roti – 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.

Tasty Eats at Kish’s Roti & Doubles

Published on December 26, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5019 Spectrum Way, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/kishsrotianddoubles

I love roti, though I’ll admit that my experience with doubles is limited. I’ve actually only had this dish one other time, and I wasn’t crazy about.

Still, if you’re at a place with both roti and doubles in its name, you’ve gotta try the roti, and you’ve gotta try the doubles.

I tried the boneless chicken roti (well, technically I ordered the goat roti, but I guess the woman behind the counter heard chicken), and I quite enjoyed it. The chicken was relatively tender, had a nice curry flavour, and a good pop of heat. The wrap was a bit heavy on roti and light on filling, but the roti itself was so fresh and tasty that this barely even mattered.

As for the doubles, they have a variety of filling options, including chicken, goat, and lamb, but I went with the classic, which is just chickpeas.

I really enjoyed it. The flatbread was fresh and chewy, and the filling has a nice sweetness that balances well with the tender chickpeas and the decent level of spice. I was a bit confused by the appeal of this dish after my last experience, but now I totally get it.

Delicious Roti at My Roti Place

Published on December 5, 2019December 6, 2019 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 406 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://myrotiplace.com/

I’ve heard basically nothing but good things about My Roti Place, a rapidly expanding chain that specializes in spice-packed roti. I feared it might have been overhyped, but yeah: it’s very good.

You can choose your roti, your meat, and your sauce; I went pretty basic with Mom’s Classic Curry with chicken, wrapped in a classic roti. The spice level is also customizable, with mild, medium, serious, and extreme being options. I figured extreme might be a bit too intense, so I went with serious.

I guess should have gone with extreme; the “serious” level of heat turned out to be not-so-serious. It was noticeably hot, but I’d put it on the upper level of mild. A bit more spice would have been nice.

I may as well get my other complaint out of the way. The chunks of chicken, though generous, are dry and leftovery.

Everything else about this was fantastic. The roti was nice and chewy, and complemented the vibrant curry perfectly. And that curry was outstanding; I’m happy to overlook any number of minor complaints when the curry is that tasty. I don’t care what you serve a curry that good with; it’s automatically going to be delicious. The curry has an amazing depth of flavour that I couldn’t get enough of. It’s serious business.

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.

Delicious Roti at D Hot Shoppe

Published on November 19, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4155 Fairview Street, Burlington
Website: https://www.dhotshoppe.com/

I showed up at D Hot Shoppe at around 2:00 on a weekday, and it was absolutely packed. They also had a section of the wall dedicated to framed plaudits from various publications (which didn’t even include the article that brought me here in the first place).

Suffice it to say, I was fairly certain I was in for a tasty meal.

I ordered the small chicken roti, which costs seven bucks and is actually quite generous, so it’s a great deal.

They have six heat levels you can choose from, ranging from mild to suicide — I went with hot, which is right in the middle. It was a great level of heat. It’s noticeably spicy, but not unpleasantly so.

It’s very, very easy to see why the place is so popular. Everything was just right, from the richly flavourful curry sauce, to the big chunks of tender chicken and potato, to the satisfyingly chewy, spice-packed roti shell.

It’s a fantastic, affordable lunch. What’s better than that?