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For such a culturally diverse city, Toronto surprisingly doesn’t have very many restaurants representing French Caribbean food. Starting out as a catering company (Manje Kreyol Catering) which was popular amongst the Francophone community, the owners wanted to share their food with the rest of the city.

The interior

La Creole recently opened on St Clair West, a couple blocks west of Christie St. They’ve created a casual and relaxing atmosphere in the narrow space which features a bar in the middle of the restaurant and a stage at the back for live music on Friday and Saturday evenings.

The bar

One of the owners, Ben Chérette, invited me to check out their new restaurant and when I initially read the name, my mind went straight to Louisiana creole. Not the case. It turns out that La Creole serves food that is authentic to the French Caribbean, Creole and Haitian cultures.

La Creole

Since I haven’t had much experience with this type of cuisine, it was a great learning experience. Ben introduced us to a vast array of ingredients and dishes we had never heard of. They really pride themselves on serving authentic fare and sometimes this means that the ingredients they require aren’t found in Toronto. Instead of using an alternative, they travel to Montreal in order to get these specific ingredients to ensure the authenticity of their dishes.

To start off our meal, we ordered Le Plat Fritay – assorted platter of Akra Malanga (root fritters), Akra Morue (codfish fritters), Marinad (golden savoury dough) & Dips ($12). We were having trouble narrowing down which appetizers we wanted to order so we were pleased to see an assorted platter available. We ordered the smaller version which serves 1-2 people. There’s also a larger size for $18 which serves 2-4.

Le Plat Fritay

My personal favourite was the Marinad. They were light, fluffy and tasted amazing when dipped in the watercress dip. That dip was really something else – I could eat that with everything.

The platter also came with a little dish of pikliz (aka pickled spicy cabbage) which was similar to kimchi but much spicier. The spice just hits you!

Le Plat Fritay

Another appetizer we shared was the Kribich Ak Ti Sabyen – Creole shrimps served on a bed of sweet potato puree ($10). I’m not usually a big fan of tiny shrimp but I really enjoyed this dish. The shrimp were packed full of flavour and complimented the sweet potato puree nicely.

Kribich Ak Ti Sabyen

From the entrees, we ordered the Pwason La Creole – fried snapper served on Djondjon rice, tostone and creole sauce ($23). You have the option of getting it fried or stewed but Ben recommended the fried version. He definitely didn’t steer us wrong!

The fried snapper had a nice batter and was moist on the inside. The Creole sauce that topped the fish was quite tasty and surprisingly wasn’t too spicy. I had no idea what was in the sauce and when I asked Ben about it, his lips were sealed.

Pwason La Creole

The other entrée we shared was the Le Toro – Creole stewed beef served with rice, house salad and creole sauce ($15). It consisted of chunks of beef sitting in a generous amount of Creole sauce which tasted delicious on a bed of their black bean rice.  I loved that their dishes each come with a tostone (fried plaintains)…I just wish they came with more!

Le Toro

While we were too full for dessert, we had just enough room to sample La Creole’s Crémasse, a creamy coconut milk drink consisting of rum, coconut milk, cinnamon and star anise. Ben explained that it’s a popular drink in Haiti and I can see why – it’s delicious!

Crémasse

Come by La Creole to get a great introduction to Haitian fare!

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

La Creole on Urbanspoon



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