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Food & Drink

Vive Colibri!

LE TI COLIBRI 291 Augusta, at Oxford, 416-925-2223. Complete meals for $15 per person, including tax, tip and a lemonade. Average main $8. Open Tuesday to Wednesday and Sunday noon to 8 pm, Thursday to Saturday noon to 10 pm. Closed Monday, holidays. Unlicensed. Access: five steps at door, washroom in basement. (patio) Rating: NNN


I like to think I have a cast-iron stomach. Years spent dining at the likes of Bonga Buldak (Home of Hot Taste) and Captain John’s will do that to a palate.

Yet the prospect of the Caribbean Carnival makes me weak in the knees. How much industrial-strength jerk chicken – don’t forget the rice ‘n’ peas, mon – can a person eat?

So imagine my great relief when I stumble upon Le Ti Colibri, a month-old spot in the Market that specializes in the French Caribbean cuisine of owners Matthias Laurin and Kristel Procida’s respective roots in Martinique and Guadeloupe. Having placed our order at the colourful resto’s takeout counter, we park ourselves under the thatched roof of the backyard patio, glasses of icy house-squeezed lemonade ($3.50) in hand.

We start with fritters, both with shredded salt cod ($4.25) and diced shrimp ($4.50) and virtually identical, eight falafel-sized nuggets of batter laced with thyme, onion and Scotch bonnet pepper. Those who like it especially hot will appreciate Colibri’s tomatillo-based hot sauce. Crab claws ($6.50) arrive stuffed with minced crustacean, a retro take on a cruise-ship classic. All come sided with a terrific salad of leaf lettuce, chopped tomato, cucumber and corn in watermelon vinaigrette.

Think of bokit (Féroce, $8.99) as the Big Mac of the Lesser Antilles, a particularly tasty deep-fried burger-like sandwich piled with tomato, chunky avocado and more salt fish. The veggie version with spicy TVP ($7.99) should be a big hit with the Urban Herbivore set across the street where Laurin once cooked. Go with the hand-cut sweet potato fries over the somewhat dry regular spuds (both $2.99).

Like the fritters, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between LTC’s chocolate banana cake ($4.25) and chocolate coconut fondant ($4.50), which taste a lot like the pudding cakes of our white-bread suburban youth. And after an inordinate wait, overly fried plantain ($5) zested with lime on a stick can’t help but disappoint. Best go with an eggy coconut flan ($4.99) and deeply caramelized pineapple upside-down cake ($4.25) finished with caramel.

Who needs jerk chicken anyway?

stevend@nowtoronto.com

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