GREAT BOWLS OF FIRE

BELOW: The housemade golden curry from Salad King is eligible for the 20-chili customization

Well beyond wings, Toronto restaurants have a plethora of options for diners who seek the heat. From curry to roti, these are our must-try selections.

NEW YEAR, SAME winter. Thankfully, we’ve come up with a way to heat things up and make you sweat that doesn’t involve going to the gym. Spicy food is an integral part of our winter-survival guide and we’re on a mission to clear your sinuses with a round-up of the city’s spiciest bites.

We’ll take you on a trip to Southeast Asia, around the Caribbean, all over India, and hopefully not to the ER because your mouth is on fire. We’ve found tacos that’ll make you want to throw in the towel then mop yourself with it, and chicken specialties most are too chicken to try. Cry tears of spicy joy (or actual tears) and bring a buddy to pass the milk.

CURRY SALAD KING 340 Yonge St. Since the 1990s, Torontonians have found some of the best (and reasonably priced) Thai food here. Any of their three homemade curries – green, golden and panang – are fiery on their own, but there’s a spicy scale so you can add one extra chili (“nice”), three, five, 10 (“are you sure?”), right up to the off-the-Richter-scale, phone a friend, blow your spicy mind 20 chilies.

RICKSHAW BAR 685 Queen St. W. To eat at Rickshaw Bar is to travel through the streets of South and Southeast Asia without leaving the 6ix. Each dish reflects chef-owner Noureen Feerasta’s unique upbringing with influences from Lahore, Pakistan to Burma. The creamy shrimp makai curry has chili for heat and although the Ismaili beef short rib curry is easier on the spice, it’s definitely worth a try, with over 25 different ingredients and spices, and meat they sous vide for days.

KHAO SAN ROAD 11 Charlotte St. This eatery is as lively as the infamous backpackers’ district it’s named after – specializing in custom-made, Thai dishes with fresh ingredients sourced locally and imported from Thailand. A hot, green pepper in their panang curry is perfectly balanced with a fresh makrut lime leaf, Thai basil and coconut milk. You can customize your spice level by adding house-made chili oil from a scale of one – mild to 11 – “chef Top spicy.” →

LEFT: Agni or “fire” roti at My Roti Place. BELOW: Ramen Isshin’s wok-fired spicy red miso ramen

ROTI INDIAN ROTI HOUSE Various locations What Indian Roti House lacks in space it makes up for in spice. This tiny go-to roti to-go spot has been making people spontaneously combust (okay, not quite) for the better part of a decade, with classics from butter chicken to face-melting Hakka chili roti cooked in a spicy Indo-Chinese sauce. Cool off with a cup of their refreshing mango lassi – you’re going to need it.

SAFFRON SPICE KITCHEN 459 Queen St. W. This tiny restaurant on the busy corner of Spadina and Queen is a powerhouse of heat and flavours, serving Indian and Sri Lankan fare. Skip the curries and wraps and head straight for the kothu roti, a Sri Lankan dish made by chopping gothamba roti into little pieces before sautéing with spice (lots of spice) and your choice of protein, like butter chicken. Order it mild – not because it’s actually forgiving, but because medium or hot will take you to another dimension.

ALI’S WEST INDIAN ROTI 1446 Queen St. W. This West Indian roti institution serves some of Toronto’s best Caribbean cuisine. It’s completely normal to start drooling the moment you walk through the doors and it won’t stop once you bite into any jampacked, giant roti. Add the “XHot” version of their homemade pepper sauce, made from Scotch bonnet peppers, if you really want to play with fire.

MY ROTI PLACE Various locations More like My Roti Places. With nine locations around the city, this casual, build-your-own roti joint is full of choice and, of course, spice. Hungry folks begin their journey at the counter where you can order from a selection of roti breads – classic, turmeric or seasonal. Next choose a protein, pick your curry (the Tangra Hakka Chilly and Robust Spice Vindaloo are the spiciest), then select your heat level from mild to extreme. Look out for the “Agni Challenge” (Agni means fire in Sanskrit) which tests only the bravest palates. The claim is that Agni sauce is 60 times hotter than a jalapeno.

SOUP KOREA HOUSE 666 Bloor St. W. Bloor West’s Koreatown wouldn’t be the same without this humble neighbourhood spot. Kitschy plastic grapes hang from the ceiling while K-pop videos play on a loop, offsetting the weathered dark wood interior. When we ask our server what’s the spiciest soup on the menu, she points to the Gam Ja Tang, a pork bone and potato soup with vegetables served in a hot stone bowl that’s still sizzling when it arrives. If you’re feeling brave, ask for it extra-spicy or just grab a mouthful of the punchy kimchi from the array of complimentary banchan.

SOOS 94 Ossington Ave. Soos brings modern interpretations of Malaysian street food to Ossington. Colourful sharing plates take up entire tables. Their laksa, however, is the kind of dish you’ll want all to yourself. Chicken, prawns, tofu balls, galangal, mee and vermicelli noodles, curry broth and daun kesum (laksa leaves) are the listed ingredients. But there’s also sneaky sambal and chili oil for added heat that’ll make your lips tingle all the way home. Better yet, take a jar of their house-made, spicy sambal chili to-go.

RAMEN ISSHIN Various locations The moment you walk into Ramen Isshin, you are greeted with a welcome chorus of smiling staff followed by a wait because it’s always

BELOW: Chicken, prawns, tofu balls, curry broth and more goes into this spicy laksa from Soos so busy. But there’s good reason why people line up out the door. Their bowl of spicy red miso ramen begins in the flaming wok where veggies mix with their signature red miso blend, sake, house-made chili oil, fried pork and pork belly cha shu. Some searing hot tonkotsu broth is added, then the whole thing is poured over a fresh bed of noodles.

TACOS WILBUR MEXICANA 552 King St. W. Just like being south of the Rio Grande, most of the heat here comes from which salsa you add to your taco. They have their options – from pico de gallo to asada to ghost pepper – set out on a little illustrated scale, which is much like Wilbur Scoville’s (get it?) universal standard. →

THEIR LAKSA IS THE KIND OF DISH YOU’LL WANT ALL TO YOURSELF

LAMB-LEG BARBACOA GETS ITS HEAT FROM JALAPENOS AND GUAJILLOS

The taco takes are equally wide-ranging, from the conventional carne asada straight through to the Korean-style beef bulgogi. Taps behind the bar for Burdock and Blood Brothers mean there’s more than commodity cerveza to calm the heat.

CAMPECHANO 504 Adelaide St. W. Since late-2015, this has been the spot for traditional tacos in CDMX-style flavours. Go with the pollo al pastor for a proper four-alarm fireball and a touch of sweet pineapple. Lamb-leg barbacoa gets its heat from both fresh jalapeno and guajillo peppers – a great complement for the rich, slow-cooked meat. Note that they also run Good Hombres (more seating, tortillas to-go) on Bathurst and a new spot, Buena Copa, in the works for College Street.

BARRIO COREANO 642 Bloor St. W. As is (hopefully) obvious from the name, this member of the Playa Cabana chain mixes influences from Korea into the Mexican melting pot. The dual citizenship means the baja fish taco features spicy, fresh kimchi and the bulgogi shrimp option (on a crispy shell) comes doused with red sesame salsa macha. Pepper proponents also pick the pulpo al carbon for its chipotle salsa. The heat finds its way into the appetizers, too, like the popular grilled calamari with Asian pear kimchi.

BELOW: Chica’s Chicken on Dundas West features a mix of hand-blended Carolina reapers and ghost peppers

50 CHICKEN CHICA’S CHICKEN 2853 Dundas St. W. After experiencing a hot chicken awakening in Nashville, chef Matthew Pelechaty and his wife Carolyn opened Chica’s Chicken. Named after their yellow lab, the Nashvillestyle hot chicken spot offers their own take on the spicy dish. Their crispy on the outside, moist on the inside chicken is dry brined and left to rest for two days to allow the spices to seep right to the centre of each piece. They make all of their spice mixtures in-house and even blend their Carolina reapers and ghost peppers by hand.

RASTA PASTA 61 Kensington Ave. The chicken here might not completely set your mouth ablaze, but there are plenty of people who would tout Rasta Pasta as the best jerk spot in the city. Plus they offer a side of homemade hot sauce that you can slather on your meat to crank up the heat. Specializing in the unique combination of Jamaican and Italian cuisine, the menu ranges from classics like jerk chicken, curry goat and oxtail to homemade pasta with spicy tomato sauce and jerk meatballs.

CHAT BAR Various locations Fiery chuan’r is the name of the game at this izakaya-style spot. The Chinese cuisine involves skewers of meat, seafood and vegetables grilled in an “atmosphere of smoke and fire.” Chat Bar’s entire menu comes with a kick, but the kitchen will gladly tone it down if you can’t handle the heat. The chicken chaun’r options range from meat and wings to hearts, kidney, joints and skins. While you’re there be sure to get the grilled sausage, scallops, enoki mushrooms – and Chinese iced tea to wash it all down. f

BELOW: Barrio Coreano has a menu full of MexicanKorean tacos like the Cauliflower Kampungki