Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 794 Dundas Street West
Website: http://www.patoistoronto.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner
Patois recently opened in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood, just a stone’s throw away from Bent. And like its neighbor, Patois offers Chinese fusion inspired dishes, except in their case, the tastes of the Caribbean (predominantly Jamaica).
According to their website, the restaurant’s philosophy is simple - to offer delicious affordable dishes so customers will return weekly. Although prices aren’t suburban cheap, they are reasonable for its downtown Toronto local. Cocktails cap at $10 when $15 seems to be the new norm. And for $35 you can get a whole teapot of it – a bit fancier than the “cold tea” of the China Town days.
Patois’ whole
vibe is down-to-earth from the simplistic décor, to the top 40 in the
background and friendly staff. Despite not being a huge dining room, they were
still accommodating taking large group reservations and manipulating
tables so we would all fit. Admittedly, I’m not an expert when it comes to
Jamaican Chinese cuisine, so luckily I was able to bring a couple of friends
who were to sample the creations. One friend’s subject matter expertise (“SME”)
has been supplemented with my thoughts below.
To start, “pierogi
style” kimchi pot stickers ($11) made with tender ground pork and diced kimchi
which is enveloped in a chewy dough before being pan fried crisp. The wrappers
are thicker than other Asian dumplings (much more than a gyoza from an izakaya
or even the pan-fried variety from a Shanghai restaurant) but then these are modelled
after pierogi. Topped with sweet caramelized onions, crispy salty bacon, a
spicy sour cream and scallions this was a tasty dish merging many textures and
flavours.
Between my
husband and me, we shared the yard bird special ($32) with a half order of
juicy jerk and O.G. fried chicken, dirty rice and coleslaw. Indeed, the juicy
jerk was aptly named as moisture just permeated from all pieces (even the often
dry white meat). Patois notes that they rotisserie roast the chicken rather
than using a BBQ or smoker. The result, is tender succulent pieces of chicken
that are even moister than any rotisserie version I’ve ever had.
However, it
lacked the in-your-face boldness of jerk. Perhaps it’s because Patois uses a
dry rub rather than a wet marinade. Or maybe it’s because I had it after the
strong kimchi pot stickers and fried chicken. In the end, the flavours were too
subtle for me. I was expecting that spicy tangy heat with an earthy kick to it.
Alas, there was none of that, just a spicy habanero yoghurt on the side.
The SME
agrees and compares the spice level to what tourists would be served in Montego
Bay. Except there restaurants use similarly spiced sauces which compliments the
chicken rather than the disparate habanero. However, he did like the jerk seasoning
rubbed on the chicken skin finding it had great authentic tastes.
Interestingly,
Chef Craig Wong had told The Grid that “[jerk] has to have flavour that lingers on your palate. It’s definitely
not a subtle taste … because jerk just blows your head off. Jerk chicken should
be spicy and isn’t mild.” I encourage Chef Wong to go back to that philosophy
and not dilute the flavouring to please all palettes. At the very least, offer
two levels of spiciness so patrons can experience jerk the way it’s meant to
be.
The O.G.
(Original Gangster) fried chicken was the hit for me. Although not to the level
of Willie Mae’s Scotch House, Patois’ offering was nonetheless delicious - pieces
of tender, moist meat surrounded by a crispy crust. I loved the various
condiments: cubes of watermelon with Thai basil, a spicy sweet sriracha sauce (like
tamarind sauce accompanying samosas) and what I believe were pickled watermelon
rind and cucumbers (tart and crunchy).
In the end,
it was a satisfying fried chicken meal. But, if I could offer one suggestion,
it’s to bring it up to the next level. A lot of Toronto kitchens offer well
done fried chicken – with Momofuku selling one that is similarly Chinese inspired.
To date, restaurants keep the chicken simple with the cultural twist coming
from the condiments. But, why not change the chicken itself? Something simple
like dusting the “golden sand” that’s used on Luckee’s spicy squid on top of
the batter would be delicious. Or I’m sure there’s other great Caribbean
choices available such as a tropical pineapple glaze.
What may keep
my husband and I coming back is the dirty fried rice. The menu describes the
dish as rice stir fried with the Cajun trinity (onion, celery and bell peppers),
sweet cured lap cheong sausage, peas, scrambled eggs and sweet soy sauce. But,
there must be something else as the dish had an underlying richness to it.
Traditional Cajun dirty rice also mixes in chicken liver so perhaps that was
used here as well. Whatever it was, we loved it and polished off every grain.
And the last
dish of the yard bird special was a creamy coleslaw mixed with carrots and
scallions. Made with napa cabbage, this slaw was softer and had a subtler taste
than the traditional green cabbage variety.
Other eats
that were ordered amongst the table included the Jamaican patty double down
($7) consisting of two mini beef patties sandwiching bacon, melted cheese and a
drizzle of sriracha.
Another dish
ordered by the SME was the ackee n’ saltfish fritters ($14). Unfortunately, it
was the shape of the fritters that disappointed – typically like a pancake rather
than a ball - so the textures seemed off. Additionally, it lacked the characteristic
scotch bonnet pepper flavours often accompanying the dish.
The spaghetti
vongole ($14) presented the distinctive pungent black bean aroma mixed with
tarragon, little neck clams and sweet cured lap cheong sausage.
As a whole,
Patois should successfully accomplish what it’s set out to do – to offer
delicious affordable dishes. Certainly, the yard bird special was a great combo
with plenty of food; more than enough to satisfy me and my husband. My only
hope is that Patois doesn’t try too hard to please the masses and ends up
mixing into the melting pot rather than creating a distinct identity. After
all, crispy and juicy chicken is fine (and will satisfy) but daring in-you-face
flavours is what will wow.
Overall mark - 7 out of 10
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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
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