Tag: roll

Amazing Sri Lankan Rolls at Reggie’s Rolls

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Reggie's Rolls
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).

Reggie's Rolls

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.

Reggie's Rolls

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.

Reggie's Rolls

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.

A Ridiculously Bad Philly Cheesesteak at Philthy Philly’s

Published on by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Philthy Philly'sLocation: 960 Southdown Road, Mississauga
Website: http://www.philthyphillys.com/

If you’re looking for an authentic Philly cheesesteak in Toronto, I think you’re out of luck. There used to be an amazing place called I Went to Philly; their cheesesteak was dead on. Tragically, it went out of business, breaking cheesesteak-loving hearts across the GTA.

It’s not all that difficult to find a cheesesteak in the city, but it’s almost impossible to find an authentic one; most places clutter it up with extraneous toppings like peppers and mushrooms and other sauces.  A real-deal Philly cheesesteak should consist of only four things: a roll, steak, griddled onions, and Cheese Wiz (you can substitute provolone if you’re feeling fancy, but really, Wiz is where it’s at).

Philthy Philly's

So I was pretty excited to try Philthy Philly’s — they have a ton of stuff on their menu, including a whole bunch of optional toppings, but if you want it, you can get a cheesesteak the way it’s supposed to be.

Alas, the cheesesteak here somehow manages to get every single element wrong. It would be impressive if it weren’t so frustrating.

Philthy Philly's

The beef was the wrongest part of the whole maelstrom of wrongness.  The beef in a Philly cheesesteak should be thinly shaved slices of steak.  The meat here, on the other hand, consisted of little pebbly bits of beef that were either ground, or chopped so finely that it may as well have been ground.  It also had a chewy, rubbery texture and absolutely zero beefy flavour.  It was pretty bad.

The “Cheese Wiz” had the consistency of water and zero cheesy tang; the onions had been cooked to the point of being mush.

Philthy Philly's

The final insult was the bread; instead of a lightly crispy outside and a fluffy interior, it was just dense and chewy throughout, with zero exterior crispiness.

The sandwich was cheap, at least.  The smallest size costs just seven bucks, comes on a six inch roll, and is crammed with a generous amount of beef.  But I wish they’d charge a little bit more for a higher quality product; as it is, the sandwich is about on par with Subway, and I say that as someone who doesn’t like Subway at all.