and drinks, the restaurant also churns out churro-inspired desserts. Their churro cakes are especially popular and photogenic.
I judge a Jamaican restaurant by the carbs they offer. By carbs, I don’t mean nutritional content. I am talking about the starches that are the foundation of each meal. Run-of-the-mill spots will offer just rice and peas, plantains, and if you are lucky, dumplings (fried or boiled lumps of dough). Nicey’s Eatery does well in this regard and offers a large range of Jamaican carbs: festivals, bammies, coco breads, and even hardo bread.
In fact, the menu has all the Jamaican hits from well-known jerk chicken to lesser-known cow’s foot (certain days only). It’s not comprehensive but it gives one a good sample of the cuisine. Prices are similar to downtown Jamaican takeouts, which is surprising given its location in a remote suburb. The good news is that quality is above average for this price category.
