Advertisement

Food Food & Drink

CARIBBEAN CORNER

DINER’S CORNER (3 Gloucester, at Yonge, 416-929-7031) Complete dinners for $20 per person (lunches $15), including all taxes, tip and a Red Stripe. Average main $10/$7. Open Monday to Wednesday 11 am to 10 pm, Thursday 11 am to 10:30 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to midnight, Sunday and holidays noon to 9 pm. Licensed. Access: bump at door, very small washrooms. Rating: NNN


THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THIS YEAR’S JUMP-UP

Q+A : Caribana Listings |

Following the unfortunate demise of Island Thyme on Bathurst, the title of best Jamaican restaurant in the GTA is up for grabs. Sure, there are a number of reliable rough ‘n’ tumble roti and jerk pretenders to the throne but laid-back Diner’s Corner could be a contender for the crown.

Compared to other Caribbean cantinas, DC is downright snazzy, with a dozen or so tables covered in linen and decked out with festive flowers fashioned from tissue paper and a relaxed curbside patio.

Co-owner Naomi Green Auntie to her regulars isn’t your typical island chef either. Her jerk chicken, topped with wilted Spanish onion and served with a tangy dipping sauce, is remarkably moist, meaty and assertively spiced. Her curried goat (both $7 small/$9.25 large), slow-cooked and falling from the bone, packs an additional sucker punch of butter. Like most mains, it’s sided with regulation nutty rice ‘n’ peas, a very good house salad loaded with ripe tomato, raw carrot and a Rasta flag of sweet bell peppers, and a mini doughnut called a festival. And don’t miss Green’s superb caramelized plantain ($2).

Most rotis are 50 per cent potato, but DC’s vegetarian version ($7) is completely spud-free, stuffed with made-to-order al dente carrot, cabbage, peppers, onion, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower in a gently curried gravy. Those same veggies minus the curry but with additional boneless breast show up in chicken with mixed vegetables ($9), a puzzlingly ginger-free Jamaican take on Cantonese chow mein served on soggy boiled noodles.

Wedges of rum cake ($4) slathered in hard vanilla icing recall boozy Christmas cake, while the hot sauce labelled Suicidal that accompanies the deep-fried chicken wings ($8.25 for 10, sided with four festival breads) might be better described as a desperate cry for help. If it’s heat you want, douse them in Green’s terrific vinegar-based Scotch bonnet sauce.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted