downtown – Michael Eats

Hearty Kothu Roti at Saffron Spice Kitchen

Published on November 29, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a 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.

Tasty Fried Chicken and Curry at Ramen Ryu

Published on November 17, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 486 Front Street West, Toronto (inside Wellington Market)
Website: https://ryusnoodlebar.com/ramen_ryu

I mentioned recently that I tried the ramen at Ramen Ryu at the Well and found it tasty, but not mind-blowing. Well, maybe I just ordered the wrong thing? This place has a “recommendation” board on their menu, and the top choice isn’t ramen at all — it’s karaage & curry.

I ordered it, obviously, and yeah, it’s quite tasty.

It’s a simple dish — rice, a whole bunch of Japanese curry, and three pieces of karaage (i.e. Japanese fried chicken).

The curry is great, with a nice depth of flavour and a mild spicy kick. It’s maybe a touch on the salty side, but is otherwise above average Japanese curry.

The chicken features a nice balance between the crispy exterior and juicy interior, and complements the curry well. And the rice does a great job of soaking up that curry. It’s a very satisfying dish.

Tasty Sandwiches at The Carbon Snack Bar

Published on November 8, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 460 King Street West, Toronto
Website: https://thecarbonsnackbar.ca/

I’ll admit that when I walked into The Carbon Snack Bar — a casual, take-out version of The Carbon Bar around King and Spadina — I almost walked out. All the sandwiches are pre-made and sitting behind glass looking sad and clammy, and I thought, well, nuts to this.

But hey, I’m here, so… sure, why not? I went with the pastrami on rye (“Thin-sliced pastrami, pommery aioli, pickles, sauerkraut, rye”) which the woman behind the counter popped into an oven of some sort to heat up.

I don’t know what kind of magic that oven was doing; it couldn’t have been in there for longer than a couple of minutes or so, and yet it came out fully warmed through and toasty on its exterior.

It’s a quality sandwich. It’s a bit more heavily-topped than I normally prefer for pastrami (with good quality smoked meat like this, all you really need is a bit of mustard), but I can’t deny that it’s tasty. It’s got a nice richness from the meat and the cheese that’s cut nicely by the pickles and sauerkraut, with an extra punch of flavour from the zingy, garlicky aioli.

As for the pastrami, it’s tender, well-spiced, and has a noticeable smoky flavour. I wish that they served a simpler sandwich with the stuff, but this one is tasty enough that I can’t complain (too much, at least).

Tasty Sandwiches at Vero Italian Sandwich Co.

Published on October 26, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 477 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://verosandwich.ca/

All restaurants are Italian sandwich shops now. Don’t like it? Sorry, them’s the breaks.

But you know what? Based on the quality of places like this and Alfie’s, I for one welcome our new Italian sandwich overlords.

They have a handful of meaty sandwiches on the menu (and one vegetarian). I went with the Gabagool: “Capicola, Mortadella, Fresh Mozzarella, Giardiniera, Tomato and Arugula.”

Yeah, that’s a top-notch sandwich. The bread is great (it’s got a nice balance of chewiness and crispiness), there’s a generous amount of good quality cold cuts, it’s nice and zippy, and the fresh mozzarella adds a nice creaminess that rounds things out.

It was a little greasy (it was dripping with oil) and the flavours don’t quite pop like in the best versions of this type of sandwich, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Tasty Rice Bowls at Omai Rice Bar

Published on October 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 21 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://omairicebar.com/

Omai Rice Bar is a spin-off of Omai, a high-end Japanese restaurant. The rice bar is much more on the casual end of things — they serve a selection of six rice bowls that are all around 15 bucks, and it’s take-out only (they also have a few benches on a patio out front).

I went with the Oh-My Fried Chicken: “Korean fried chicken, garlic yuzu glaze, wasabi cucumber, kimchi slaw and pickled daikon. Every bowl comes with our signature Omai salad on a bed of steamed white rice.”

I liked everything about this. The fried chicken was fresh, crispy, and tender, and was tossed in a tasty sauce (that was maybe a touch too sweet — my only complaint). Everything else in the bowl complemented it perfectly, with a whole bunch of bold, zippy flavours.

Even the salad on the side was a noticeable upgrade from the standard vinaigrette-tossed greens, with a nice citrusy punch that was really satisfying.

It’s all served on a bed of fluffy white rice, and it’s great. I wish I lived closer to this place, because I feel like I need to try every bowl on the menu.