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Best of Toronto

The Best Indian Buffet in Toronto

Posted by Dayna Winter / November 17, 2010

Indian Buffet TorontoThe best Indian buffet in Toronto is like crack cocaine for food junkies. Whatever your poison - channa masala, tandoor chicken or beef rogan josh - the city's best AYCE Indian joints have you covered, sometimes for less than 10 bucks a hit. I assure you, it's perfectly legal.

Sometimes, to alleviate TTC or lineup boredom, I have what-if fantasies. I amuse myself with desert-island must-haves and last-minute bucket lists in preparation for a hypothetical Armageddon. One thing is always the same. If the world were to end tomorrow, my very last meal would unflinchingly involve paneer cheese and cardamom-laced desserts and clay-oven naan.

I've eaten in Indian restaurants in several cities from NYC to London, including most of the best in Toronto. It's my go-to cuisine. However, I typically avoid the buffets. I can't be trusted to exercise moderation. There is a difference between all you can eat and all you should eat, but under the spell of masalas and curries, I seem to forget the difference. A particular buffet binge in Vancouver (AYCE for $7.95!) was my breaking point. I'm cut off.

But Indian food is still my Friday night ritual. I have to give a shout out (and an RIP) to Nataraj, my favourite Annex haunt that joined the deadpool last month. If the list below tells me anything, though, it's that my mourning period will be short. Toronto has no lack of amazing alternatives.

Here are the 9 best all-you-can-eat Indian buffet restaurants in Toronto.

Little India

Little India

This cozy Queen Street spot caused some confusion on a recent dinner date - my friend thought I meant Little India as in the ‘hood. Be specific. The space is quaint and quiet (even when packed to the gills) and the servers are attentive. I love the malai kofta dish with its balanced creamy/spicy sauce. Little India’s lunch buffet is $10.95 daily, featuring new items each week. More »

Banjara

Banjara

Banjara has been a good friend during my Nataraj grieving. While I don’t recommend ordering delivery (getting the food to your door usually takes 90 minutes), take-out and eat-in are great options. A daily lunch buffet consists of 20 plus items, including salads and desserts (try the rasmalai), is only $9.99. Now with a second location near Yonge and Eglinton. More »

309 Dhaba

309 Dhaba

My inauguration into the world of Indian cuisine started many years ago at 309 Dhaba. It was love at first bite. The King West restaurant strip has an orgy of options, including at least two Indian restos. Dhaba’s zen-like upstairs space is a nice break from the chaos. The award-winning restaurant offers a 50-item lunch buffet for $11.95 daily. More »

The Host

The Host

On the fringes of Yorkville is The Host, an Indian fine dining establishment with an upscale interior. The Host accommodates private dining and offers a catering service. Two additional locations can be found in Mississauga and Richmond Hill. $12 buffet lunches include traditional Indian standards like murgh makhani (butter chicken) and saag paneer. More »

Biryani House

Biryani House

This Yonge and Wellesley staple doesn’t look like much from the outside, but don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a romantic date-worthy space with semi-private nooks. Biryani house also boasts patio seating, Dum Pukht (or slow oven) style cooking, and online ordering. Try the Monday-to-Saturday buffet featuring 30-35 items. More »

Indian Hut

Indian Hut

This Bloor and Church restaurant offers buffets for lunch ($11.95) and is one of the few on the list to also offer all-you-can eat dinners ($16.95). Meat and veggie dishes, soups, salads and desserts are prepared fresh daily. More »

Trimurti

Trimurti

My friend, and self-proclaimed authority on the subject, argues that Trimurti has the best samosas in the city. He might be right, but I haven’t yet tried them all. They’re darn good – I’ll tell you that much. Rivaling three other Indian spots in the same block alone, Trimurti still makes our list. A daily lunch buffet is $10.95. More »

Discussion

58 Comments

DERP / November 17, 2010 at 10:08 am
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THe last time I went to Dhaba for lunch, there were saltine crackers on the buffet.
EatMyShorts / November 17, 2010 at 10:28 am
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Chef of India near Yonge & St. Claire should be on the top of this list.
Lookforthewoman / November 17, 2010 at 10:33 am
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So, you go to Little India "the hood" and you eat at the one buffet that "the hood" doesn't eat at? Well done!

This article should be "Best Indian-like food buffets for people who don't know Indian food".

BA / November 17, 2010 at 10:35 am
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If this were GTA-inclusive, Brar Sweets is clearly missing.
Tim replying to a comment from Lookforthewoman / November 17, 2010 at 10:36 am
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Please enlighten us which buffets in Little India should have made this list (besides Nitya and Siddhartha)
Alex replying to a comment from Lookforthewoman / November 17, 2010 at 11:00 am
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Sigh... these lists are voted by readers. How many times do they have to tell you people that? Quit taking it out on the writers, who are essentially just compiling others' choices. :P
Andrew / November 17, 2010 at 11:24 am
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Aroma (King @ John)
gordon / November 17, 2010 at 11:30 am
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ewwwwww indian food. doubt those people wash their hands.
Adam / November 17, 2010 at 11:47 am
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I’m surprised The Famous didn’t make the cut. Gord Downie is not amused by this.
cameraguy replying to a comment from gordon / November 17, 2010 at 11:50 am
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TROLL ALERT! Don't give him the satisfaction
M-PC / November 17, 2010 at 11:52 am
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RIP Nataraj, which was actually the best!
Pico / November 17, 2010 at 11:58 am
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Mount Everest in the Annex. Technically Nepalese food...great lunch buffet.
Lune replying to a comment from BA / November 17, 2010 at 12:11 pm
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>Brar Sweets is clearly missing.
So true!

Other than Brar, I love Dhaba.
Great numbers of choice, great taste, great value and great atmosphere.
shannon / November 17, 2010 at 12:30 pm
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i go to northern Etobicoke for Indian food where there is a pretty good selection to choose from, never even gave it a thought about going down town for it.
c replying to a comment from EatMyShorts / November 17, 2010 at 12:41 pm
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completely agree with you. i've eaten indian food from around the globe, and Chef of India is literally one of the top of the list (i'm talking about the yonge/eglinton location, though i'm sure the st.clair one serves equally yummy food). their buffet is outstanding with lots of vegetarian options; onion bhajia and samosas are perfect, paneer makhani is the best *ever ever*, and their gulab jamun is like crack.

while i love Udupi, my Nitya experiences were 50/50. one time, quite good; the next time, super gross and greasy with dishes that were repeats of themselves (same curries with one ingredient exceptions). maybe they've improved since then as that was around august/september.

as an aside, i recently ate at Babur and the food was super bland and overpriced. dessert was supposed to be warm but came only half-heated, paneer tasted like plain tofu. *cringe* not recommended.
c replying to a comment from Pico / November 17, 2010 at 12:42 pm
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so true!
JB / November 17, 2010 at 02:01 pm
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Any "best of Indian food" list that only features restaurants located downtown or on Gerrard is a sham. I know that sounds harsh, but it's true.

The best joints in the city are in Scarborough and Brampton.

My vote for best overall buffet: Bombay Palace

Best Veg Buffet: The Big Brar Sweets in Brampton (all you can eat dosa? Say no more!)

I'm serious people - if you consider yourself a foodie, and love Indian food, make a trip north or east once in a blue moon.
JB replying to a comment from Alex / November 17, 2010 at 02:10 pm
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to clarify, I wasn't taking it out on the writer - but I will say this: I have no problem with Torontonians who don't know much about Indian food but I DO have a problem with folks who think they know Indian food because they eat at restaurants that clearly cater to Gora tastes and make everything extremely bland.

Case-in-point: Siddartha is terribly bland, oily, and sloppily prepared. There's a reason why I never see any Desi folks inside. The only reason it can be on this list is because the folks who voted for it can't tell when they're eating bad Indian food.

Do yourself a favour and walk across the street and treat yourself to one of the top 3 dosa places in the city next time at Udupi Palace. Or walk down to Lahore Tikka House.
JB replying to a comment from Alex / November 17, 2010 at 02:13 pm
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Also - Banjara's sister restaurant, Madras Masala, featuring a South Indian menu, is actually the better of the two (try: eggplant in peanut coconut curry, Goan Lamb with fenugreek, Hyderbadi Biryani, Coriander Dosa). The only one on this list I was happy with was Trimurti, at #9, and if you're going to have a list of purely downtown joints, why isn't Everest on there people?
Ryan L. replying to a comment from Alex / November 17, 2010 at 02:55 pm
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"Here are the 9 best all-you-can-eat Indian buffet restaurants in Toronto."


That's the thing. The articles very rarely state that the lists are based off of votes.
Rob / November 17, 2010 at 03:26 pm
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As with most BlogTO food reviews, the real title of this article should be "The Best Indian Buffet in Toronto, as voted by White people".

shannon replying to a comment from Rob / November 17, 2010 at 09:31 pm
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you forgot to add in the down town core.
Shawn / November 17, 2010 at 11:40 pm
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Went to Dhaba and did not like it at all. The service was meh and everything tasted sour. Not authentic and not tasty.

Kama across the street is much better. The service is better than an average indian buffet (although they're a bit snarky to brown people like myself) and the quality is good. The selection could be a bit bigger, though.
Apoplectic / November 18, 2010 at 09:11 am
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I AM SHOCKED
AND APPALLED
Suzi Q replying to a comment from JB / November 18, 2010 at 09:35 am
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@JB,

"The best joints in the city are in Scarborough and Brampton."

Read more carefully next time. The website is BlogTO, NOT BlogBrampton.

rexdale replying to a comment from BA / November 18, 2010 at 11:39 am
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Yah i was going to say there are far more authentic and better Indian buffets in Brampton at approx 36 000 sikhs live there.
JB replying to a comment from Suzi Q / November 19, 2010 at 03:48 pm
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Last time I checked, scarborough was in Toronto, and if people actually ate at some Indian restaurants in scarbs, none of the ones on this list would have made the list.
Suzi Q replying to a comment from JB / November 20, 2010 at 12:58 pm
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@JB,

"Last time I checked, scarborough was in Toronto."

JB, I don't know ONE Torontonian who would admit to that!!!
Billyians / November 22, 2010 at 11:54 am
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will all you 905'ers leave Blog TO already. make your own website called, crappyburbrestaurants.com
Billyians / November 22, 2010 at 11:57 am
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OMG! outrage!! I haven't tried all these restaurants to compare but the only one "I" go to is the best ever . Or the one my friend/family owns is the best. These comments add nothing to this blog.

The best indian buffet I ever had was in India. You're welcome, I know that was helpful
rexdale replying to a comment from Billyians / November 23, 2010 at 10:23 am
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Are honestly trying to tell me that Mississauga and Brampton are only Kelseys and Caseys??

In case you havn't noticed take a spin around Brampton and look at all the different kinds of people you see there... I have a feeling the first group of people you will notice are INDIANS..

I don't think that all of these Sikh's are going out to Montana's to eat when they go out.... They could be going to:
Sweet India, India's Taste, Kwality sweets, or Brars (all located in Brampton or Mississauga).
Billyian replying to a comment from rexdale / December 22, 2010 at 11:38 pm
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Great. Go tell somebody in blogbrampton!!! Cuz we don't care
G / December 29, 2010 at 04:53 pm
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Didn't the vegetarian location of Siddhartha close more than a year ago? I went looking for it last winter, learned it was closed, and ate at the main Siddhartha a few times. The quality of my last meal there, during the summer, was awful and the wait staff explained this by telling my table that they had a new chef in the kitchen. The food was oily, the panneer was dark grey, crumbly, hard and old. It was enough to keep me from returning.

A side note: I would like to see a vegetarian discount at buffets that also serve meat. We're not eating the more expensive dishes on offer, so why should we subsidize the meat-eaters?
Sadia / January 2, 2011 at 01:11 am
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"Rajdhani" at albion and islington is awesome for vegetarian food, north indian/punjabi style, they have a decent selection of mithai (indian sweets) as well which are really good AND I love having the "falooda" (drink/dessert) from the store next door (technically one door away).

Also love Aroma and Host, Mount Everest is nice too and cheaper than the others.

MaryJ replying to a comment from G / January 3, 2011 at 03:46 pm
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visit Nitya the new restaurant I found they have more number of vegetarian dishes than the other buffets around which cater more for non vegetarians
kingd / August 1, 2011 at 03:47 pm
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hey the largest nd best indian buffet is on 1433 gerrard street east its called 'Dwarika fine indian cuisine' best service best food nd lovely decore really good indian food
Guyo12345 / November 15, 2011 at 09:17 pm
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I really enjoy Regency on gerrard st. in little india. The overall quality and service keeps me commin back when I get a craving for real flavor. I have brought literally every person in my life to eat there. They came back again without me as well. : )
Indian replying to a comment from gordon / December 17, 2011 at 08:48 pm
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um... i doubt whether u wash ur hand after shi**ing. u got a problem with how we eat? look at yourself first before complaining.
Indian replying to a comment from gordon / December 17, 2011 at 08:49 pm
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that was at @gordon
Jawari / December 17, 2011 at 09:41 pm
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Nataraj is gone!?? Sucks.
Frimijulio / February 1, 2012 at 07:03 am
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must check chanel online shop with confident
Raja / February 4, 2012 at 06:21 pm
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Last time I had Indian buffet I had mad runs and diarrhea!
Carrie / February 17, 2012 at 09:02 pm
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Mahar is the best. In little india on Gerrard.
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Hardy Takhar / June 15, 2012 at 11:58 am
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Generally the quality of Indian restaurants is very poor as compared to the UK. Having said that there is one exceptional buffet at the Bombay Palace in Brampton.
COSPLAY / September 26, 2012 at 10:56 pm
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Chef of India near Yonge & St. Claire should be on the top of this list.
JIMI / January 1, 2013 at 01:26 pm
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All I will say is that I normally eat anything as I am not a picky eater. I have been to India and have eaten authentic and very delicious Indian cuisine. But avoid what used to be Nitya, and is now Dwarika on Gerrard St. It is by far the worst Indian food I have ever eaten in my life. If I had wanted Indian buffet from the night before and re-heated, I would have cooked my own at home. I should have known there was a reason this place was empty and there was no steam coming off the food. Yuck! Never again!
aziz replying to a comment from kingd / January 11, 2013 at 09:44 pm
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I went to this restaurant with my wife and before we start eat I saw a cockroach near to the food dash. I told the man about it and what he did is he take it with his hand. this restaurant and the worker are not clean so I do not recommended
aziz replying to a comment from kingd / January 11, 2013 at 09:45 pm
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I went to Dwarika restaurant with my wife and before we start eat I saw a cockroach near to the food dash. I told the man about it and what he did is he take it with his hand. this restaurant and the worker are not clean so I do not recommended
Mehroon replying to a comment from aziz / February 23, 2013 at 02:30 pm
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Hey kingd I hope you read the replies on your comment , you must be a relative or a worker for the restaurant dwarika, roaches are running all over the place you call it the best then shows how much you know abt Indian food
Mehroon replying to a comment from kingd / February 23, 2013 at 02:32 pm
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Hey kingd I hope you read the replies on your comment , you must be a relative or a worker for the restaurant dwarika, roaches are running all over the place you call it the best then shows how much you know abt Indian food, lets see how far you keep it open
FlipMyFlop / February 23, 2013 at 02:58 pm
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Roaches is for smoking man, not eating.
Roopal A. / February 24, 2013 at 12:24 am
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I used to love Mr. Maharaja at Yonge & Bloor but I think they moved or closed or something. My biggest surprise recently has been 5th element on queen west near Bathurst. We acidently discovered it while waiting on other side of the lights at Queen/Portland. The food was incredible to say the least! We smelled some food upon entering and instantly knew we wanted to stay. The menu said modern Indian cuisine so we were surely interested in trying it. A Western twist on Indian dishes and vice versa. The Madras Chicken curry was as authentic as it gets!!! The amuse soup was incredible .. something creamy but they said there was no cream in it ... lima bean with garam masala? (I really should have asked!). We skipped the dessert to go have it somewhere else nearby but had a gin cocktail that was recommended by the server. I am not a big gin girl so I am not gonna comment on it.
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