Spiciest food in Ottawa? Thilaks Sri Lankan Cuisine packs heat and heart
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During my most recent visit to Thilaks, I met its chef, Nick Diyagu Baduge, who told me the eatery had opened last summer and brought in ingredients like cinnamon from Sri Lanka. He said he had catered a party for the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa last year.
We met on a Wednesday, which meant that Thilaks was serving lump rice ($20), a multi-curry feast with origins that go back to the 1700s, when Sri Lanka was under Dutch rule. That's not to say that lump rice is all that Dutch, although what Thilaks serves does include two frikandellen, which are snacky Dutch meatballs.
The lump rice also included a curry of peas and cashews, a vegetarian curry of ash plantain and eggplant, the meat curry of our choice, an intoxicatingly funky and hot condiment of grated coconut and dried shrimp, two boiled and then deep-fried eggs, and a gigantic heap of yellow rice ('ghee rice,' Baduge said), all wrapped in a banana leaf and then baked.
Baduge said that his lump rice, which smacked me with a parade of robust flavours, was so popular that he can make as many as 100 servings for delivery to Montreal-based Sri Lankan expats. I'm inclined to think that scores of Sri Lankan expats ordering food from almost 200 kilometres away can't be wrong.
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Baduge also made a massive plate of deviled chicken ($16), which consisted of bone-in pieces that required some determined knifework or gnawing, plus big chunks of leeks, onions and peppers, all bathed in a sweet, sour and hot sauce. Baduge described the dish as something Sri Lankans might snack on with beer.
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Indeed, it occurred to my friend when we ate at Thilaks that she would have liked a beer to go with her food. Thilaks, however, is not licensed. All the more reason, in addition to the windowless-ness and harsh fluorescent lights of Thilaks' spartan dining room, to order its food for takeout, she added.
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When I asked Baduge if Thilaks' owner would consider moving to another location, his answer was: 'Yes, of course. We really want to.' Until then, ordering takeout is my recommendation.
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Even then, the food at Thilaks, not to mention its ambience or lack thereof, will be too much for readers who prefer to experience spicy food vicariously.
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Vancouver Sun
7 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Eat like a celebrity: Vancouver personal chef Mikaela Reuben pens plant-forward cookbook
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Mikaela Reuben's cookbook all started with a road trip. 'I gathered a few girlfriends, one was a photographer, one was a food stylist, and we spent the summer travelling from destination to destination throughout British Columbia,' she recalls of the trip that kicked off in 2019. Their road trip took them to some of their favourite places in the province, including Hornby, Saltspring and Galiano islands, as well as Squamish and Whistler. When she looks at the book now, she recalls a 'lot of laughter and a little confusion at times' during the process. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'I'm so proud of what we created,' she says. It was a backward way of creating the compilation of eats, considering that she hadn't yet decided which of the recipes she's cooked up during her 10-plus years as a personal chef would be featured. 'We were using the markets and the kind of situations we were in to develop the recipes,' Reuben recalls. Thankfully, the Victoria-born, Vancouver-based food creator had plenty to pull from for her first book, titled Eat to Love: Where Health Meets Flavor: 115+ Nourishing and Adaptable Plant-Forward Recipes from a Nutritional Chef (Appetite by Random House, $40). 'I was cooking things that I knew my clients had loved, and then I had to kind of go in and tweak after and make sure that each recipe worked,' she says. With the aim to match maximum nutrition with maximum flavour, Reuben's recipes are intentionally adaptable to suit preferences and dietary needs, including vegan, dairy-free or grain-free alterations. 'I've tried to build out the recipes so that they are usable, or potentially usable, by a wide audience,' she says. Praise from some of her celebrity clients, such as supermodel Karlie Kloss, Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson, for the B.C. chef's cooking are peppered on the back of the new hardcover tome. Reuben also received high praise for her cooking from Vancouver's own Ryan Reynolds and his wife, Blake Lively, who are clients. 'The care Mikaela puts into every detail is unmatched. From the exciting flavours to the specificities of the health benefits, she cares about it all … and you can taste it,' they said in the book. The nutritionally focused chef takes a whole-food, plant-forward approach to cooking. 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Vancouver Sun
7 hours ago
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Cook This: 3 Middle Eastern recipes from Lugma, including springtime fattoush
Our cookbook of the week is Lugma by Bahrain-born, London-based cook, author and recipe developer Noor Murad. Jump to the recipes: 'cheese and olives' (halloumi with spicy olives and walnuts), springtime fattoush and coffee, cardamom and chipotle-rubbed lamb chops . Noor Murad is used to straddling two worlds. Growing up in Bahrain, an island country in the Persian Gulf, with an Arab dad and British mom, machboos and saloonat dajaj were as likely to be on her family's table as bolognese and mushroom risotto. Her mother, a self-taught cook, found far-ranging inspiration in recipes by authors such as Anissa Helou and Madhur Jaffrey . 'My curiosity about cooking was more than just the food of Bahrain. It was everything,' says Murad. 'I was always curious about other cuisines because I knew mine so well.' Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. In her cookbook debut, Lugma (Quadrille, 2025), Murad features more than 100 recipes from Bahrain and its neighbouring countries 'with a slightly Westernized take, thanks to my English roots.' Writing the book in London, England, gave her the distance she needed to reconnect with her upbringing. 'Being away from home helps pull out the stories even more because you have a lot more time to reflect when there's some distance between you and all these nostalgic memories. Being able to sit down and write, it comes out of you. And sometimes there are all these suppressed memories, and then all of a sudden, (you put) pen to paper, and everything appears.' Murad started working in kitchens at 16, as a summer job in hotel banquets. 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She adds that more voices need to be added to the conversation about the Middle East and its people, history and heritage. 'It's such a rich region — very colourful and very diverse. And I think the more we can talk about this and invite these conversations, the better. And what better way to do it than through food? It's the most universal language we can all understand and speak.' Writing Lugma, Murad dove deep into her memories, reflecting on and recreating dishes she didn't necessarily have recipes for. She says that in Bahrain, many aren't written down but relayed by demonstration — and every house has its way of doing things. 'It was a lot of relying on my palate, tastes and memories to bring things back to life.' Murad has always seen herself as having one foot in the East and the other in the West. As a chef, she naturally likes to experiment with different foods. With each of Lugma's recipes, she asked herself, 'Does this fit? Should I change it? Should I tweak it? Should I keep it more traditional?' The answer wasn't always easy. 'It really made me question, 'What are the recipes I want to put into this book?' And also, 'What do I want to say, and what do I want to showcase?' So I tried to balance traditional and reimagined dishes and then really hone into what it means to be a child of two cultures.' Lugma means 'a bite' or 'a mouthful' in Arabic. Murad often thought of her grandfather while writing the book. He was skilled at eating with his hands, creating the perfect mouthful of rice, meat and chili sauce between his fingers. 'That's kind of what inspired the book,' says Murad. 'I love eating with my hands, and I think that making someone a bite of something is a way of showing them that you love them.' Murad didn't set out to write a Bahraini book, but as time passed, she realized how much the island had shaped her palate and made her who she was. 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Set aside to cool to room temperature, then transfer to a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Preheat the oven to 180C convection (200C/400F). Halve each of the halloumi blocks lengthways (so they are the same shape, but thinner now) to give you four rectangular pieces. Pat them well dry. Use a small sharp knife to make a crisscross pattern across one side of each piece, with incisions about 1.5-cm (5/8-in) deep. Heat the oil in a medium frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the halloumi pieces and fry until nicely golden on both sides, about 4-5 minutes in total. Transfer to a small tray, crisscross side up, and pour over the excess oil left in the pan, followed by the maple syrup. Bake for 7 minutes, or until really nicely softened through the centre. Transfer to a plate, pouring over any juices left in the tray, then spoon over the salsa. Serve right away, while the halloumi is still warm. Serves: 2-4, as a side 150 g (5 1/2 oz) red round radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced into rounds 2 celery sticks, trimmed, stringy bits peeled, then thinly sliced at a slight angle (120 g/4 1/4 oz) 150 g (5 1/2 oz) fresh or frozen fava beans, soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes, skins removed (100 g/3 1/2 oz) 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons (50 g/1 3/4 oz) 90 g (3 1/4 oz) pomegranate seeds (about 1/2 large pomegranate) 10 g (1/4 oz) mint leaves, roughly torn 10 g (1/4 oz) parsley leaves, picked 1 tbsp olive oil, plus an extra 2 tsp to serve 2 tsp lemon juice 3/4 tsp sumac, plus an extra 1/2 tsp to serve 2 tsp pomegranate molasses For the fried pita: 500 mL (2 cups) vegetable oil, for deep frying 2 Lebanese pitas, opened up, then cut into 2.5-3-cm (1-1 1/4-in) cubes (see note) Fine sea salt First, fry the pitas. Line a tray with paper towels. Add the vegetable oil to a small, high-sided saucepan and place it over a medium-high heat. 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Pat the lamb well dry on paper towels and season all over with 3/4 teaspoon salt. Coat well with the rub, then leave to marinate at room temperature for 1 hour, or refrigerated for up to 3 hours (but not much longer). Make the onions by placing all the ingredients in a bowl with a pinch of salt and using your fingers to massage everything together. Set aside to pickle gently while the lamb is marinating (you can do this hours ahead). If you've refrigerated the lamb, be sure to bring it back up to room temperature before cooking. When ready, place a large cast-iron sauté pan over a medium-high heat. Toss the lamb with the oil. Once the pan is hot, cook the cutlets for 2-3 minutes on each side, for medium-rare. Adjust the cook time if you prefer your cutlets more or less well done (or if they're smaller or larger in size). Arrange them on a serving plate and pour over all but a couple teaspoons of the fat left in the pan, then squeeze over the 1/2 lemon. Return the pan to a medium-high heat with the spring onions, chili and a tiny pinch of salt and cook for about 3 minutes, flipping over as necessary, until softened and lightly browned. Pile the spring onions onto one side of the serving plate with the whole green chili alongside. Top the cutlets with the sumac onions and serve right away. Recipes and images excerpted with permission from Lugma by Noor Murad, published by Quadrille. Photography by Matt Russell. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our cookbook and recipe newsletter, Cook This, here .
CBC
12 hours ago
- CBC
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