New Indian restaurants in Toronto serve tasty treats from across the Indian subcontinent, infusing them with contemporary flair and inventive twists.
I may be biased, but I truly believe that Toronto is home to some of the best Indian food in the world — outside of India, that is.
With Indian being the fifth-most commonly-reported ethnic origin in the city, a population nearing, if not exceeding, 200,000 people, it doesn’t really come as a surprise that our Indian food scene is bumping.
There’s no shortage of tried-and-true spots for your regular dose of dosa, roti or pakora, but the new restaurants on the rise are changing the tempo on the city’s Indian food scene: serving staple dishes that haven’t quite made landfall in Toronto yet or unique reimaginations of nostalgic staples.
Here are five new Indian restaurants in Toronto you need to try at least once.
Neither a devastating fire at one of his other restaurants, nor lung and throat cancer, nor even the failure of several of his major organs could keep Toronto restaurant legend Naveen Chakravarti down for long. His latest venture, an Ossington reimagination of his restaurant, Neon Tiger, is the product of all that perseverance.
Here, the menu pays homage to “real” Indian food: if you’re looking for butter chicken, keep on walking. Instead, you’ll be treated to the likes of tandoori fried chicken, slow-cooked lamb vindaloo and Indian-spiced Bang Bang shrimp.
Lamb vindaloo, paired with garlic naan at Neon Tiger.
A team of hospitality veterans who now live in Toronto after first meeting in Mumbai, this colourful new Little Italy restaurant spotlights coastal Indian dishes, served with tact, but without too much fanfare.
Better yet, the menu accommodates a swath of different dietary restrictions, including options that are naturally gluten, nut, dairy and animal product-free. Timeless curries, meats cooked on an open fire and elegant chef-driven plates are among the standouts here.
On Danforth, what was once a neighbourhood bar and grill has taken on a completely new life as a sleek, stylish Indian restaurant that serves utterly Instagrammable dishes overflowing with punchy flavours.
Traditional Indian flavours meet contemporary preferences here, and yield surprisingly impressive results: a shot of gin with panipuri on top, bright crimson chilli and garlic cauliflower or succulent charcoal-grilled lamb chops.
Dhoom’s interiors are refreshingly bright.
Though Indian food is around every corner in Toronto, the cuisine that specifically hails from Hyderabad (the capital of India’s Telangana state — the more you know) is decidedly harder to find.
This new Scarborough restaurant is on a mission to rectify that, with a menu that includes droolworthy eats like mutton biryani, tangdi kebab and slow-simmered mutton paya.
Another Little Italy gem, this kitchen and cocktail bar comes from the team behind Bar Goa, serving low-barrier-to-entry takes on contemporary Indian cuisine amid punchy, funky interiors.
Hakka garlic chicken, tandoor-cooked minced chicken and banana leaf pomfret are all among the show-stoppers on the menu, but staples like chaat, momo and daal all show their faces, too.
Dishes at Rooh run the gamut from Hakka to Keralan.
Photos by
Fareen Karim at Neon Tiger