It's amazing how food can transport you to a specific time and place in your life.When I bit into a samosa from the Sultan of Samosas on O'Connor drive in Toronto, my mind instantly travelled to Manama, Bahrain in 1986. Our office was staffed mostly by British and Indians and was located near a soukh.
After lunch, we had a “teaboy” serve us coffee and tea. Our “teaboy” (most recently referred to in Slumdog Millionaire as a chaiwallah) was actually a man named Harry Das whose only job was to bring us coffee. Occasionally, Paul Ross the art director would come around to collect change and put it into a collective pot. Harry Das would then run to the soukh and buy a bagful of samosas.
At first, I didn't know what to make of samosas . Its skin texture reminded me of chinese spring rolls and its triangular shape brought to mind a Philippine firecracker called “trianggulo”. Inside that little treat was an explosion of flavors only possible with South Asian cooking. Wrapped inside a samosa could be a variety of fillings: curried vegetables, spicy beef, spinach and cheese, lentils, etc. And like peanuts, there's no such thing as eating just one samosa. You'll be tempted to eat until your mouth can't stand the heat anymore.
For sure, samosas are available everywhere in Toronto, even at coffee chains. But only the Sultan of Samosas makes them the way I remember and love: compactly wrapped, freshly cooked, crunchy, packed with flavor. They even give you free dips with a choice of tamarind or yogurt flavor.
The Sultan of Samosas has been recognized as Toronto's Best in samosas, a reputation so richly deserved.
