Mayrik – 1580 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON M4G 3B7
Country: Armenia 
Seating: Indoor and outdoor dining
Must-try dish: Babaghanoush
Dinner guests: Happy Hil, Suited Sebastien, Young Matt  
The high: Getting recommendations and stories from the owner while ordering the meal. 
The low: Not being able to actually eat in Mayrik itself. 

It was time to explore cuisine from the Caucasus region, and Armenian food fit the bill perfectly for being both appealing in taste and in the correct geographical area. Armenia is a small nation with a population of under three million people in what is termed Eurasia. It’s neighbours are Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and its northwestern corner borders the Black Sea. 

Taking the region into consideration, it’s not surprising that Armenian dishes are a marriage of flavours from the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Seeing as these are two very delicious regions, Mandrea Bike arrived with empty stomachs. 

A quick phone call to the restaurant led to a chat with the chef at Mayrik. He went through the menu and curated an order of dishes that would be the most Armenia that you would get outside of being in the country itself. 

The evening’s dishes included: 

• Family of Four Platter: three dips (Hummus, Babaghanoush, Labneh), Mante, Beef and Chicken Skewers, Basmati Rice and Fried Potatoes. 
• Fatoush Salad
• Octopus Sarma
• Double Roasted All-Dressed Cauliflower

The Mante, which are Armenian dumplings stuffed with beef, yogurt and mint came highly recommended. The chef recounted that he loved them when he was a child, but didn’t have them often since they’re time-consuming to make. Therefore, when he opened a restaurant, Mante was a staple on the menu. 

The House Salad in the Family of Four package was substituted for the Fatoush Salad which is served in traditional Armenia style with a tomato and cucumber base dressed in a yogurt and sumac sauce. Similar to a Village Salad in Greece, lettuce is absent.

The Roasted Cauliflower dish was to die for. Imagine tahini, yogurt and sumac taking the reigns of the taste. It’s literally mouth-watering in both appearance and taste. 

Sumac is a prominent flavour in Armenian cooking. At Mayrik, the sumac used in many of the dishes is locally sourced in Ontario and made in house. If you haven’t enjoyed sumac before, get on it in 2021. 

The Babaghanoush was mind blowing. For all the eggplant haters out there, you may be converted because this dip is bursting with flavour due to dates and walnuts being mixed in, alongside the typical ingredients found in Babaghanoush. Every country in this region makes their own variation of the dip, but the Armenian style has a sweet and a savoury element that makes it special. 

Although there are online delivery platforms that work with Mayrik, they also have their own delivery service. This is 100% the route to go since you can go over the order on the phone with someone who knows the food and can ensure that you’re getting the best dishes for the people eating. On top of that, it’s peace of mind that the money can go directly to the restaurant and the staff working hard to satisfy the hunger of Toronto’s diners. 

With Toronto’s lockdown extending into the new year, Mandrea Bike wants to remind everyone to buy local and support the city’s incredible mosaic of restaurants. It goes without saying, we’re all looking forward to sharing meals together along with group hugs, whenever that may be. 

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)