butter chicken – Michael Eats

Hearty Kothu Roti at Saffron Spice Kitchen

Published on November 29, 2025 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 459 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.saffronspicekitchen.com/

Saffron Spice Kitchen is a delightful little restaurant on Queen Street specializing in Sri Lankan eats. And when I say little, I mean little. They’ve got a couple of counter seats, but mostly, this is a take-out place.

They have a variety of wraps and curries on the menu, but their specialty seems to be the kothu roti (basically a Sri Lankan hash, with chopped up roti, eggs, and meat), with the butter chicken version being the one they’re best known for.

It’s quite tasty and seriously hearty, with a richness from the eggs and a satisfying chewiness from the roti. It’s also delightfully flavourful, and is absolutely crammed with Sri Lankan spices.

The butter chicken on top isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, it’s a solid version of the dish and works well with the kothu roti.

You can choose from three levels levels of heat; I went with the hottest version, and while it could have been hotter, it was studded with sliced peppers that gave it some nice pops of heat. It’s a tasty dish.

But the portion, good lord. It costs fifteen bucks, which seems like it might be on the pricey side until they hand it to you and you realize that it must weigh like three or four pounds. It’s a good thing this is mostly a take-out joint, because this is a dish that either needs to be shared or split up into like two or three meals. I barely made a dent in it.

Wacky Eats at The Ex

Published on September 1, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 210 Princes’ Boulevard, Toronto
Website: https://theex.com/

Another year, another batch of over-the-top carnival food from The Ex.

Butter Chicken Birria Tacos from Rick’s Good Eats

Rick’s Good Eats — which specializes in tasty Indian fusion — is always a safe bet, and yeah, these tacos were very good. They came looking a bit flat and sad (and small, considering they cost about twenty bucks with tax and tip), but they’re actually quite delicious, with some tasty butter chicken inside and a whole bunch of gooey cheese. Not cheap, but hey, it’s The Ex. Everything’s a bit overpriced.

Poutine Dumps from Super Noodle Company

Unfortunate name aside (I shouldn’t have to say this, but please don’t shorten dumplings to “dumps”), this was also quite good. The menu describes this as “homemade chicken dumplings, torched American cheese, coconut curry gravy, crispy shallots, garlic, fresh green onions & chili oil.” It’s not even remotely poutine-like (I never in a million years would have made that connection if you hadn’t told me), but whatever it is, it’s tasty. The combo of cheese and dumpling is vaguely pierogi-esque and quite satisfying, and everything else in the bowl is tasty.

Korean Fried Chicken Sandwich from Korean Fried Chicken

The chicken in the sandwich was pretty skimpy (it maybe filled half of the bun), but the chicken that was there was crispy, juicy, and covered in the usual Korean fried chicken sauce, which is always satisfying. The fries were a bit undercooked, however.

Rib Sandwich from Hogtown Ribs

Well, something had to be a dud, I suppose. I don’t know why I thought (or hoped, at least) that this would have actual rib meat rather than ground-up McRib-style patties, but yeah, of course it was the latter. And okay, fine, I can roll with a McRib — but the meat here had clearly been sitting in a warming tray for hours, with a chewy texture and that gamy flavour you get from pork that’s been reheated one time too many.

Chicken Nugget Cookie from Craig’s Cookies

Here’s a head-scratcher: the rib sandwich that seemed like a sure bet was a dud, and the chicken-nugget-stuffed cookie that should have been gross was… actually kind of good? This seems like it should be horrible, but it’s tasty for the same reasons that chicken and waffles are tasty — it has a very similar flavour, but in a convenient hand-held package. And the salty chicken nugget helps to balance out the sweetness of the cookie itself (which is always a bit more pronounced than I’d like at Craig’s Cookies). I was shocked by how much I liked this.

Amazing Sri Lankan Rolls at Reggie’s Rolls

Published on December 8, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: No permanent location
Website: https://www.reggies-rolls.com/

Sherway Gardens currently has a Christmas Market where Nordstrom used to be (it’s running until December 23). It’s mostly not super interesting (at least from a food point of view), but there are a couple of vendors serving stuff you can eat. Most notably: Reggie’s Rolls, which sells delicious Sri Lankan rolls.

These things are seriously, seriously good. When I went, they were offering three flavours: mutton (which is the classic), cheeseburger, and butter paneer. I went with mutton and paneer (the cheeseburger variety is intriguing, but I figured I’d stick with more traditional choices since it was my first time trying it).

Did I mention how good these are? Because they’re amazing. I’ve actually never tried this particular dish before, though it is a Sri Lankan standby. So I can’t say how authentic it is, but I can say that it tastes extremely good.

The exterior isn’t quite as crispy as I was expecting — I figured it would be something like an egg roll, but it has a very lightly crispy but mostly chewy texture that worked quite well. And the filling was a taste explosion, with the mutton variety having a really complex curry-tinged flavour and a pronounced spicy kick. The texture is similar to a Jamaican patty, with the meat being quite finely ground, with a few larger chunks.

The butter paneer had a similar texture and a slightly sweeter flavour, with a much milder level of spice (I actually don’t think it was spicy at all, but I did eat it after the mutton, so it might have been a bit spicy and I just didn’t notice). Of the two, I preferred the mutton, but both were seriously tasty.

Sadly, they don’t have a permanent location, but as per their website, they do occasionally pop up at events like the Christmas Market. Otherwise, they’re wholesale only, which is a shame.

Fake Butter Chicken at TVX: The Vegan Extremist

Published on October 24, 2019October 24, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 291 Augusta Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/TheVeganExtremist/

Is it still butter chicken if it doesn’t have butter or chicken? That’s the question at TVX, a vegan joint in Kensington Market that serves what it calls “plant-based South Asian cuisine.”

Mostly, they serve a variety of vegan curries that come with rice and paratha roti. One of those curries is the aforementioned butter-and-chickenless butter chicken, which subs in fried cauliflower for chicken.

So is it still butter chicken? Not really. But is it tasty? Definitely.

It doesn’t taste quite like any butter chicken I’ve had before — the sauce is tangier and less creamy — but for what it is, it’s quite good. It’s garlicky, very spicy (you can choose your heat level — I went with the spiciest, and it wasn’t kidding around) and surprisingly satisfying.

The fried cauliflower works really well — it’s battered and fried, with a nice crunchy exterior and a meaty interior. It doesn’t even vaguely resemble the chicken in a traditional butter chicken, but the hearty crunch stands up nicely to the sauce, and it’s delicious regardless.

The paratha roti was also untraditional but tasty. It’s thicker and more substantial than any paratha roti I’ve had before, but it still had that satisfying combo of crispy, greasy exterior and chewy interior that you’re looking for.