For those unware, last week was Onam, a Hindu harvest festival primarily observed in the Indian state of Kerala. To celebrate, a vegetarian feast call the Onam Sadhya is consumed. A multi-course meal with many separately prepared stews, curries, chutneys, pickles, and rice is served traditionally on top of a banana leaf. At the end of the meal, a delicious rice pudding called payasam tends to cap the meal.
Keralan restaurants in the GTA get really busy around this time of year. There is a small crop of Keralan restaurants specifically in Scarborough and Mississauga, and many offer the Sadhya as a buffet or as takeout around this time.
Quick shout to /u/RequirementWeekly751 for recommending Little South here. Little South actually serves the Sadhya on a proper banana leaf, and servers will come around and top up each item individually with ladles, whereas other Keralan restaurants in the GTA tend to use a green paper to represent the banana leaf and often have a self-serve buffet format. Service here is very warm and friendly despite how busy the restaurant was. It's also 25 dollars. Was very full by the end of the meal. The initial serving shown in this picture may not look like much, but you can ask them to really pour from the ladles later.
Note: I did not grow up on this food, and I was also the only non-South Asian in the restaurant, but I actually really like Keralan cuisine. The flavour profile suits my palette which grew up on mostly East Asian food. It is a mix of tangy, sour, savoury, sweet, lightly spiced, and light on dairy (though there are small dairy components). Ingredients lean somewhat tropical (e.g. bananas and coconut). The meal was filling, but didn't feel "heavy". Happy Onam everyone.
by FNMLeo
Dining and Cooking