Ottawa Foodies

Hey foodlover - have you been to the Island Jerk on Bank @ Altavista? Their roti - although not 'authentic' is quite delicious. Their jerk chicken is very good and their oxtail stew is simmered in a rich brown gravy with giant lima beans. YUM!

I have yet to find good authentic Trinidadian/Guyanese roti in Ottawa - we usually take a day trip to the Curry House in Montreal and stock up.

I must agree completely though with you about Groovy's - been there once, won't go back. They are in D I R E need of an Extreme Makeover!

Oh gawd, where do I start? First I will start with the good: this is a picture of the Curried Vegetable Roti platter I ordered. On the menu, the platter has a choice of roti; lamb, goat, chicken, veggie....with your choice of either salad and beans OR plain rice and fried plantains. As shown, I ordered the veggie platter with plain rice and beans (he said he only had beans and rice, which was ok by me) and fried plantains. As you can see I got salad with it! Even more bang for your buck...all this food for under $10. I couldn't even finish my plate, and that NEVER happens!

Now for the not so good...
I walked up just after they open, noon, to the marked entrance which was locked with a sign saying 'use other door'. When I found the other door, I had to walk past a big ashtray with lots of butts in it, strewn cigarette packs, graffiti on the walls, and some empty pop bottles, etc. BUT, I thought to myself, don't judge a book by its cover...in this case, a restaurant by its outer decor. Inside, I was the only one, and it took a few minutes for someone to appear. Out came the cook/server/owner? The whole place is quite run down with busted chairs, carpeting, and dirty bathroom. After I ordered the platter with a water, the food came surprisingly fast with the water after the fact. I had a sneaky suspicion some of the meal had been microwaved.

Definitely not the place to go for ambience or decor or attentive service. Definitely the place to go for lots of food for a really good price.

Boushey's on Elgin carries little boxed rotis from Groovy's. Pretty good -- fairly fresh -- $5.99, I think. I've only had the vegetable ones. I keep having them, but the spice does need tinkering and I do wish they'd leave out the water chestnuts; it's a bizarre texture to run into in that particular mix.

I've only had roti one other time in Guelph and I loved it. So ever since then I've been on the lookout for a good roti...
This is the Curried Vegetable and Chickpea roti I had today at lunch. Hmmm...the roti(wrap) itself was not like I remembered the other roti to be. This one was quite chewy and on the dry side. The curried vegetable filling was tasty and full of curry flavor but no heat. Personally, I don't think veggie dishes should be spicy hot but I would have welcomed a little heat with this one.

Still on the lookout for good roti!