Soos – 94 Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON M6J 2Z4
Country: Malaysia
Seating: Indoor seating (might have a few tables with DineTO)
Must-try Dish: Murtabak
Dinner Guest:  Curly Guy

Malaysia is a South East Asian country located south of Thailand and north of Indonesia and Singapore. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country and its food reflects the makeup of its population. Its cuisine is influenced by the different groups across the nation which can be divided into 3 main groups: Malays, Indians and Chinese.

Soos on Ossington is described as rustic-chic, family owned fixture preparing Malaysian street food with a twist, and they offer pretty awesome cocktails. 

As a disclaimer, the whole dining experience was great, our server was fabulous, the drinks were delicious and the food made us make funny noises of enjoyment. 

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Though the only complaint we had about Soos was that it didn’t quite fit Mandrea Bike’s dining style. Though we aren’t opposed to chic decor and great food, our mission is to find the most authentic food around the world in Toronto, and after reviewing the menu like hawks, we found that Soos took a different twist to traditional Malasian food. Nevertheless, it did a great job as Soos offers exactly what you would expect and hope for in a restaurant on the Ossington strip: chic decor, delicious small plates and trendy cocktails. Though they don’t stick to strictly Malaysian classics, they do an excellent job at incorporating Malay ingredients into exciting dishes and libations.

We made a reservation on a Thursday night in late August, though this may not have been necessary as we decided to get a more intimate dining experience by cosying up to the bar with Lauren, one of the owner’s family members who was tending bar. As we were waiting for the arrival of our dinner guest Curly Guy, Mandrea Bike couldn’t turn down a brilliant cocktail made by Lauren. We opted for the Pineapple Pen, a beautiful mix between South American pisco with Maysian cili padi. Trust us, it’s awesome. 

Once our dinner guest arrived, we ordered three tiger beers (from neighbouring Singapore) and consulted the lovely Lauren about the menu. As usual, we wanted to try as many dishes as possible, and therefore, we opted for Keropo (house made prawn crackers that take three days to make, served with a peanut sauce), Char Kway Teow (tiger prawns, chives, sambal, bean sprout, egg drop and charred rice fettuccine), Rendang Beef Short Ribs (rendang curry braise served with jasmine rice and roti), and finally the Murtabak, which was our must try dish of the night. It consists of stuffed roti, curry chicken served with mamak curry dip and garlic sauce. The Murtabak was amazing, the roti was exquisite and the mamak curry dip was so good that we found ourselves fighting over who got to finish it off.

If you’re looking for a night out on Ossington in a hip and tasty setting, we highly recommend Soos. Though on the flip side, if you are more interested in getting the full experience of Malay cuisine and can’t afford to take time off work for a quick 20 hour plane journey (No direct flights from Toronto) then please stay tuned as Lauren gave us some authentic recommendations for Malay cuisine that we’ll surely visit.

Eat with you Soos,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)