Pukka restaurant introduces new menu

MEDIA PREVIEW of NEW MENU
Restaurant:    Pukka
Address:        778 St. Clair Ave. West (west of Bathurst)
Date visited:  Oct 26, 2015
Instagram     @pukkatoronto
Twitter         @pukkatoronto
Facebook      facebook.com/pukkatoronto
Hashtag        #pukkatoronto
Website:       www.pukka.ca
Phone:          (416) 342-1906


Pukka is a fantastic elevated Indian Restaurant like no other in Toronto, and it has added some new menu additions and invited a few local food bloggers to the restaurant to sample the new menu.  Pukka is owned by Harsh Chawla and Derek Valleau who also own the French Restaurant Concession Road which is located not far from Pukka on St. Clair Ave. West.   The small strip on St. Clair is quickly becoming a food connoisseur destination with original and high quality restaurants.  I had been to Concession Road not that long ago and enjoyed the food there.  You can see a previous blog post for a review of Concession Road.  I had heard a lot about Pukka and how good the food was so I was excited to attend this dinner.
Pukka is a lovely warm and comfortable restaurant.  I really liked the colorful artwork on the walls.

We were greeted by our Blogger friend Vicky who brings us all together for these delicious evenings and also by owner Derek Valleau.   We hung out around the bar upon arrival and all gathered around the beautifully made cocktails that were set up on the bar.   A sling, a sour, a martini and a cocktail.   While we were busy taking photos of the cocktails the bartender was busy mixing up some cocktails for us and we chose the one we wanted to try while also munching on some amazingly addictive Okra fries with a curry mayo dip.  Everyone fell in love with the fries.  Crunchy and light and perfectly seasoned.  I ordered the Varnassis Sling which had mango, orange, cherry, rum and a few other things.  It tasted so good and wasn't too strong.  Like a taste of a tropical country.  I drank the whole thing which is unusual for me.  

 

Owner Derek spoke to us about the new additions to the menu as well as the menu items that are staying on the menu.  He also told us about the fact that most of their proteins come from a local provider who produces higher quality food.   They are also going to be doing a few new things at the restaurant like an Early Bird Prix Fixe $49 for 2 people between 5-6pm.   They are also going to be doing their version of a 100 Foot Journey where they start at Pukka and move over to Concession Road so you can have both Indian food and French fusion in one dinner event.  They are trying some new things to bring their local community together and see if people like it.

 Peter Boyd their Sommelier who spent many years at Scaramouche and is now happy to be with Pukka and Concession road to curate their great wine selections spoke about the wines that were paired with the dinner.  There was a white wine and a red wine served.  I didn't taste them but I did smell them but I was told they were fantastic.  I am not a wine drinker so I can't tell you much about it.  They also spoke about their Wine Evenings.  Wines from Alsace and Germany paired with dinner for  $65 per person.  The next one is November 2nd.

 After taking photos of the food set up at the bar and mingling we sat down to sample the array of tasty dishes from the new menu.

PUKKA MENU

Cocktails:

Mumbai sour, Bombay Sapphire, Aperol, grapefruit, cardamom bitters, egg white

Varnassis Sling, Mango, cherry, orange, rum

Coconut martini

Okra Fries

Tandoori Calamari, Coconut Chutney & Citrus Slaw

Herb-Infused Chicken Tikka, Tamarind Chutney

String Chaat

Wine:  Vina Esmerald, Torres 2014

Boatman's Fish & Prawn Curry, Tamarind & Coconut Broth

Pumpkin Curry 

Punjabi Chicken

Beef Short Ribs, Black Cumin, Garlic & Ginger Masala

Naan Bread

Basmati Rice

Wine:  Valpolicella, Le Salette 2014

Dessert:  Chai popcorn and truffles

Chai Tea

 My favourite dishes were the addictive Okra fries, the String Chaat a delicious mixed salad with vermicelli noodles, chickpeas, puffed rice, pomegranates and a few other ingredients I couldn't figure out but in combination it was fantastic,  crunchy, sweet, savoury, soft noodles and delicious.  A favourite with most of the bloggers was the braised short ribs.  You didn't need a knife to cut them it was so tender.  I really loved the Chicken Tikka which was unusually green from a coating of fresh herbs and the chicken was so tender and flavourful.  I also loved the Coconut broth in the Boatman's Fish and Prawn Curry and mopped it up with the fresh Naan bread.  My friend Niki went crazy over the rice which was served in a preserving jar.  All of the food was beautifully presented and the evening lighting doesn't really do it justice in these photos.  You really do need to go and try it for yourself.   Don't expect the usual butter chicken and typical Indian dishes.  These dishes are not what you find in other Indian restaurants in Toronto but they are authentic Indian flavours and probably more what people in India actually eat.  It's funny that my friend who is Goan recently brought over some leftover Pumpkin curry that his dad made and they served a Pumpkin curry.  My friends was so hot that I couldn't eat it but Pukka's version was a lot easier to eat.

If you are looking for a nice evening out with your spouse or your friends for a great dinner in a cozy space and enjoy trying new things then this is the place for you.   Get yourself over to St. Clair Ave. West and check out their great restaurants and tell them I sent you.

*Disclaimer:  The meal was complimentary but all opinions are my own.

New Restaurant Opening - The Kathi Roll Express

I had the pleasure of attending a blogger tasting event at the newly opened teeny tiny little space called The Kathi Roll Express on Avenue Road just north of Lawrence Avenue.   This is the second location for the busy but enterprising Delhi, India native,  owner Sumit Kohli.   

After years of working in all sorts of desk jobs and travelling around the U.S. and the World always searching for food that he had when he lived in India and never finding the popular Kathi rolls that are common in Delhi, India so he decided to open his own restaurant in downtown Toronto and gave up his desk jobs for good.  His first location is located on Yonge Street in the middle of downtown Toronto.  It is a 32 seat restaurant that is licensed.  I visited his second and newest location a teeny tiny little take out spot located on Avenue Road in North York.  He said he chose the location because he would come from Milton and get off at Avenue road and drive downtown by taking Avenue Road and he always liked the area.  Although there is one Indian restaurant on Avenue Road it isn't a take out restaurant and isn't in the same style as this one.


When you walk into this location you are met with a lot of creativity on what seems to be a small budget.  The shop is painted a bright orange and there is a Bollywood poster on the wall and the tables are all painted in fun graphic illustrations.   The chandelier is made from colored milk crates.  It's so creative and fun.  

Now to the food we sampled the following:

Appetizers
Chat Papri & Pani Puri
Main Course
Kathi Rolls - Shami Kabab, Butter Chicken Tikka, Paneer Shaslik
Curry's - Paneer Lababdar, Dal Makhani and Lamb Rogan Josh
Sides - Naan
Dessert -  Milk Cake

My favourites among the tastes that we tried were the Butter Chicken Tikka Kathi Rolls, the Panneer Lababdar with the fresh Naan Bread that was so light and delicious.


The appetizers were very interesting and tasty too.   A crispy shell filled appetizer with tamarind and cilantro sauces over chick peas and a Indian Style nacho type of street food dish with potatoes, round crackers, the cilantro sauce and a bunch of other things added to it that I can't remember.

I also tried Goat for the first time and it was amazing.  It was very tender with a milder than expected flavour.


 We are all very full and shared a spoonful of the Milk Cake dessert just to try it.  It's a butterscotch flavoured dense cakey consistency.  Very nice flavour, sweet but not overpowering.

He also imports India soda that is a copy of North American sodas with different names.









And as a cute little added gift he sent us home with some very Indian inspired T-shirts. This is the one I got.

You can get Kathi Rolls, think of it as an Indian Burrito or wrap and an assortment of curries and appetizers but you can also get the raw skewered meat to take home and cook it up on your own BBQ or in your own kitchen and impress your friends with the scent of Delhi in your kitchen.
Now I need to go and check out the larger downtown location and see what that one is like, but I am happy that I am only one highway exit away from the Avenue Road location so when I feel like some Indian street food I can dash in at any time.

For more info you can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @tkretoronto or check or
check out their website for their menu and addresses at www.thekathirollexpress.com

Food that's not worth making at home.

Sometimes it's just not worth cooking food at home especially when you live in a small apartment.
I know you don't know where your food is coming from when you eat at restaurants, but there is also economics and time and convenience that factor into dinner decisions.

I have decided that there are a couple of things that just aren't worth making at home for me.

1. Sushi - because I don't live next to a fish market with sushi grade fish and can't always make it right away so it's just not worth making the rice and going way out of the way to get good fish and then having to be careful about preparing it.

2. Indian Food unless you are just having something easy like butter chicken with the sauce that comes out of a jar. Cooking indian food requires a whole lot of spices and a whole lot of time to prepare a lot of the dishes. Most of the tasty sauces require layering flavours slowly and allowing them to simmer to develop the intense flavours. Then your house smells like indian spices for days afterward. It's a nice smell when you are eating the food but I don't think you want to smell it when you are eating pizza the next day. The other thing I love about Indian food is the Naan bread but it's not going to have the same taste at home without the tandoor oven and it's not likely that any apartments in the city are ever going to have them any time soon.

3. Korean food is the next thing that I probably won't make too much of at home. I can buy the kimchi in any store now but it's the other Korean foods that just aren't worth hunting down special ingredients or trying to figure out how to make them. Then there is the way they prepare and cook it.
The other reason it's just not worth it for me to cook Korean food at home is because I can walk across the street and take my pick of at least 2 Korean restaurants to eat in.

I just had this Bim Bim Bap at a Restaurant a quick walk across the street from where I live. Total time walking there was less than 10 min. from my door. There was no ttc, gas or parking involved. Just the old fashioned walking to get your food. For under $20 including tip I had the BimbimBap and kimchi, and other assorted Korean small dishes and of course the tea.

The best part was that it was delicious. I didn't have to go to a specialty Korean grocery store or find a supermarket that carries the ingredients, which means that I didn't have to spend an hour or possibly more going to the store, parking, trying to find the ingredients, bringing them home and putting them away or preparing them, then cooking the meal and then cleaning up afterwards. I would say about 3 hours in total of time spent to make a meal like this. And I am sure I would have spent a whole lot more than $20 on the various ingredients needed to make all of these things. The reason you pay more to eat at restaurants is because they save you all the time it takes to have these meals.

Then there is my least favourite part after making something at home.....DOING THE DISHES. I am much happier spending the $15-$20 to have someone else do the dishes...thank you very much.

Anyway... I figure the total time spent having dinner tonight was a half an hour, giving me the time to now write this blog.

Some times you just have to leave certain cooking to the experts that do it for a living everyday and spend your time doing other things that they aren't doing.

So thank you to the nice Korean restaurant for making me a satisfying meal and giving me some more free time and keeping my apartment clean and my wallet with a little more green in it.

What foods do you prefer to let someone else cook for you?