Once-popular Guyanese restaurant in Scarborough making a comeback

Metro Morning's food guide, Suresh Doss, joins us every week to discuss one of the many great GTA eateries he's discovered.

This week, he talked to host Ismaila Alfa about the doubles, curry and roti at a Caribbean spot in Scarborough. 

Suresh Doss: Inner Circle was once a very popular restaurant and lounge on Port Union. The main draw was an assortment of home-style Guyanese curries that were served alongside freshly made parathas that were rolled with butter and then cooked on a flattop after a brushing of oil.

The family ended up closing down the restaurant seven years ago after a shooting. But now their son, Christopher, now in his mid 20s, is trying to reopen Inner Circle.

Ismaila Alfa: He wants to continue their legacy, I take it?

Suresh Doss: He grew up around two talented cooks, his mom and his dad being a bakery and pastry cook. He went to culinary school and worked at a few restaurants. But his goal was to always revive the family business.

Ismaila Alfa: So how is the food at Inner Circle 2.0?

Suresh Doss: They opened the takeout spot last year in this hidden plaza just off Kennedy Road in the Scarborough Junction, south of Eglinton. My wife Esther actually found the place, as we just moved recently to Cliffside. And the menu has expanded a little bit. Guyanese dishes, some Trinbagonian-style plates, and an ode to Jamaican cooking as well.
I think its emblematic of the Edwin family being inspired by their neighbours in Scarborough.  

Polly, the mom, is making everything from scratch in the kitchen, from the parathas to all the curries. And she does it in small batches throughout the day. So let me take you through the menu, Ismaila.

Ismaila Alfa: What are we having first?

Suresh Doss: The best experience here starts with ordering doubles. There are exactly two stools in the shop, so we'll be sitting there, enjoying the doubles while Polly preps the main dishes. So you have two pieces of bara — fried flatbread — that is served with a wonderful curried channa. And you can order how much pepper sauce, tamarind sauce, and chadon beni sauce you'd like. 

The bara is just perfect here. Pillowy breads that tear apart really nicely. There's only the slightest of chews, it's just soft and soaks up the channa so well. By the time we've licked the plate dry, we can move on to the mains.

Ismaila Alfa: The roti and curry?

Suresh Doss: If you're only going to get one main meal here, it's getting the paratha roti and curry chicken. Polly's curries have a very rounded spice profile; it's not coarse, really well balanced and the curries themselves are slightly thicker so they cling go the roti.

So once she brushes the dough with oil and cooks it on the tawa, as the roti is cooking, it starts to puff up. Then, she will repeatedly whack it with these long wooden slats, which give it the signature filo-like texture, with the crispy bits. Needless to say, it is perfect for soaking up the curries. 

Ismaila Alfa: Is there a vegetarian option?

Suresh Doss: Yes. My favourite is getting the combo. So you have eggplant stew, pumpkin stew, that channa, the same one that goes into the doubles. And of course, the paratha again.  

I'll also just add that there are weekly and weekend specials here at Inner Circle. Oftentimes, the menu doesn't paint a full picture, and you have to hear what other regulars are ordering. I would ask Christopher what is special that day or week. Right now its Jamaican-style corn porridge.

And on the weekends, they do this wonderful curry duck.