Monthly Archives: December 2021

Totally biased product review by me — Tadka Sizzling Indian Spices

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Chicken Vindaloo (left) and Baingan Bharta

Time for yet another festive curry review. I’m not sure we’ll ever run out of places to try in Toronto — thankfully, there are lots. Today we sample Tadka Sizzling Indian Spices (666 The Queensway = The Queensway/Royal York Road).

Needed the heat big time, so went for the Chicken Vindaloo, accompanied by the veggie Baingan Bharta, with sides of Raita and Mixed Hot Pickles.

Finally found a curry spicy enough (without requesting the heat levels be raised) to blow our socks off! The Chicken Vindaloo was that lovely, Brit-style fiery dark red colour. It was a nice rich, thick sauce and the chunks of chicken were huge.

The spice kicked in on the first bite and we definitely needed some tissues handy for the nose-blowing and brow-mopping routine. It was extremely flavourful and we’ll definitely go back for this dish alone.

The Baingan Bharta was also good: a tandoor-grilled eggplant mashed and cooked with garlic, ginger and onions. This is a perfect dish if you like plenty of crunchy ginger pieces. Lots of peas in it too which was a bonus.

Only small letdown to the meal was that the Raita was a bit thin and runny with not a great amount of cucumber in it. We like a creamier version. And the Mixed Hot Pickles did exactly what it says on the tin … regular and tasty.

This place is on our list for a revisit and therefore Tadka Sizzling Indian Spices earns a Brits in Toronto 4/5 stars.

Totally biased product review by me — Bukhara Grill

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Chicken Jalfrezi to the left of me, Eggplant Bharta to the right, stuck in the middle with you

As the tagline of Brits in Toronto states, it’s our mission to search out the best curries — tough job but someone has to do it. In these times too we like to support the local eateries in the city.

Thought we’d try a place called Bukhara Grill (2241 A Bloor St. West = Bloor/Runnymede). Never heard of it before but read some reviews and they were pretty good.

Fired up the website and placed an order for Chicken Jalfrezi (extra spicy), Eggplant Bharta, Cucumber Raita and Mixed Pickles. Our usual go-to “test” dish is a Chicken Tikka Masala, but thought a change would be good.

First off, the Chicken Jalfrezi. It wasn’t really as spicy as we’d requested, but again, maybe our tolerance levels are too high now to really be satisfied. The spice level did kick in a little after a while but it wasn’t vindaloo-level heat.

The chicken was moist and tender … the flavours were good … but we honestly can’t say it was set apart from any other curry we’ve tried in Toronto, one that we MUST HAVE AGAIN like some other places. It was a decent-sized portion, though, if you need lunch leftovers next day.

The Eggplant Bharta was a nice vegetarian option, but again, nothing off the charts. Maybe a chickpea dish — like a Chana Masala — may have been a better choice? Flavour did the job adequately … and that was it.

Cucumber Raita is usually standard, but this one was actually very good, nice and creamy and tart. Perfect balance for the curry. A good amount of Mixed Pickles too.

So, all things considered, we’re STILL on the never-ending hunt for a typical “British” curry and give Bukhara Grill a Brits in Toronto 3/5 stars.