Tales from the Bib

If you are the kind of person who reads the first sentence or two of a review to decide whether it’s worth the risk, then read no further than to understand that you must phone Aravind immediately, book a table , and stop eating now so that you are as hungry as possible by the time you get there.

It’s true I can be absurdly rapturous about a delicious meal out. But Aravind woos the rapture from me in crispy, careful, Keralan seafood love bundles and swoon I must. My goal when dining out on the town is to order food that I don’t readily and easily make at home. Seafood and deep fried deliciousness fall under this category. Tucked in the heart of Greek-town on the Danforth, Aravind focuses on vegetarian and seafood dishes from South India, sourcing as many local ingredients as possible, prepared with class and care, with a priority given to texture and layered, full flavour.

We are four: myself, my seafood loving mother, my private catering chef father, and a fabulous theatre director from New York City that I want to impress. The goal is a delicious, but cozy and relaxing night. Success.

The table water here is infused with cumin, which opens the palate and aides digestion. Service is thorough without pretension and full of pride for the cuisine. Atmosphere is understated and candle-y, soft warm colours with hints of gold.

We start with a subtle and refreshing Ribbon Salad of sweet root ribbons in a lemon chaat vinagrette ($7)

It’s a surprisingly difficult thing to execute without sog or too much chew and they do it with love. White Fish Pakoras (7$) are made with fresh Lake Huron and chickpea battered, they are rich/salty/flaky/crunchy with depth of flavour, and once slid through the bright coriander sauce, they pretty well guaranteed I’ll never go back to Onion Bhaji

A trio of Mini Dosas (7$) arrive like promising half moon sour dough envelopes, a bright citrusey potato curry contrasts another stuffed with dark and sexy Aubergine.

I have a difficult time resisting scallops of any kind and oh, these Digby Bays (10$) were creamy and meaty glistening with a coriander brightness and coconut sweetness.

To be honest I have the same resistance-issue with crab cakes and these East Coast angels (8$) are mostly crab with tamarind paste and coriander yogurt.

I think each of us groaned with pleasure at these.

A special that night was a pile of chickpea-dusted, softly fried smelts (6$) with a red-pepper coriander sauce. Please could I have a bowl of these every night when the munchies hit?

Rich, salty, delicious appetizers done with, and what arrives, unasked for and surprising? A palate cleansing amuse from the kitchen – watermelon with ginger lemon honey puree. Perfect.

Three mains among the four of us was the perfect amount and seafood was the name of the game.

More crab, this time in a Biryani (22$) with a side of northern fresh water shrimp and a selection of yogurt and citrus chutneys and a spicy salad. Complex, subtle sweet meat, and the moist basmati acting only as a vehicle for the flavour, not as a stomach-filler.

Aleppo Fish from Georgian Bay (23$) was the banana leaf steamed whole Ontario special of the night. The tomato and citrus lent an almost Mediterranean feel, despite the turmeric rub pumped with nice heat from chilies. It was cooked to perfect, if very bony, tenderness. And I loved the roasted cassava side.

I am usually a lamb, goat or chicken curry eater. Fish curry is new to me and when Masala (21$) arrived with more Lake Huron Pickerel it looked too firm when brought to table, but no, it was so tender and subtly peanuty with a scotch bonnet burn of a chutney. Green bean thoran and more of the yummy cassava came along for the ride. I have craved this dish many times since.

By now we were beaten down but not defeated. One dessert and sugar free Chai was called for. Indian Carrot Cheese Cake (6$) had the feeling of a rice pudding without the rice. Vibrantly coloured firm layers of cardamom spiced carrot, with housemade sweet ricotta and pistachio swimming in cool sweet coconut milk. I would happily make this my breakfast food and told myself it was healthy.

The menu at Aravind will evolve with season, availability and apparently they are now offering a tasting menu which I am eager to try. But the thing to trust here is not a fave regular dish, but the wit, creativity and food-loving instincts of the chef Aravind Kozhikott. As my father wrote to me the next day: “The astonishing fact is that you will eat no bad food at Aravind”.