Reader Taryn suggested that I need to try pontine while in Canada, so I went out to look for it. It's Canada's national dish ๐
The dish created in the province of Quebec in the 1950s, is now found throughout Canada. It's basically French fries topped with cheese curds and splashed with brown sauce.
I got my poutine at Leslieville Pumps, which is a convenience store at a petrol station (known as gas station here). Poutine is sold in kiosks, food trucks, cafes, bars, pubs and fast food chains i.e. everywhere in Canada.
This was not my first poutine. My first was at a famous diner chain but I didn't enjoy it.
Original poutine comes with French fries, topped with cheese curds and slathered with brown sauce. There are more elaborate versions that come with pulled pork, chicken, beef, sausages, lobster and even foie gras.... anything goes lah.
I just settled for original.
As Leslieville Pumps is said to be stingy on cheese curds and brown sauce, I asked for extra cheese and sauce. So, my paper box of original (i.e. basic) poutine came to over CDN9.
Hand cut fries with skin on, fried to a crisp outside and tossed in a bit of salt. Crispy, crunchy outside and tender inside. Nice!
Lumpy, tender orange cheddar and white mozzarella cheese curds the size of groundnuts (haha I mean the Styrofoam kind used for packing ๐ ).
Brown sauce with real beef gravy filtered through the tangle of fries and curds, pooling at the bottom of the paper box.
Poutine is indeed a better or Canadian way to eat French fries. It is plenty of greasy carbs with layers of savoury-saltiness from the salted fries, spongy cheese curds (which make a soft squeaky sound in your ears when you chew it) and savoury beefy brown sauce.
๐ When you are in Canada, Pontine is one bucket list item you need to check off ๐
The weather was beautiful today. I walked leisurely for about an hour from Queens station heading east, crossed the Don River to Leslieville Pumps (913 Queen St East, Toronto).
Restaurant name: Leslieville Pumps General Store & Kitchen
Address: 913 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4M 1J4, Canada
Tel: +141 6465 1313
Hours: 8:30am - 9:30pm
Alas you have taken something Canadian, doing justice to your trip to Canada. Tim Horton coffee is a must!!! Our proud Canadian coffee. Don't go home without taking a cup.
ReplyDeleteOK I will go to a Timmy before going home :-D
DeleteI am Malaysian as well as Canadian. Besides poutine, what is Canadian food? I wonder myself. There are lots of other nations' food in Toronto. You can try Persian kebab and Mexican tacos which you cannot find in Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteYes, I will look for other country food as well when in Canada :-D
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