The 7 best Indian restaurants in Toronto: More than just samosas, pakoras and butter chicken

Connoisseurs of Indian cuisine are quick to diss Toronto’s Indian food scene, but only if they don’t know where to look for the good stuff. In reality, TO is home to some truly amazing Indian food, from quick lunch buffets to opulent dinners. With spices that’ll clear out the ol’ sinuses and creamy dishes that make comfort food staples like chicken pot pie look like chopped liver, these 7 Toronto Indian food restaurants do wonders for those of us who crave amazing, and often cheap, food. It may even be reason enough to convince some of us to move to Toronto for good.

Curry dish at Pukka

So much flavour.

Pukka

Pukka has grown to become one of Toronto’s favourite Indian restaurants. Located on St. Clair, they specialize in family-style share plates and do an amazing butter chicken, plus great lamb lollipops, stuffed paneer, homemade naan, okra fries and chaat. They have a decently large wine list and they deliver, too.

North of Bombay

Just one of the Junction’s awesome Indian restaurants is North of Bombay, an upscale restaurant with fantastic decor and prices that are on the high side. They do gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan meals, but their aloo gobi masala, garlic naan, onion bhajla and lamb vindaloo are top picks.

curry dish at curry twist

Bet you heaven is made of curry.

Curry Twist

Also in the Junction, Curry Twist serves cuisine from North India with a ton of vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free options, despite the small-ish menu. The dishes they do make, they do well.

Savera

The massive menu at Savera on St. Clair is pretty much all delicious. They have a huge selection of tandoori, vegetarian, lamb, chicken and rice dishes. Among the best are the palak paneer and the fish curry. The prices are a bit higher than most restaurants on this list.

chickpea pita from mother india

YUM.

Mother India

When it comes to low prices and amazingly authentic Indian food, Mother India’s your spot. The cozy, unpretentious place in Parkdale/Little Portugal serves big mains for under 10 bucks and from the roti to the butter chicken, everything here is great, including the service.

Glory of India Roti Cuisine

Across the street from Mother India on Queen St. W is another of Toronto’s best Indian food joints, Glory of India. Visually, the place doesn’t have much going for it, but it’s all about the food. Vindaloo, rotis, biryiani and the vegetarian thali are amazing, and the prices are pretty decent.

Kothur

The very relaxed decor at Kothur Indian Cuisine on Yonge near Bloor make it a welcoming spot for a casual dinner. The food is good and generally really fresh, with awesome biryanis, curries and rotis.

Check out some more cultural eats:

 

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Born on the Prairies, Erin Cardone grew up knowing there was more to life than canola fields and AAA Alberta Angus. So she escaped, living in Europe and Australia, white-knuckling it through plates of calf brains and raw horse meat, and learning languages she can't remember anymore. After a stint as a jaded, skeptical journalist, she changed tack and began writing rather awesome blogs and showing businesses that advertising is dead, so long live social media, with her businesses Legendary Social Media. She now splits her time between various Canadian cities, Costa Rica and wherever else the wind blows.

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