Canadians may be renowned for their politeness, but some Toronto chefs are treating the country’s iconic french fries-based dish, poutine, in a less than deferential manner. Instead of the traditional cheese curds and gravy, more creative toppings are being used, from brie to jerk chicken, reflecting the city’s multicultural dining scene.
Rose City Kitchen (406 Queens Street West, rosecitykitchen.com) offers a Mediterranean-inspired take on poutine, featuring tabouleh, halloumi cheese and hummus aioli. Restaurant founder Nihul Sharma concedes that the dish sounds unusual, but says people have become “raving fans”. Sprinkled with tart sumac powder, the fries offer a crunchy alternative to pitta.
At downtown Kaiju (384 Yonge Street, kaijutoronto.com), fries are topped with shredded cheese and a mild, sweet Japanese curry, whose starchy thickness makes it an ideal stand-in for gravy.
“We thought it would be a fun, tasty twist to reinvent the dish using our signature Kaiju Japanese curry as the gravy,” says chef-owner Brian Chen.
More upscale restaurants have also embraced poutine’s potential for cultural fusion, including Mata (1690 Queen Street West, matabar.ca), whose tapas-style petisco plates connect South American and Canadian cuisine. Mata’s version features crisp nubs of cassava instead of french fries. The gravy here is red wine jus ladled over house-smoked braised beef cheek.
“We didn’t want to just add some topping to our poutine and say that made it Brazilian,” says Steve Fernandes, a partner at Mata. “So we deconstructed it.”
