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Esswaran Takeout
Categories: Food Specialty Food Ethnic Food Restaurants Indian Ethnic Food, Indian [Edit]
105 Kennedy Rd SBrampton, ON L6W 3G2
(905) 452-7607
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
One review for Esswaran Takeout
1 review in English
-
Review from Janelle W.
10/17/2009 1 photo
I have a different food philosophy than most.
There are people who think the best meals come from fine dining establishments--places with dress codes, impressive wine lists, and menus straight out of a Top Chef episode. These people think decor is directly proportional to deliciousness, and that spending more money on a meal makes them more knowledgeable and cultured. These people scorn anyone who eats off of styrofoam plates or out of paper bags. When these people try my five-star restaurants, they end up insulting me for having bad taste.
For them, Esswaran is the incarnation of hell.
Esswaran is a little Sri Lankan short eats take-out at the south end of a dingy strip mall. The whole structure looks like something out of an emerging country. The restaurant itself is no larger than a dorm room, with a tiny kitchen in back, hot tables lining the walls, and just a few square feet where customers stand. Seating is nonexistent. Local Tamil newspapers, once stacked near the door, have been strewn across the floor by the gusting wind.
Each well of the hot table is lined with paper towel and filled neatly with meat and vegetarian buns, dumplings, puffs, fritters, vada, and sweet dough balls. All of it was prepared earlier in the day, and has been sitting there for hours. Yet somehow, despite the ticking clock, these fritters remain crisp, warm, and not greasy, escaping the throes of sogginess.
The owner could tell I was a short eats noob--I was probably the first white person he'd seen since watching Sri Lanka play Australia in cricket--and he was happy to explain each item and offer samples. It took me a while to decide what to order because, really, he could have thrown any of those eats into a bag, and I would have loved it all. Finally, I settled on:
5 sweet dough balls
3 vada
1 vegetable dumpling
1 vegetable bun
All of this totaled only $5. Then I realized I only had American money, only a few $20 bills, and four $1 bills. I already felt like a fool for having to pay in USD, but the guy was willing to accept just the $4! No, I'm not going to shortchange someone AND pay in foreign currency. I'm not that much of a dirty capitalistic American a-hole. My husband ran out to the car to get the extra $1. We paid up, then sat in our car and devoured our snacks.
The spicy mashed potato filling in the bun and dumpling was so deliciously savoury and aromatic. The bun was fluffy and moist, and the dumpling wrapper was crisp and thin, almost like a fried Korean mandoo. The vada were excellent, filled with fragrant, warm cardamom. But the sweet dough--an incredible combination of light and heavy that works brilliantly! They're fresh and crisp on the outside and fried to a perfect golden-brown. Inside, they're intensely moist and soft, yet dense and heavy. A muted sweetness laces it all together. Very similar to andagi (Okinawan doughnuts), but the size of a baseball.
It takes a certain type of person to appreciate Esswaran. Those people who think good food has an interior decorator will never understand or appreciate Esswaran. But the few who do appreciate Esswaran have earned my respect for life.
