This blog has now been folded over into "The Left Chapter", a blog dedicated to politics, art, writing & food!
A trip to the Kensington Market and Chinatown area in the heart of Toronto is always an adventure for those of a culinary bent. There are so many options and so much potential, especially for those looking for great food while trying to stay on a budget.
It is impossible, in one blog post, to visit all of the places, restaurants and products/foodstuffs that I would like to highlight in this historic district (now threatened by proposed incursions by retail giants like Loblaws and Walmart...but more on this later) , so today I will make a first foray with a promise to return.
We begin at Swatow, a restaurant just north of Dundas on the east side of Spadina that is my favourite casual Chinese restaurant in the city. Swatow highlights a style of cooking the originates from the Fujian region, and its extensive menu is full of very affordable and truly delicious dishes.
We started with their justly famous Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup, a dish I find it difficult to go a week without. The dumplings are, simply put, fantastic and the whole earthy blend of broth, greens and noodles is perfect any time of day (or night, Swatow is a well established late night "after the bars close" destination), or any season. I highly recommend adding heaping spoonfuls of their excellent house table chili flake hot sauce.
Next we ordered the Beef with Black Bean Sauce and Fried Noodles. The fried noodle dishes at Swatow are all excellent, the very satisfying texture of the perfectly prepared noodles complimenting the various sauces and meat, chicken or seafood. Swatow always has wonderfully moist beef and chicken, never the dry or tough fare that one all too often gets at restaurants of all types.
Their Lo Mein dishes and beef sizzling plate have also been memorable stand outs over the years, and it is hard to go wrong with any of their soups. Two people can easily eat here for less than $40.
Just down the street from Swatow is the Hua Sheng Supermarket, which specializes in Asian foods and sauces as well as having an extensive fresh vegetable selection. For those looking for it, this supermarket is where one can stock up on the Lao Gan Ma hot sauces that I blogged about before, as well as finding literally hundreds of other options. The prices of meat, vegetables and sauces here are highly affordable and worth the trip.
Often when in Chinatown I like to buy a few of the Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwiches from Nguyen Huong Food. These are an incredible value at $2.00 for regular or $2.50 for large, and are served on a fresh french style bun filled up with pickled vegetables, assorted sliced meats, a pate, sauce and, if you wish, gloriously hot sliced red peppers. If not having them right then and there (though there is no seating, so you have to find a bench or eat while strolling around) I take them home and they make a perfect late afternoon snack or lunch the next day at the park with the kids.
Next stop was Cheese Magic on Baldwin in the heart of Kensington. Cheese Magic has an impressive selection of cheeses from staples like cheddar (which are truly competitively priced and can be had from $1.60/100 grams) and Camembert, to more offbeat or less common selections. It has friendly staff who are always quick with a sample. Today, we picked up some Canadian Brie, which is terrifically creamy and easily as good as many of its more lauded French varieties, some of the English Smoked Applewood Cheddar, a perennial favourite in my house with its strong, smokey taste and richness, and, on the recommendation of the fellow behind the counter, some of the very boldly flavoured Dutch Aged Beemster cheese. A hard cheese where a little goes a long way, he said it would go perfectly with a heavy red wine...and it did! (I enjoyed it with Castillo de Monseran, a Spanish wine that can be had at the LCBO for only $9.95 a bottle).
Finally, we made our way to Perola's Supermarket on Augusta, a Latin American grocery store specializing in Latin American essentials and stocking a wide array of hot sauces, which, as you may have figured out, are my thing!
This is one of the places you can find all four of the Goya Salsita line of hot sauces. All four are complex and delicious, each featuring a specific key flavour and a varying level of heat and smokiness or tang. My favourite is the Pure Fire Ripe Habanero Chiles blend which is, as one might expect, very hot, but also full of rich flavours that do not overpower but compliment, the key to a great hot sauce. I like this one on rice, with beans or as a dipping sauce for steak. A side bowl of it is a perfect accompaniment to a grilled Rib Eye.
This wraps up our first foray into this great part of Toronto, a hub and gem of affordability, diversity and history.
Sadly, retail giants Loblaws and Walmart want to set up shop right on the very edges of Kensington and Chinatown, bringing their usual, stale and faceless blend of corporate blandness and "convenience". I hope you consider taking the time to read about this and signing the petitions of The Friends of Kensington Market in opposition to it.
Swatow is located at 309 Spadina Ave. Hua Sheng Supermarket is located at 293 Spadina Ave. Nguyen Huong Food is located at 322 Spadina Ave. Cheese Magic is located at 182 Baldwin St. Perola's Supermarket is located at 247 Augusta Ave.
Ever since a girlfriend at the time introduced me to its Shrimp Dumpling Noodle soup in the early 1990's I have been a regular diner at Swatow's, a terrific and inexpensive Chinese restaurant in downtown Toronto. At each visit I will heap spoonfuls of an oily chili flake hot sauce that they have on their table into my soup to give it that extra kick and flavour that spicy sauces can bring.
Recently at a Chinese grocery and vegetable market I stumbled upon a jar of what, from outward appearances, I thought must be the sauce they use. As it was very inexpensive at $1.99 a jar (or 2 for $3.00), I took a chance and picked one up. Once I got it home and opened it, however, I found that I had accidentally bought a sauce of even greater complexity and intensity of heat and flavour, the Lao Gan Ma Oil Chilli Sauce with peanuts. I can hardly overstate how fortuitous an error this was as this has quickly become one of my very favourite hot sauces of any type.
The Oil Chilli Sauce is a part of a family of Lao Gan Ma sauces all developed by a woman born in a remote province of China to a poor family, who became a street vendor due to the premature death of her husband leaving her with no income, and who now presides over a remarkable sauce empire. Her really incredible story was told in an article on the Women of China website.
The sauce itself really has it all. It has a satisfying texture, with its blend of oils, chilli flakes and the crunch of the peanuts. It is very spicy but its heat does not overwhelm the tastes of either the sauce itself or the foods you have it with. It is perfect with noodle dishes, dumplings and just about anything I have tried it with.
For this blog I will show how I used it recently to enjoy with steamed pork dumplings.
I got out our Bamboo Steamer and set it up atop a pot of boiling water. After placing a layer of romaine lettuce leaves at the bottom of the steamer I filled it with O'Tasty brand Pork and Black Mushroom and Pork and Leek Dumplings.
While the dumplings were steaming I took several spoonfuls of the sauce and put it in a small bowl. I then added some Dark Soy Sauce and a bit of white vinegar and blended it all together. This blend is nicely hot, salty and tart with real kick in all three departments!
Once the dumplings are done, you can dip the dumplings freely for as much of the heat/saltiness you want. Simply put, wonderful stuff!
I found that this sauce-dumpling blend of flavours paired really well with an inexpensive Italian table wine that both my pocketbook and I are fond of, Fontana Di Papa Castelli Romani, which can
be had in a 1.5 litre bottle for only $12.95 if you are in Ontario. The heaviness of this wine suits the boldness of the sauce and dumplings.
The full Lao Gan Ma (which apparently is loosely translated as an affectionate form of saying grandmother) product line can be found on their website. I look forward to trying as many as I can find. Seek them out wherever you can. They are well worth the search.
Often when in Chinatown I like to buy a few of the Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwiches from Nguyen Huong Food. These are an incredible value at $2.00 for regular or $2.50 for large, and are served on a fresh french style bun filled up with pickled vegetables, assorted sliced meats, a pate, sauce and, if you wish, gloriously hot sliced red peppers. If not having them right then and there (though there is no seating, so you have to find a bench or eat while strolling around) I take them home and they make a perfect late afternoon snack or lunch the next day at the park with the kids. 
This is one of the places you can find all four of the Goya Salsita line of hot sauces. All four are complex and delicious, each featuring a specific key flavour and a varying level of heat and smokiness or tang. My favourite is the Pure Fire Ripe Habanero Chiles blend which is, as one might expect, very hot, but also full of rich flavours that do not overpower but compliment, the key to a great hot sauce. I like this one on rice, with beans or as a dipping sauce for steak. A side bowl of it is a perfect accompaniment to a grilled Rib Eye. 
