Roti-n

Appearances can be deceiving

Pam's Roti Shop (Caribbean Kitchen) was a tiny spot, currently part of the expanded Nazareth, at the corner of Bloor and Dovercourt. The owner moved a few years back to Bloor and Dufferin for a while. The business disappeared for about a year and a half but has recently resurfaced at Bloor and Ossington.

I had always preferred Vena's Roti because the chicken in Pam's roti were fried, adding another level of grease to an already heavy dish. Also, she served a very dry roti with not much sauce. So I tend to pass on Pam's various incarnations. But two weeks ago, NOW Weekly ranked the best roti shops in Toronto. Vena landed in the bottom half while Pam's took the 2nd and 1st spot for the Chicken and Veggie Roti.

Surprised, I decided to give the new Pam's a shot on Thursday. The new place is brighter and more spacious than her Dovercourt digs. There were more customers too; they probably had all seen the story. I ordered the veggie roti ($9.60 with tax) with my choice of ingredients being chickpeas, okra, and spinach. As a take-out order, I wasn't given the complimentary salad.

Just as bad as it looks

The roti had a nice weight as I carried it home. It was a guyanese-style roti, with a layer of grounded chickpeas between 2 layers of dough. It looked a lot better than it tasted. This kind of roti lacks the toasty chewiness of the more popular roti, but it usually makes up for it with the earthy chickpea mix. But the light dusting that was present did not provide that texture.

There was no sauce at all. I'm not sure you can call that a roti, maybe a soggy burrito or shawarma. My fault for choosing okra and spinach, two ingredients with similar texture, but nevertheless, each bite was a chore: no chew, no texture, no flavour combination. I have no idea what the staff at NOW was smoking but this was terrible food.