Scarborough is one of Toronto’s great eating destinations, a sprawling, proudly multicultural stretch of the city where some of its most exciting and affordable food can be found. From charcoal-grilled Turkish kebabs and Trinidadian roti to Malaysian street food, Tamil short eats, Iraqi shawarma and Montreal-style smoked meat, the neighbourhood’s restaurants reflect the breadth of the communities that call it home. Our team of 11 food experts selected the spots below as being extra special: they made our Top 100 Under $100 guide to delicious, affordable restaurants in Toronto. Here are some of Scarborough’s standouts. Let us know what you think.
Bereket Kebab House
Address: 245 Morningside Ave. (at Lawrence Ave.)
Contact: 416-724-0868; bereketkebabhouse.ca
The kebabs hit the table with heat from the charcoal grill still rippling across their surface, smelling like dusk at a summer barbecue. The Urfa kebab, and the spicier Adana, both have lamb fat mixed in with the beef. They’re served on fresh flatbread that’s full of dimples from the baker’s fingertips. The bread soaks up the drippings and the smoke. Bereket’s modern, 180-seat room is airy and elegant, an unofficial hangout for the Turkish diaspora. The menu goes deep, into crisp, crackling, beef-topped lahmacun flatbreads and cheese-pull pide pizzas bearing shavings of doner meat and creamy pearls of fat. The lentil soup is deep orange from sun-dried tomato paste, buzzing with mint and garlic, shockingly tasty. A squeeze of lemon brings it into full harmony. There’s classic rice pudding, custards and milk cake for dessert, but the kunefe — mild, melted cheese wrapped in wispy pastry strands, soaked in syrup — is a star. The goat milk ice cream’s $10 upcharge seems like a lot, until you try it. It’s so thick and rich you almost need a knife. —Jake Edmiston
De Chou
Address: 3601 Victoria Park Ave. (at McNicoll Ave.)
Contact: 416-497-8883: dechourestaurant.com
Most Korean restaurants are known for their specialties: Owl of Minerva for its pork bone soup, for instance, and Finch JungSooNae for its marinated crab. This enormous spot, by contrast, does it all, in many cases exceptionally well. The gukbap (translation: soup-rice) is a great place to begin, its long-simmered pork broth homey and comforting, its add-ins delicious. There’s relatively plain daeji gukbap if you’re feeling fragile, or the nose-to-tail fever dream called soondae gukbap if not. Either way, this is food for homesickness, heartache and epic hangovers; don’t neglect the little bowls of chili paste and fermented shrimp — deep-marine umami seasoning — that come alongside. An icy take on de Chou’s tangy, beefy mul naengmyeon: the cold noodle soup here is nearly as good as at Cho Sun Ok. Another standout: the voluptuous pork hock dish called buljokbal chulpan bokeum, served sizzling and lustrous, lacquered with caramelized chili paste. At de Chou, they finish their meats in a white-hot wok. This is not ordinary. Behold the smoky, synapse-stroking scent of wok-hei. Among many (many) other dishes, they do KFC here, too. It’s good enough, but nobody orders Korean fried chicken at a generalist restaurant. For that, they go to bbq chicken. —Chris Nuttall-Smith
Mona’s Roti
Address: 4810 Sheppard Ave. E., units 209-210 (at Shorting Rd.)
Contact: 416-412-1200; monasonline.com
Mona’s is always buzzing. Groups of teens deliberate on their orders, disgruntled uncles mutter at having to wait in the line, and behind the counters, an army of aunties cooks mountains of enormous, golden, dark-spotted Trinidadian flatbreads. Mona Khan has built her quarter-century-old empire on those roti, which they stuff with complex meat, vegetable and mango curries. The soft and flaky paratha variety works well with the shop’s spiced curry goat, while Mona’s dhalpuri roti, layered inside with spiced, ground split peas, help to soak up saucier options like the oxtail. For many fans, though, the draw here is Mona’s doubles — the beloved Trini street snack of soft bara flatbreads sandwiching curried chickpea chana. These ones could be the best in town. The breads come notably thick, bright turmeric yellow and deliciously puffed; they’re fried fresh in batches through the day, for a gentle crispness, instead of microwaved as at many other spots. (NB: doubles production often doesn’t start until around 11 a.m.) Those still-warm breads and the buttery softness of their chunky, well-spiced chickpea filling meld into a perfect bite. Say yes to the pepper and tamarind sauces if you like what’s good, then eat them hot at the little counter; doubles this great don’t travel well. —Jennifer Chan
One2Snacks
Address: 8 Glen Watford Dr., Unit 26 (at Sheppard Ave. E., in Dynasty Centre plaza)
Contact: 647-340-7099
This tiny, family-run spot is a Malaysian street food standard-bearer. The menu is tight, the portions generous, the prices cheap and the cooking consistently great enough that it would be hard to oversell the place. Start with the kitchen’s wat tan hor, which shows exactly what a ripping hot wok can do. Its flat rice noodles, tender bok choi and chicken arrive perfumed with deep wok hei: that charred, almost campfire smokiness. Glossy egg gravy coats every noodle; it’s messy, deeply savoury and meant for slurping. The char kway teow offers darker flavours but similar thrills, while One2Snacks’ curry laksa is rich and velvety, its fragrant, spice-laced coconut broth spilled over noodles and tofu puffs. Bryan Choy runs the counter while his parents, Chon and Tracy, cook. If you see their colourful Malaysian desserts (kuih), do not think twice. Varieties rotate, from gently herbal pandan leaf and coconut kuih talam to the palm sugar and coconut-filled crepes called kuih dadar. The durian kuih is a beginner-friendly intro to the pungent fruit: a gently salty rice base with sweet, floral custard in a deliciously balanced bite. —Chi Nguyễn
Quality Bread Bakery
Address: 1970 Ellesmere Rd., units 12-13 (at Bellamy Rd.)
Contact: 416-431-9829
This is one of the city’s most respected Tamil bakeries, known far and wide for its short eats, the savoury and sweet hand-held rolls, patties, balls and cutlets. The mutton roll here crunches as loud as a sound effect, the tender meat and potato filling bathed in a fiery Tamil curry, with hints of cardamom and cinnamon. The fish cutlet, buzzing with cumin, is green inside from chiles and packed so tightly with flaky mackerel it’s a trick to keep it together on the way to your mouth. There are sweets, as well, and curries, plus butter chicken roti and griddle-chopped kothu roti. Nothing’s labelled; let the other customers guide you if you’re new. You can fill a brown paper bag with short eats for less than $10. Start with those. That bag will soon blush with oil, a signal that you should heed. Do not wait to eat, even if you’re in a newish car, or better still, in somebody else’s newish car. Within a minute, the crispy, flaky, sweet and chili-savoury crumbs will be down your front and their front, in the cupholders, on your lips and their lips and fingertips. What a dream. —Jake Edmiston
Sumaq Iraqi Charcoal Grill
Address: 1961 Lawrence Ave. E. (at Wayne Ave.) and other locations
Contact: 416-901-4404; sumaqrestaurant.ca
The best time to visit this Shawarma Row standard-bearer is when it’s busiest, when the little shop practically heaves with a crush of humanity. The choreography of how Sumaq’s dozen-odd cooks, bakers and counter staff handle that crush is one of the most flat-out delicious open-kitchen shows in town. In a quiet back corner, the baker at Sumaq’s clay-walled tanoor spins out blistered and steaming stacks of impossibly stretchy flatbreads at a rate that would make even the most accomplished pizzaiolo’s head spin. At the shop’s hulking vertical rotisseries — on a busy Saturday, they go through an incredible 560 kgs of intricately spiced and seasoned veal and chicken here — the countermen sabre off razor-thin slices that baste in the drippings where they land. They dress five or six shawarmas at a time, at blurry-fast speed, with rich, garlicky toum; with punchy cucumber and turnip pickles and onions; with the puckery, purple-fruit smack of pomegranate molasses or dark-flavoured HP Sauce (a popular colonial holdover in Iraq). They then dip each wrap in drippings before griddling it crisp. It all happens fast — you’re in and out in 20 to 30 minutes, usually. And the thing you leave with, that steamy and tender-chewy griddle-seared tanoor bread; the pop and crunch of the pickles and perfectly seasoned onions; the deep-carnal cardamom and nutmeg and lemon-zest-spiced satisfaction of the rotisserie’s meat; the zing (or glowering, pith-helmet hum) of that sauce, could be the most delicious wrap this side of Baghdad. —Chris Nuttall-Smith and Angelyn Francis
SumiLicious Smoked Meat & Deli
Address: 5631 Steeles Ave. E., Unit 5 (at Middlefield Rd., in Milliken Crossing)
Contact: 647-347-8899; sumilicious.ca
Sumith Fernando spent 17 years practicing at the altar of smoked meat that is Montreal’s Schwartz’s Deli. In 2018, when he was ready to pursue the craft on his own, he chose a strip-mall unit on Steeles Avenue in deep Scarborough. From there, word began to spread about the Catholic Sri Lankan immigrant cooking halal Jewish-Canadian soul food with the devotion of a true believer. The cure on the meat is Fernando’s peppery, proprietary secret, but his start-to-finish process — rub, rest, smoke, steam, slice — is almost better measured in weeks than days, and results in a bite that makes you shake your head in awe. The smoked meat sandwich combo is the move: thinly sliced layers of brisket piled onto soft rye with yellow mustard, alongside good fries, a vinegary slaw and a Putter’s pickle. That they also sell karnatzel, a dried beef sausage so niche it barely exists outside the old-school Jewish deli canon, tells you how seriously Fernando takes the tradition he’s evangelizing. And if your cardiologist isn’t watching, the smoked meat poutine is the ultimate homage to the Montreal roots that make this deli a true pilgrimage spot. —Alex Baldinger
Wong’s Asian Cuisine
Address: 2173 Lawrence Ave. E. (at Birchmount Rd.)
Contact: 416-285-0289; wongsasiancuisine.net
To anyone unfamiliar with Indian-style Hakka cooking, the Bombay chicken at this Scarborough classic is the ideal intro course. The dish, with its hard-wokked peppers and onions and crimson-sauced meat, looks reminiscent enough of food-court chicken, except chef Christopher Wong, who grew up in Kolkata, dresses it with tandoori spices — cumin, coriander and Kashmiri chili powder — so it’s spicy and tangy and smoky from the cumin, instead of the usual sweet and sour. Wong’s standout spicy fried lobster drips with thrillingly delicious juice, each piece just lightly coated with the house chili sauce. Wong has a light hand with breading and sauce, and his frying is typically delicate instead of heavy; the technique here sets his place apart. His crispy beef comes sweet and savoury, perfectly balanced between crunchy breading and its melty, meaty centre; pair it with his paneer fried rice — your Chinese classic, essentially, but studded with golden cubes of Indian cheese. Wong’s spicy eggplant, his breaded and fried cumin fish and the juicy, garlicky, crowd-pleasing chili chicken are also worth your time. —Angelyn Francis
