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Located in the heart of Cabbagetown, Rashnaa has been serving up South Indian and Sri Lankan food since 1990.

The restaurant is located in a small converted house and is quite unassuming. Not much to look at but their food speaks for itself.

Rashnaa

Rashnaa has a small interior and a patio out front. Since it was quite warm out, we opted for the patio. If you don’t feel like eating in, they do a lot of take-out orders and delivery is also an option for orders over $20 before taxes (for a charge of $3.50).

Rashnaa, which translates into “tasty” in Sanskrit, has quite an extensive menu with a large selection of curries, rotty dishes, thosai (aka dosa) dishes and Sri Lankan specialties.

The menu

We started off with an order of Vegetable Samosas ($3.45) which comes with two large samosas. They had a crisp and flakey exterior and were filled with a good amount of stuffing.

Vegetable Samosa

The samosas were served with a side of hot sauce for dipping which gave them a nice kick. A great way to start off the meal!

Vegetable Samosa

Up next was the Mutton Biryani ($12.95). Other biryani options include vegetable, beef, shrimp, chicken and fish which range in price from $9.95 to $12.95. This aromatic rice dish was prepared with ginger, raisins, cashews, fresh herbs and small bits of mutton. Another great dish – so far, so good.

Mutton Biryani

The biryani came with a side of raita which was made with cucumbers, tomatoes and onions in a spiced beaten yogurt. I’ve never had raita that I really enjoyed and was pleasantly surprised by Rashnaa’s version. I’ll be honest, it didn’t look promising since it was on the watery side but this was really, really delicious! I liked the touch of sweetness it had and if it was socially acceptable, I would’ve licked that bowl clean.

One dish we ordered from the “Sri Lankan Specialties” section of the menu was the String Hopper Kothu – red rice flour noodles chopped and sautéed with onion, green peppers, eggs and spices ($8.95 with chicken). Like the biryani, you can choose your choice of protein.

As the menu indicated, the rice noodles are chopped into small bites and and the entire dish was prepared like fried rice. I’ve never had anything quite like it and if you don’t feel like eating a rice dish, this is a great alternative.

String Hopper Kothu

We also wanted to order a curry and decided on Butter Chicken – Tandoori marinated barbequed white chicken meat cooked in a tomato based sauce flavoured with a touch of butter and a dash of cream ($10.95) after we were told the spice level on this one was mild.

Butter Chicken

It actually tasted quite different from the butter chicken I’m used to eating. But it was definitely a good “different”. It just didn’t taste quite as heavy on the butter or cream. The butter chicken consisted of white meat which isn’t my preference but turned out to be wonderfully moist and tender. And as our server promised, this was very mild. If you don’t have a high spice tolerance (or even if you do), the butter chicken is highly recommended!

Our meal

To accompany our curry, we added two orders of Rotty ($1.95 each). Most Indian restaurants I’ve been to offer naan and as much as I enjoy it, I prefer rotty. The ones here didn’t disappoint. I could eat several of these on their own without any sauce whatsoever. They’re just that good.

Rotty & Raita

Overall, I had a great meal at Rashnaa. It’s definitely a great little Cabbagetown gem to get your Indian food fix!

Note: Spinzo is currently featuring a deal for Rashnaa which includes a 3-course dinner for two. Check out the deal here before it ends! In case you’re not familiar with Spinzo, it differentiates itself from other group-buy sites by allowing merchants to dynamically price their offerings based on the number of people interested in buying. Every time someone joins a Spinzo deal, the price drops for everyone. Check them out here!

*This was a complimentary meal. The opinions in the post are my own.*

At a glance:
• Serving up South Indian and Sri Lankan food since 1990
• Located in Cabbagetown (Wellesely and Parliament)
• Open every day from 11:30am to 11:30pm
• Popular for take-out; delivery for orders over $20 before tax (for a charge of $3.50)
• Located in a small converted house; outdoor patio out front
• Great spot to satisfy your Indian food craving

Rashnaa on Urbanspoon



  1. Louise (Reply) on Friday 3, 2013

    that looks delicious! if you like these types of dishes i think you would love Tidla BAsmati ‘s recipes http://www.tilda.com/public-recipe-category/dry