Chef Devan Rajkumar loves Guyanese food. He’s a bit biased though—his parents immigrated to Toronto from Guyana back in the ’70s, and although he wasn’t born there, he visits frequently. He still has vivid childhood memories of cooking with his grandmother, stone-grinding coconut on her living room floor. It’s one of the TV personality’s earliest food-related memories.

When Rajkumar’s feeling nostalgic, he’ll head out to Scarborough, which he says is the Guyanese hub because the area around Sheppard and Morningside is home to more than half a dozen excellent Guyanese restaurants. “Guyanese food doesn’t get the spotlight it deserves,” says Rajkumar, who describes the nation as a culinary melting pot where Caribbean, East Indian and Chinese cooking traditions meet.

Charley’s Caribbean Cuisine

1158 Morningside Ave., 416-282-8608, charliescaribbeancuisine.com

Charley’s is an unfussy hot table tucked away in a two-storey strip mall. Rajkumar ignores the meat here, as he thinks the veggie dishes are the stars of the buffet. “I was raised Hindu and this reminds me of the religious food we’d eat,” he says. “They have bora and okra!” Rajkumar gets really excited about food.

Go-to item #1: Veggie platter with pumpkin, okra and bora
Tasting notes: While Rajkumar likes the sautéed okra and bora (a long bean), he’s bonkers about the pumpkin, which he always saves for last. The pumpkin purée is silky and spiced with onion, garlic and brown sugar.

 

Go-to item #2: Dhalpuri roti
Tasting notes: Rajkumar doesn’t use cutlery at Charley’s. Instead, he uses this split pea-stuffed flatbread to scoop up the plate’s saucier elements. Dhalpuri roti is often eaten in the Caribbean with a meat-based curry, but is excellent with a chutney, or even just butter.

 

Go-to item #3: Dhal
Tasting notes: This yellow pea stew has just a whiff of heat and plenty of garlic. Rajkumar uses it as a gravy to moisten some of the drier elements of the plate, like the steamed veggies below.

Go-to item #4: Provisions
Tasting notes: “Cassava, eddoes, plantains: these are all Amazon vegetables that labourers would fuel up on before engaging in back-breaking work,” says Rajkumar. The cassava has a buttery texture, while the slightly firmer eddoes have a nutty flavour. The steamed plantains aren’t Rajkumar’s favourite—he thinks they’re too dry and starchy. He prefers his plantain fried.