Showing posts with label Jamaican patties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jamaican patties. Show all posts

Patty Queen (Toronto) for delivery

Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2020 by


One positive thing coming out of COVID are the budding new businesses springing up across Toronto. Search on Instagram and you’ll find at least a dozen local chefs who are creating delicious eats and delivering them across the city.

When Patty Queen came across my feed, the photo of the yellow pastry made me stop. It’s something I ate a lot of in high school – a cheap lunch from the cafeteria and my parents always had a box of frozen Patty King around in case I was hungry before dinner. After high school, it’s something I ate less of: after a night out, at a TTC station, when the food cravings were too strong; or most recently with co-workers as we sampled the three options around the Yonge and Dundas neighbourhood.

As I’ve grown, my palette has become fussier: I want something with a flaky crust, something that’s flavourful, and a filling with discernable ingredients and not merely a brown paste. Those three things seem difficult to find unless I was willing to travel to the city’s outskirts and wait in line for the greats like Randy’s.

The founders of Patty Queen seemed to be facing the same dilemma – where could they easily get a freshly made Jamaican patty to feed their love of Caribbean cuisine?  After one owner lost her job, she decided they would start making it for the masses. After all, they already served them to friends with great fanfare.

Their spin is to use quality organic ingredients, ensure the patties are made-to-order, and deliver them fresh to customers (every Wednesday and Saturday). Their motto: Always fresh; never frozen.

After getting them delivered to my doorstep on the weekend, my husband and I immediately heated two of the Man Down or vegetarian patties to try ($28 for a dozen; $18 for six). Since they were fresh, a quick 8-minutes in the toaster oven yielded hot fragrant patties. We marvelled how the crust was flakey, crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside.

And the vegetable medley (carrots, peas, onions, and potatoes) sat in a thick peppery sauce – not like the flavourless versions I’ve had at work. I only wish there were more of it in the patty as I found the first couple of bites along the curved sealed end sometimes lacks filling… perhaps due to the patties being stood up in the box when packaged.

That evening we tucked into the Pon de Replay or mild beef patties ($25 for a dozen; $16 for six) and it too had the coveted flakey crust. While the filling looked like a uniform paste, upon biting into it, we tasted the meaty bits and the beef flavour was much stronger. Imagine this to be the Black Angus of the patty world.

The mild patties were a manageable level of spice with a restrained heat that tickles the tongue. For future orders, I think I can move up to the Sasha Fierce (spicy beef patties) instead. After all, having supported Ree Ree for my first order, I’ll get a touch of Queen Bey next time.

Overall mark - 9 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 How to Purchase: email pattyqueenalwaysfresh@gmail.com

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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never order again
  • 6 - decent for delivery and takeout, but there's better
  • 7 - this is good, for delivery and takeout
  • 8 - great for delivery and takeout, it's almost like you're in a restaurant
  • 9 -  wow, it's like I'm eating at a restaurant
  • 10 - I'd happily order this for delivery or takeout instead of dining in any day!
Is That It? I Want More!

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Chubby's Jamaican Kitchen (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, June 03, 2018 by

For being such a multi-cultural city, Toronto is sadly devoid of non-fast food Jamaican restaurants. While I have no objections with having a huge stuffed roti or plate of jerk chicken for $10, I also like to enjoy the food slowly, with friends, and preferably with a drink in hand. Enter Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen, where there’s plenty of drinks to be had and food to share.

You can’t go wrong with any of the likkle bites, such as the saltfish fritters ($12), each two-bite pastry lightly packed with plenty of fish in a deliciously hot crispy crust. The miniature Jamaican patties ($10) arrives four to an order: two tasty curry turkey ones incorporating the right amount of spice and tons of gravy along with two vegetarian coconut patties, which after the turkey feels a bit plain. Nonetheless the pastry is great and the filling heartier than the typical frozen variety.


If you like scampi shrimp, Chubby’s pepper shrimp ($16) incorporates a base of garlic butter then adds scotch bonnet chili sauce to make it fiery red. They’re juicy and flavouful where you’ll definitely feel the heat, in a bearable way.


The slow-baked jerk wings ($16) were a sizeable portion and great for sharing. With a sticky dry rub made from honey, scotch bonnet dust, and lime zest, the spice slowly builds on the tongue and leaves a light burn to remind you it is jerk. While the wings were enjoyable, they should be cooked less as the chicken was bordering on dry.


There’s also a variety of jerk offerings for mains. Having had the chicken wings, we opted for the jerk pork ($17), which arrives as two cuts: a fried pork belly and a grilled buckeye loin. Surprisingly, the leaner loin was the moister of the two; the pork belly so overdone that it was chewy. Chubby’s smartly pairs the meat with sautéed seasonal vegetables, a mixture of kale and collard green that’s just cooked until wilted with bits of kale stalk added for crunch. This is one dish where the vegetables are just as good as the protein.


My favourite dishes were the saucy ones with rice. The curry chicken ($16) contained bone-in pieces boiled until tender in a flavourful light curry sauce. A bowl of jasmine rice accompanies the curry with papaya chutney and shaved coconut if you want to make it tropical, I just liked it plain. While not pictured, the Caribbean veggie stew ($15) was rich and satisfying, where the pumpkin and sweet potato helped thicken, coconut milk made things creamy, and the corn and beans added texture.


With a ton of sides to choose from, a large group is ideal so you can mix and match: the rice and peas ($5) actually contains red kidney beans and goes nicely with the jerk pork, Chubby’s slaw ($5) has a great vinegar base and cools any spice, the fried okra ($6) is surprisingly large with the bigger pieces split in half so there’s no sliminess, and the jerk tempeh ($7) reminds me of a hearty mung bean side, great by itself or with curry.


The rum and raisin bread pudding ($10) got me so excited that I forgot to take a picture of the dessert. Cut into cubes and then deep fried, the dessert is crispy on the outside and soft and cinnamonny on the inside. They’re like hot delicious beignets with a warm caramel sauce and cooling vanilla gelato.

While it’s best to go to Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen as a larger group, the circular tables are so small that you can hardly fit anything else if everyone orders drinks and the hot sauce is placed on the table. We had to ask the staff to take away the tea light and strategically place items on our seats to allow the food to fit.


Nonetheless, we managed and enjoyed our dinner. Perhaps it’s the environment, sit on the second floor and you’ll feel like you’re transported to a Caribbean destination: the skylights let in the sunshine, while the slowly spinning fans and tropical décor give you a lazy feel. Everything, is gonna be all right.

Overall mark - 8 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 104 Portland Street

 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
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!

Is That It? I Want More!

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