Eating in Scarborough: A Guide to the GTA’s Real Food Capital

Scarborough is the best eating in the GTA and almost none of it is written about. How to navigate it.

Toronto gets the food writing. Scarborough gets the food. If you want to eat well in this region, and you are willing to drive twenty minutes and park in a plaza, this is where you should be looking.

Why Scarborough eats better

Because it is where families live, and family restaurants follow families. These are kitchens serving their own community first and everyone else second, which means the food has not been softened, simplified, or priced for tourists. It is cooked the way it is cooked at home because that is who is eating it.

The plaza rule

The best food in Scarborough is almost always in a strip plaza. Hand-painted sign, eight tables, fluorescent lighting, a menu with four things done exceptionally. Beautiful interiors are a signal that money went into the room instead of the kitchen. In Scarborough, the ugly rooms are the good ones.

The short-menu rule

A kitchen doing twelve cuisines is doing none of them well. A kitchen doing four dishes has strong opinions about those four dishes. Order what they are known for, not what you feel like.

Follow the diaspora

If a Sri Lankan restaurant is full of Sri Lankan families on a Sunday afternoon, that is the only review you will ever need. This rule holds across every community here, and it is more reliable than any rating.

Weekends are different

Many of these places are genuinely family-run, which means the whole family is in the kitchen on weekends. Weekday takeout from a family spot is often a quieter version of the same restaurant. If you can go on a weekend, go on a weekend.

What Scarborough does best

Sri Lankan, Tamil, Hakka Chinese, Pakistani, Afghan, Filipino, Caribbean. The Sri Lankan corner in particular is the one most people have never explored, and it is where we live. We are a family-run halal Sri Lankan and Indian kitchen here. Start with our guide to Sri Lankan food in Scarborough.

If you are working through Scarborough, start with our kottu roti or Chicken 65. You can order online for delivery or pickup.

Plan the drive, not just the restaurant

Scarborough is big. North Scarborough, where our kitchen sits at 328 Passmore Avenue, is a different trip from the Kingston Road strip or the Golden Mile. If you are coming from downtown, budget 35 to 45 minutes each way. From Markham it is closer to 15. Pick one area for the day and eat your way through it rather than crossing the borough three times.

Takeout is the Scarborough default

A lot of the best cooking here is takeout first. We are takeout, delivery and catering only, with no dining room, and that is common. A few habits help:

• Order ahead. Use the direct ordering page or call (647) 449-2924, then pick up when it is ready instead of waiting in a small lobby.
• Bring a bag or a box. Plaza runs add up fast when you stop at three places.
• Eat the crisp things first. Chilli chicken and anything fried lose their crunch in a closed container. Biryani and curries hold for the drive home.

A Sri Lankan starter order for two

If you have never eaten Sri Lankan food, this is a fair first order from our menu: one Biriyani ($12), one Kottu Roti ($13) and one Chicken Devil ($12.99). That is $37.99 before tax, and it covers the mild end, the griddle end and the spicy end of the cuisine in one bag. Add a Vattalappam ($15) if anyone has room.

Things visitors get wrong

Expecting weekday hours to match weekends

Many family kitchens keep short or uneven schedules. We are a weekend kitchen, with pickup on Saturday and Sunday. Check before you drive.

Judging by the photos

Plaza places rarely have professional photos. Order the dish the place is named for and judge that.

Ordering everything mild

Ask for mild on one dish, not the whole order. Some of the best dishes are meant to have heat.

For more on the cuisine, read our beginner's ordering guide.

Leftovers from a food run

A Scarborough food run usually leaves extras. Refrigerate them within two hours. Reheat curries and biryani covered, and kottu in a hot pan with a splash of water. Desserts like vattalappam are good straight from the fridge.