During my early 30s, I frequently visited the King West area. The down-to-earth night life and boozy establishments drew me in. Then, adulthood set in and finding a restaurant that you could converse in was the goal. This year I turned 40 (and love it), but it’s reminded me to become more balanced – go out and have a night of debauchery, but also maintain those important relationships beyond a superficial drinking night.

That's how I found myself back at Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen to fit in a little of both. The music was pumping loudly even before entering and was even more deafening once I settled into tightly packed table. Toto, we’re not in an adult-friendly establishment anymore.

Yet, after one drink and another on the way, I settled comfortably into the ratan chair and started tuning out the other patrons, laser focused on my friends … after all, I had to really pay attention to hear what they were saying.

The ackee and saltfish bites ($16 for 3, $3 for an extra piece) would make a great hors d’oeuvre. The fried dumpling base is like a fluffy biscuit topped with a mound of creamy ackee and saltfish spread studded with sweet peppers, onions, and tomatoes. It reminds me of a more fluid crab cake with a pop of freshness.

The pepper shrimp ($19) still knocked a fiery punch bringing on the scotch bonnet zing while swimming in garlic butter. The sauce seemed much thicker, so it really sticks to the seafood or acts as a dip for the crunchy bread.

I wish the kitchen had served the mixed green and mango salad ($17) with the shrimp (instead of with the mains) as it had a refreshing coolness that would have helped tame the spicy shrimp. Ultimately, it’s a salad, which was light on the mango but had some tropical flair from toasted coconut chips.

Oddly, the jerk pork ($24) was completely devoid of the spice and heat you’d expect and tasted like regular barbeque meat. If anything, my favourite part of the dish was the sauteed greens made from kale, collard greens, cherry tomato, and onion. It’s a side that would go great with anything.

As with the previous visit, Chubby’s saucier dishes continue to impress. While I would have liked more heat in the curry chicken ($19), it was nonetheless tender and flavourful, pairing well with the jasmine rice and pineapple chutney.

The gravy from the oxtail stew ($25) was also on point, and pairs well with side dishes like the rice and peas and as a dip for the fried okra ($11). The oxtail was a tad scant on the meat, but what was included was flavourful and tender. I could easily have an entire order of this to myself.

Chubby’s smartly leaves the fried plantain ($10.50) in large chunks, so they don’t dry out. They were the best plantains I’ve ever had, a slight crispiness outside yielding to the soft fruit, with a sprinkling of salt that enhanced its semi-sweetness.

In fact, with a scoop of coconut ice cream and a caramel drizzle, the fried plantains could even sub in for dessert. Consequently, much tastier than the cornmeal pudding ($12), which was too salty and had a non-existent ‘pudding’ element. If anything, the dessert was merely a piece of corn bread covered with fussy corn nuts and a scoop of mellow coconut sorbet.

For me, a restaurant’s a hit when I’m already planning on who I can return with during my first meal. Such was the case with Miss Likklemore’s, one spoon of the sock-you-in-the-mouth rice from the crab XO ($62) and I was hooked. If risotto made sweet love to a tropical gumbo, perhaps this is would be their love child. To say it’s flavourful is an understatement: there’s a rich savouriness, hits of tangy spice from pickled chilis, a sweet tropical essence from pineapple (?) and toasted coconut chips, and a hit of freshness from the occasional cilantro.

If this weren’t enough, pea sized chunks of crab are strewn throughout with a whole cluster nestled on top, slathered in butter, and topped with a mild XO sauce. It’s messy to eat but there’s something exhilarating about grabbing onto a crab leg and cracking it opened with your bare hands. If only there was some wet naps to deal with the after math… I feel sorry for the restaurant’s cleaners, no one should have to witness the state of my cloth napkin.

If Miss Likklemore’s was a real person, I sense she wouldn’t care about etiquette. The jerk chicken ($35) is carved but served bone-in so that those who are dainty can stick with the hunks of tender breast meat, but the real chicken fans will gladly grab onto the drumstick, thigh, or the ultra-flavourful wing. There wasn’t a dry portion on the bird and the flavours were bang on – a subtle spice that builds and lingers on the tongue but not overly pungent. If you want an extra boost of flavour, more gravy is included to douse and dip.

I would suggest tucking into the jerk chicken as soon as it arrives as it’s delicious when it’s piping hot. Because the dining room is heavily air conditioned, the protein cools down quickly and while it’s still tasty, the last bites are not nearly as good as the first.

Given the oxtail ($65) is swimming in gravy, it somewhat resists getting cold. Yet, you’ll want a few friends to order this sizeable dish as the pieces of beef are huge and meaty, the size of a short rib, cooked just to the point of tender without being overly soft. Still, after some of the more flavourful dishes, I did find the oxtail blander in comparison… ideally, this would be served with a hot sauce so diners could amp up the flavour on the gravy. And it’s a sauce you won’t want to waste so make sure to order a side of fragrant coconut rice ($12).

Even their rock shrimp ($26) surprised us. What looked like the typical battered nuggets – found in modern Japanese restaurants like Ki and Kasa Moto - have such a nuanced flavour at Miss Likklemores. The aioli is spicy but balanced with freshness from the finely chopped mint, and an almost citrusy finish that I can’t quite place (like lemongrass but not quite).

The doubles ($11 for two; $6 for additional) was another popular starter, the bara is fluffy and warm and filled with a savoury chickpea curry. It’s accompanied with tamarind chutney to give it some tanginess if that’s your thing.

Of all the dishes, only the fried snapper ($75) disappointed. While it was beautifully presented and the deboned fillets were cooked to flakey perfection, it was so heavily seasoned that the saltiness gave it a bitter tone. Ultimately, I had to scrape the snapper’s flesh out of the breading to enjoy it. Even then, I hardly needed the escovitch dipping sauce, the fish’s flesh already salty enough, indicating how much seasoning was used on the batter that it’d seep through so thoroughly.

On both weeknight visits, the service was attentive and top-notch, dishes arrive at a good clip without feeling overly rushed. If I had one complaint, it’d be nonchalant attitude to criticism. After each dish was presented, our server would give us ten minutes then stop by to see how things were tasting – us raving about how good it is, of course. Except for the fried snapper where I commented how overly salted it was that it’s barely edible. Disappointingly, there wasn’t a reaction… no “sorry to hear about that, I’ll let the chef know”, no offer for a replacement, nada. In my opinion, if a restaurant’s not ready to right a wrong, they shouldn’t bother asking for feedback to start.

The one slip up aside, I really enjoyed the dishes and even the snapper would have been an incredible dish if it weren’t double seasoned. I sense I’ll be seeing Miss Likklemores again. If she was personified, she’s certainly someone I’d love to become good friends with. 

Have you ever encountered a situation where you’ve lived in a neighbourhood, but felt you overlooked an area and now wish you discovered it sooner? For me, it’s Huntingwood Square, a strip mall at Birchmount and Huntingwood in Scarborough.  I must have driven by the plaza hundreds of times while traversing Huntingwood trying to miss the busier arteries. Little did I know it’d be home to some well-loved authentic mom-and-pop places, one of them being Chris Jerk Caribbean Bistro.

And when I say Chris Jerk is known and loved, I’m not kidding. The weekend crowd is well documented online, so I thought I’d be smart and visit on a random Tuesday instead. Arriving ten minutes to 11:00am, before the restaurant opened, there were already a couple of cars parked around the entrance. By 10:55am, someone started a line. Before the doors even opened, there were ten people queued up. All on a regular Tuesday.

Chris Jerk serves up an array of Jamaican food, but there’s a couple of surprising things on the menu like the shawarma plate and even more popular shawarma poutine. It seemed a little out of place, but then I learnt about Chef Taylor’s background at Me Va Me and the menu made more sense.

Even so, I didn’t feel like shawarma. What had me salivating was the other meals I’ve seen, substantial well-rounded meals. Unlike most places, the containers aren’t merely filled with rice, peas, a protein, and perhaps a tong of coleslaw. At Chris Jerk, each meal also arrives with vibrant buttery stir-fried vegetables and sweet soft fried plantains. It’s a full-sized affair where you’re bound to have leftovers.

As soon as I saw the large pieces of oxtail ($16.95) I was ready to dig in - you’re lucky there’s any pictures that’s part of this post. Boy was it tasty: thick and meaty with more than enough of the lovely gravy to mix into the rice and peas. While it was tender, it wasn’t braised so long that it fell off the bone. You could still pick up each piece and get a bite of meat and jellied cartilage all together.

I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about all the chickpeas accompanying the curry chicken ($12.45) but, in retrospect, the crumbly legumes with the juicy chicken were a nice combination. Despite the vibrant yellow hue of the sauce, the spices weren’t too powerful. Everyone seemed to ask for hot sauce on the side, something I’ll pick up next time to add a bit more heat to the dish.

In fact, nothing is overly spicy. Even the jerk chicken leg ($3) was rather tame tasting like barbeque chicken with a jerk element, equally sweet to spicy. I’m glad we only purchased a side order as it would have been a disappointment – when one orders jerk chicken you want that hit of flavours, this was not it.  

If you ever visit Chris Jerk and see a line-up, don’t get too scared. It moves fairly quickly with their order, pay, leave phone number, and get out of the store system. In about 15-20 minutes when your meal is ready, you’ll get a call. At that point, head back into the cash register area and the fragrant to-go package is presented. Good food takes time, and these hearty meals are worth the time. 

After ordering delivery so many times, you learn that you need to heat it up. Unless you easily burn your tongue or like mildly hot food, a quick nuke in the microwave improves the meal by miles releasing aromas and returning the dish closer to its original state.

I wasn’t going to order from Allwyn’s Bakery and not try their famous stuffed sandwich ($7.50). Admittedly, I may have re-heated it a bit too long at 30 seconds or should have thought to remove the coleslaw and re-stuff the bun, as something about warm coleslaw tastes odd.

Who cares, as this sandwich is really good. When you take thick pieces of juicy jerk chicken and crunchy coleslaw and put it into a beef patty that’s sandwiched between a soft fluffy coco bread it makes a tasty combination. With the spicy beef patty, the sandwich has a tingly heat, but since there’s so much coleslaw everything is tempered and the sauces meld into flavourful bites. Just grab a large napkin as this baby is messy to eat.

The oxtail ($11.85 for the small) has such a nice rich flavour, the spices seeping into the meat. Which made the rice and peas such a disappointment when you’re met with a mouth full of a colourful but tasteless carbs. Where is the lovely gravy? Did someone forget to spoon some on before closing the lid? The gravy is why I order oxtail! Note to self: ask for extra gravy next time, for now add some salt and call it a day.

Allwyn’s redeemed themself with the jerk chicken wings ($7.85 for ½ lb) a flavour bomb that’s only available during the weekend. Perhaps a touch overdone, they were nonetheless well marinated with seasoning infused throughout the wing. I could seriously eat a whole pound of these if I had a glass of milk by my side.

Having Allwyn’s in the comfort of your own home is the way to go. You got to get handsy with the stuffed sandwich and jerk wings, creating a sticky but flavourful mess. 

The Friday dinner began on a low note, with one of the longest delivery times despite the restaurant being a 5-minute drive from our place. Luckily, having endured a couple of system crash leading to cancelled order experiences the weeks before, we knew to put in our Uber request early – 5:20pm by the time to final confirmation button was pressed. Hence, when the order was delayed two times (at the restaurant’s request), everything still arrived by 6:40pm (compared to the original latest delivery time of 6pm).

As an aside: A big thank you to Muhammet of Uber Eats, the third driver to visit the restaurant, who contacted us to let us know why other drivers were leaving and proceeded to wait another 5-minutes for the order to finish.

Was the meal a particularly complicated order? I didn’t think so. Two entrees of jerk chicken and oxtail, an extra side of jerk chicken, and roti shells.

Maybe it was the plain roti ($4.75) that led to the delay. Since Scotthill Caribbean Cuisine offers these as a main, I would have thought they could be prepared easily. In retrospect, they were dry and mealy and was only edible after dipping them into the thick complimentary vegetable stew. So, if the roti is what’s holding up the kitchen, I suggest dropping it as a side to simplify operations.

Scotthill’s jerk chicken ($15 for the meal and $8 for an extra leg) doesn’t hit you with a punch of flavour. It’s definitely not bland. Rather, instead of just relying on heat, the seasoning tastes of a complex mixture of spices - the allspice and nutmeg (?) creates a subtle earthy finish that also has a fragrant element.

While the restaurant does provide hot sauce on the side (and boy does this have heat), I wish it was built into the marinade to begin with so that it combines with the other spices and into the chicken better … perhaps I should have painted the hot sauce onto the chicken instead of drizzling it on top?

The oxtail ($22) is meaty and deliciously braised in a savoury gravy. Scotthill adds diced peppers into the sauce that gives an extra boost of flavour to the already tasty rice and peas. Oh, and the plantains… the caramelization is amazing and so sweet and soft that it could be dessert. Forget the roti, get plantain!

I’ve driven by Rap’s Jamaican Restaurant on a handful of occasions and from a distance see the smoke rising from a large black steel-drum grill. The intoxicating scent of barbequed meat fills the street and despite it being 10pm it’s still busy and bustling. “Do we want to stop and try whatever’s cooking?” I ask. But we’re always driving home after a big meal and having a fourth meal of the day, at 11pm, isn’t in the cards.

Rap’s is in the Eglinton West district or “Little Jamaica”, a neighbourhood that’s teeming with activity into the wee hours of the morning. In fact, under normal conditions, they usually don’t even start serving “dinner” until 8pm in the evening, a time when my hungry stomach is already sedated. The restaurant is surrounded by similar establishments, but Rap’s bright signage catches the eye.

Under the “new normal” food is available earlier in the day and it’s offered through delivery services. There’s a strong charbroil aroma that escapes the jerk chicken ($14.99 for a ‘big’ meal or $12 for a sizeable box of just chicken), even after being delivered. That charbroil flavour stays as you bite into the meat – the other occasion I’ve had something similar was a kebab at Shombal North. While Raps is not quite as strong, it is a taste that makes the jerk chicken different. It’s a flavour that takes some getting used to: I enjoy the extra depth in flavour but found it overwhelms the jerk seasoning.

The chicken itself? Oh, wow is it tender! The skin rendered of all it’s fat so that it just sits on the meat as an extra layer of flavour. In future visits, I’d opt for the spicy sauce as the regular one is too tame even for me. And since the rice and peas (red kidney beans) is fairly neutral, you need something flavourful to go with it.

Such as the oxtail ($14.99 for a ‘big’ meal) where the gravy mixes into the rice so well. The oxtail is equally tender, falling off the bone and the cartilage soft like jelly. The meal is a good option, aside from the rice there’s a vinegary coleslaw that has a hint of sweetness. The salad is tarte and refreshing, helping to tame the heaviness of the meal.

During our Friday evening order, Uber only had the ‘big’ size available (other options include the ‘regular’ and the even more sizable ‘massive’) – maybe to keep operations easier to manage. Even if you’re hungry, there’s more than enough for another meal. Whether it’s the third or fourth for the day.