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Amaya Express
Category: Food Specialty Food Ethnic Food Ethnic Food [Edit]
First Canadian Pl100 King St W
Toronto, ON M5H 1P9
Neighbourhoods: Financial District, Downtown Core
(416) 214-0005
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
5 reviews for Amaya Express
5 reviews in English
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Review from Jonathan W.
Calgary, AB
2/9/2012
If you're looking for some average reliable Indian food, this is a decent place.
Nothing special as the naan is bit soggy and the butter chicken is bland.
I don't think they go nearly far enough with the spices. I suspect it been tamed for the Canadian palette. Far from authentic but it's convenient. -
Review from Lilliane G.
Toronto, ON
7/12/2011
I've tried their chicken and beef curries with basmati rice. Portion size was fairly large and both were tasty, although not spicy enough for my personal taste.
The samosas and vegetable pakoras are pretty tasty and relatively inexpensive if you're just wanting a quick snack.
Their salads are pretty good, I would recommend the tandoori chicken salad, it's healthy-ish, good portion, reasonable price.
Service is fast, though there is a lot of traffic in that particular corner of the food court since their service counter is next to another popular take out place, so be patient. -
Review from Stephanie C.
Toronto, ON
12/21/2010
Amaya Express is one of the few reliable places I've found as of late.
Their menu is small but they have a few lunch combos (3 combos in total), as well as rotis and daily specials. They also served side dishes that you can get on their own like Masala fries (1.49 for a large container), samosas and vegetable pakoras.
One of their combo dishes I've tried is a beef curry. It came with a thick layer of basmati rice coated the bottom. It was more rice than I could ever possibly eat in one sitting. The beef curry had tender chunks of meat. Drowning my meat and rice was their hot curry sauce, which they were quite generous in serving.
In terms of spiciness, the curry is enough to tickle your tastebuds, but not enough to paralyze your senses. I was warned that it was spicy but it was flavourful. Personally, I appreciate an Indian curry with some level of spiciness otherwise it's just bland.
As a vegetable side I had their dal palak, a saucy mix of lentils and spinach and has a lemony flavour to it, which I really enjoyed. You're also given two pieces of naan bread. If I had my way, I'd prefer more bread and less rice to soak up the curry and dal.
In terms of affordability, their prices are reasonable. The cheapest meal on the menu was $6.99 (that's for both the beef and chicken curries) and you get a bowl full of it (again, tons of rice and lots of sauce). That price doesn't include a drink.Listed in: Frugal Eats in the Money…
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Review from Marie M.
10/26/2010
Darn it yelp... please allow half stars!
For the record, my verdict: 2.5 stars.
Today my friend came down to the Financial District to have lunch with me. Given my 1-hour time constraint, we went to First Canadian Place's food court because it has a lot of seats (I could always find a seat there, despite the lunch rush hour) and the great selection of food. It was a gloomy day, so I automatically wanted something soupy but different. After looking around, I settled on Amaya Express; I haven't had Indian food in a long time.
I ordered their lentil soup ($2.99 before tax), veggie samosa ($0.99) and pakora ($0.79).
The lentil soup was very runny with no hints of lentil, but it didn't taste bad and there were pieces of apricots at the bottom. The lentil soup came in a small cup, accompanied by 2 pieces of naan bread. It wasn't the greatest naan I've had, it was flat and bland, but it was ok, just not very memorable.
The veggie samosa was big, crispy, and the veggie filling was very tasty -light curried veggies. It was delicious and satisfying, not bad for $0.99.
The pakora was good, not as good as the samsoa. As my friend described it: "umm, hash brown with spices." I definitely had better pakoras before.
What I like about this place is that they're generous with their hot sauces, -I eat practically everything with hot sauce or cayenne pepper. Their prices isn't too bad, despite being located in the Financial District. I'll definitely come back for their veggie samosas, maybe their pakoras, but probably not the lentil soup.
Oh yea, one of their cashiers needs an attitude adjustment. When I politely inquired about my soup, I'd been waiting for awhile, she totally snapped and said it was heating up. I had no idea it takes about 10 minutes to heat up soup (probably in the microwave, I didn't see a pot). Also, it's a food court, food's supposed to be fast. -
Review from Brandon B.
6/12/2011
Horrid location (sunless underground mall in the middle of the financial/conference center area) but this was thel, best of all the choices that I could see in the food court area: more flavorful, more unique, quick, and plenty of food for a cheap price. One of the few places that has its own seating and slight atmosphere as well, cut off from the din outside of people snorting their Tim Hortons.
