Authentic Indian Cuisine at Famous Restaurant in Toronto Little India Neighbourhood

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On Gerrard Street East between Greenwood and Coxwell there exists an area of Toronto that we affectionately call Little India. Here there are many Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Afghani and Sri Lankan restaurants. There are over 100 South Asian shops in this section of the city. The 'brown folk' manage very successful cafés, DVD rental stores and stylish clothing tailors. Some of the most colourful fabrics and most beautiful dresses in the whole city are displayed on sidewalks in front of these clothing shops. Look here at Chandra.





The gold, silver and gems appraisers here are also famous for being trustworthy and generous. Its said they give the best prices this side of Vancouver gold buyer who is the most generous vendor due to close promiximity to Asian markets. But here in Little India we see thriving jewelry shops beside phone card kiosks, cut rate travel agencies, cramped electronic goods stores and home decor stores all catering to the prosperous South Asian-Canadian economy.




Along with Jackson Heights in New York and Devon Avenue in Chicago, Toronto’s own little India is actually one of the largest South Asian marketplaces in North America, and has served for several decades as commercial centre for South Asians living in cities and towns around the GTA and from as far away as Niagara Falls Ontario. It’s also well known for traditional Indian cuisine that is delicious and hard find anywhere else in town.




Little India is a great place to stop for lunch. The area originated in 1972 when businessman Gian Naaz purchased the Eastwood Theatre and began to show Bollywood films and also Pakistani films and dramas. The intersection of Gerrard and Greenwood is busy but not crowded like other cultural neighbourhoods; during lunch hour there’s usually plenty of parking along Gerrard St all the way to Coxwell.



At the Famous Restaurant at 1437 Gerrard St Toronto we met Sukhuvair Singh just as he was just opening up the kitchen at 11:30am on Weds July 10 morning. His small restaurant is renown for Tandoori & Mughlai Dishes. Here diners can enjoy a tasty buffet and variety of Indian dishes in a beautiful oriental ambience. We ordered spinach dish and chick pea dish and butter chicken over white rice.



As we dined we noticed people putting up signs for a festival but could not see what they were posting. Two men were hanging banners above the street in preparation for a weekend festival. A group of merchants have formed the Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area (BIA) to sponsor events that appeal to the different South Asian groups that shop in the area. The place gets really crowded then and we watch from a Toronto roof as people and animals parade below dancing and singing in a joyous exclaimation of Canadian civil liberties.



The BIA launched Diwali, a Hindu and Sikh festival of lights back in 2004, and Eid ul-Fitr, the Islamic feast day that marks the end of Ramadan, occurred around the same time in November. The shop owners in Little India speak a rainbow of south Asian languages. It looks sounds and tastes like another country.

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Photos

Colourful clothing store in Little India
The owner of a colourful clothing store talks to me

Clothing store owner beside Famous Restaurant
This is the very interesting clothing store retailer who has the store beside the Famous restaurant

Famous Restuarant exterior
You can see me in the reflection as I snapped this shot of the FAMOUS restaurant exterior sign and front window

Inside the FAMOUS restaurant
The man is Sukhuvair Singh This is the view inside the Famous Restaurant at 1437 Gerrard St Toronto.

Three Tandori Dishes
Here is spinach and curd and butter chicken and chick peas dish I wish I knew the names of this food items