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Abbirami Catering
Categories: Event Planning & Services Caterers Restaurants Indian Caterers, Indian [Edit]
2619 Eglinton Ave EScarborough, ON M1K 2S2
Neighbourhood: Scarborough
(416) 266-5372
6 reviews for Abbirami Catering
6 reviews in English
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Review from Janelle W.
11/6/2010 3 photos
When cultures collide, the common thread that connects all of humanity can seem weaker than the Zimbabwean dollar.
As the only non-Sri Lankan at Abbirami during the busy lunch hour, I immediately received a doubtful look from the owner, whose glancing scowl assumed I was insensitive to the immigrant condition and as abrasively American as we come. Being as fluent in Tamil as he was in English, I knew that asking for a menu would be as futile as sending Amy Winehouse to rehab. I resorted to pointing and nodding at the food sitting on the counter, hoping something tasty would find its way into my three-pound [pardon my US customary units], $7 Styrofoam clamshell take-out.
Yet despite Abbirami's owner and my initial cultural disconnect, as soon as I put fork to his food, we were instantly unified. For his biryani spoke of the four classical elements -- earth, air, fire, water -- the units that bind everything and everyone.
Earth :: The supple grains of basmati rice, straight from the nourishing earth, each painted a brilliant shade of turmeric. Despite being prepped in volume and being thoughtlessly paddled out of a large metal service tray, the rice is fluffy, moist, and packs more flavor in one bite than in an Irishman's entire spice rack.
Air :: Tender wings of chicken, plucked fresh from these little fliers, are coated in a spicy batter and deep-fried crisp. A tray of these wings sits on the counter, yet their flesh remains warm and briny, and the batter crisp and flavorful. A wing accompanies each biryani order, but is merely a sideshow to the spicy curry.
Fire :: The nucleus of the biryani is a chicken, goat, or fish curry, hotter than the fires of Hell beating upon blubbery cankles. This curry ignites the biryani with an intense heat that will scorch even the most trained tastebuds. Woody cardamom and clove complete the ensemble.
Water :: The classic cooling agent. At Abbirami, water is represented by their raita. A silky smooth ladle of yogurt, wrapped around red onion and cilantro. Cold and sour, this puts out the flame the curry leaves on your tongue.
Abbirami's biryani, a perfectly balanced dish of earth, air, fire, and water, represents the fundamental principles found in everything and everyone. It is the commonality and tie that binds people across cultures, even when all else seems disjointed. -
Review from WaYnE c.
Maple, ON
11/6/2010 11 photos
The younger staff behind the counter probably remembered me as he came over to my end of the counter to greet me. I'm pretty easy to remember as I'm probably the only Chinese to step inside the TAKE-OUT Sri Lankan shop within the last Month or two. I was there the last time pointing my ass off at the photos outside but it was after 3 pm, which is when they stop serving the Lamprais that they display in photos along the outside of the store.
I asked him what was good and he said Biryani(Fried Rice) but I was still Lamprais-oriented so I asked for the Chicken Lamprais and waited on the side in this typical Sri Lankan Take-out setup(i.e. Babu). There was no Menu or Menu-boards available so just go in be adventurous and start asking or bring a friend of Sri Lankan/Indian origins.
Chicken Lamprais($7.50) came out in a plastic bag and must have weighed 2lbs and not something you can eat in the car unless you're ready to make a mess with your right(!) hand and give your car that new Curry perfume! Unwrap the Newspaper, Butcher Paper, Banana Leaf to discover the mother-load.
I'm sure if you're a Yelp Toronto user, you'll know about Hopper Hut Lamprais so I won't go indepth. As my comparison to HH Lamprais, this one when opened had more distinct segregation of each Curry element which is nice to see instead of making educated guesses. What I didn't like as much was that the whole dish tasted a bit wet/loose possibly the Curries wasn't as evaporated, maybe the Rice was just cooked and steam did it in?
LOL, my mother while eating... "Spicy, spicy, spicy, spicy...."Listed in: This is why I'm Hot!
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Review from Jennifer K.
Markham, ON
12/4/2010 1 photo
The verdict for the chicken lamprais from Abbirami Catering: Spicy!!
After sharing that huge lamprais for lunch with 2 other yelpers... I am satisfied and happy.. eating spicy food makes my tummy feels nice and burning warm.
So much different flavours in this little bundle of joy, I saw my friend eager tasted different colourful portion of lamprais and guessing what they were and enjoying the different sensation of spiciness.
If you are like me, enjoy spicy and intensive flavours that will knock your socks off.. you will love that!!
Thanks for my nice friend got this yummy lunch for us as a takeout...!Listed in: India and Sri Lankan eateries…
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Review from Arun P.
Toronto, ON
5/4/2011 1 Check-in Here
Average Tamil spicy food... Their various - beef, mutton/goat, fish Lamprais is good.
Lamprais is a pack of boiled rice (brown/white) with a special curries (at least 5+ variety), accompanied by fish and egg, all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked. -
Review from Phil H.
Toronto, ON
3/25/2010
Stopped by for lunch today.
As soon as I walked in I noticed heat lamp-ed trays of rice and what looked to be deep fried fish, chicken, and shrimp. There were many other things various unknown deep fried snacks and treats as well. There was no menu in sight aside from the labelled pictures on the outside window (which consisted of, yup you guessed it, fish, chicken, and shrimp) so I just figured I'd try their chicken biriyani.
It was 6.50 for one of those massive takeout containers and I ended up with a whole lotta rice (spiced with various vegetables and herbs), a hunk of deep fried chicken (not a lot of meat to it), a minuscule amount of... salad? (Tiny portion of cold onions and lettuce in a white dressing of some sort), and a small container of curry chicken.
It was toooo much food for me though. Granted, a lot of it was rice but still. At least it was decently spiced. I'm willing to go back to try some more things when I got some time. There was a good amount of people coming and going when I went so that is a decent sign of food turnover anyway. -
Review from JP C.
Scarborough, ON
3/20/2010
Spicy somosas, Great Singapore style noodles , pakora.... The rice with fish wrapped in banana leaf is 7$ for enough food to feed four people....SO SPICY - SO GOOD. One of my favorite places.
