Where chef Devan Rajkumar eats Guyanese food in Scarborough
The TV personality shares with Toronto on where to find the best black pudding, pepper shrimp and more...
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.
Tropical Nights is located at 1154 Morningside Ave. Scarborough, Ontario. It is directly on top of Charley’s. On a regular summer day, the 150-seat patio will be slammed with locals knocking back our refreshing rum punch. Rajkumar scoffs at the sign that reads “No swearing or loud noise.” On the weekends you can hear the enthusiasm in their customers living like there's no tomorrow.
Tropical Nights doesn’t just throw great parties, their kitchen churns out some great booze-sopping cutters, too. (“Cutters” is a Guyanese term for bar snacks).
The TV personality shown above shares with Toronto on where to find the best black pudding, pepper shrimp and more.
Check out the #1 spot in Scarborough for Caribbean Chinese cuisine and tropical vibes.
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Authentic Caribbean & Chinese Cuisine
Full service restaurant with separate bar area and a roof garden for large outdoor patio seating.
The black pudding with sour mango dipping sauce.
Go-to item #1: Black pudding
Tasting notes: This blood sausage can be ordered with either lamb’s blood or with a scotch bonnet–spiced cow’s blood. Rajkumar prefers the beef (it’s less gamy), which gets cooked down with thyme, coconut and celery before being mixed with a coarse-grain white rice and stuffed into a sausage casing. It hits the table with a side of sour mango dipping sauce.
Tropical Nights’ pepper lamb.
Go-to item #2: Pepper lamb
Tasting notes: “You’ll see pepper shrimp all over the Caribbean, but here they’ve taken that concept and swapped out the shrimp for lamb, and they’re known for it,” says Rajkumar. Tropical Nights uses a lean cut of lamb leg, which the chef cuts into thin strips and quickly pan-fries on high heat so they stay super tender. The spice level on this is mild (it’s mostly bell peppers mixed with the meat), so Rajkumar adds some of the house-made scotch bonnet hot sauce to turn up the heat.
