Fat Pasha

Super duper ! AWESOME brisket, cauliflower, cocktails, hummus, fattush, staff, restaurant!

Everything about our dinning experience was perfect! I recommend this place highly. A true tantalizing experience for the taste buds. Just go! But not without a reservation.

We went here on a Friday and found that the place was packed when we got there. The host had asked us if we didn’t mind waiting for about an hour. I asked them to see if they can call their other restaurants such as Rose and Sons, etc. to see if they can accommodate us. The host (sorry, forgot his name) was gracious enough to call and find out but it was the same waiting time. We decided to stay and wait. Fortunately, the bar opened opened up with 2 spots within a few minutes and we got seated. Stroke of luck!
The food was amazing and the portions are definitely healthy. We had the falafel, lamb shank, saffron couscous and the roasted cauliflower. The cauliflower are a must try! If you’re unfamiliar with this type of food, the servers are definitely more than happy to help. They got a great collection of booze prominently displayed behind the bar. The servers are very attentive and friendly. The place has a very intimate and relaxed ambience and did not have an air of pretentiousness.
Overall, I would definitely come back to this place and highly recommend it to anyone who has not been.

Here’s another Anthony Rose restaurant on Dupont, and one that comes as a pleasant surprise as I didn’t know what I was getting myself into past the obnoxious two layers of curtains fronting the entrance. It’s pricey a bit, and a bit – just a bit – bigger than Rose and Sons (roomy enough to not feel like an overcrowded bus), but still, dinner reservations is a good idea.
Aside from the gentrified roasted cauliflower this establishment is famous in town for (and arguably famous also for making the cauliflower so hip recently it hurts the wallet), Fat Pasha serves up a hip take on Jewish and Middle Eastern food. Most of the food are meant to be shared amongst your party, but they’re certainly not tapas portions. I enjoyed the falafels, but you can get that anywhere here in town so…
Here’s what I’d rather you go for: the Fat Pasha Hummus ($ 10), and bloody hell sakes get it with the chili kale and pickled raisins (+$ 5). There’s so much wonderful flavours of every sort and dimension in this hit, you’d skip the bread. The saffron couscous ($ 17) is another good choice that surprised me with a buildup of spicy heat with each bite.
The staff were generally courteous and explained the menu game, and we were able to make decisions that turned out to be accurate in terms of stomach-​filling proportions. But you know what I was really was taken by here? The awesome funky tile patterns in the washrooms.
{TTC: a brief walk west from Dupont subway station}

We had been looking forward to trying this restaurant for sometime. Made a reservation for 12:30 today — glad we made the reservation… very very busy little restaurant.
We both ordered Beaus Lug Draft Beer, very nice and refreshing !
We ordered the Fried Chicken drizzled with Honey and Za’atar accompanied by a potato salad which was really really good.
Large plate of food with 2 big chicken breasts (boneless) — great for sharing !
And we ordered the full Salatim which had a beet salad (chopped) — very nice. Eggplant… yummy but a little to chunky for me, tomato salad — it was just ok, sliced carrots cooked with spices — very nice, tabouli made with rapini — not to my taste either a little too bitter, the last salad I’m not sure what it was — squash maybe — again — Meh ?? it all came with pita which was warm and they were very light and fluffy.
A great lunch, but I think I’d only order the Salatim if there were more than 5 of us and only order specific ones.
Service was impeccable !!
Desserts looked really good but we didn’t order one — maybe next time.
2016 Challenge — 1^st time here.

We came to try for fist time and it’s SO good! Everything it’s delicious and the best attention ever.
Recommendation: red lentel soup

Having had enough of the rave reviews from my well-​travelled and well-​fed friends, I decided to make the trip to Dupont to find out what the hype is all about. And boy, were my expectations blown out of the water. For appetizers, we had a trio of salad, with homemade labneh with za’atar, charred eggplant, and a delicious kale salad. The labneh is so addictive, my friends and I were fighting with our spoon to finish the remaining morsels. Next, we had the grilled squid which had turmeric kimchi and chickpea mayo — simply addictive.
At a modern fusion Jewish restaurant like Fat Pasha, one must always order at least one meat dish where we had the grilled lamb sirloin apricot and pistachio pesto, and delicious herbs. The roast cauliflower was the crown jewel of our meal with its fantastic garnish of pomegranate and halloumi a delicious cypriot cheese.
The portions at Fat Pasha are indeed generous but you may skip dessert as they were rather disappointing. With maple syrup and quite a lot of sugar, the sticky date cake and milk & honey pudding was an unhealthy nod to North America’s sweet tooth.

I like the salad !! It tasted so good.
I went there with BF on Sunday for lunch. We had few dishes. Sweet potato with egg (sauce was interesting), salad (both BF and me like it a lot), beef sandwich, donuts with vanilla cream+jelly (I was surprised to see BF ate dessert and told me it tasted good) Like the dessert too!!!
The service is good there (= waitress was very thoughtful. Whenever she told us some recommendations, she always pointed out on both of the 2 menus (BF’s and Mine). We will come back. (=

TLDR; fantastic service, good food. Would definitely eat here again. Great for big group reservations.
Went here for brunch, we were almost an hour late for our reservation because the Santa Claus parade caused very length detours. The host held our table for us and was very gracious.
We shared a bunch of appetizers and each ordered a main course. Food was great.

This is my first encounter to Jewish and middle eastern food and this place is awesome! I love the interesting cocktails! And the chopped liver & onions is probably the most memorable dish. I definitely recommend reservations be made in advance as this place is fully seated almost every night with its intimate ambience. The servers were friendly, smiley and efficient too. I really don’t have anything to complain or negative to say. Ooo, maybe I do. This place is a little pricey, but it’s well worth it!

Lunch
The good stuff first: ambience… beautiful and intimate space. Service is good, and they are trying to do middle eastern food a little differently.
Food: Was meh. We ordered Salatim (sweet potato, eggplant & beet root), hummus w/​meatballs, cauliflower.
Final word: Don’t really get the big deal about this place other than the fact that it serves middle eastern food in a nice setting in ‘The Annex’. Tons of better options out there in terms of flavour profile and value
Fine dining: Byblos (Favorite of mine)
Casual dining: Anatolia (Favorite), Tabule, Tahkt-​e-​Tavoos (Favorite), Pomegrenate, Shomal
Diner style dining/​Brunch/​: Mashu Mashu, Sheherzade
Repeat: No

I really don’t have anything negative to say about this place. In short; great food, excellent service and a nice décor. We walked in without a res and they were able to accommodate us (although I would recommend a reservation in the future). We ordered the following and all three items were delicious:
fattoush — chopped israeli salad w/​za’atar pita chips, halloumi
12oz lamb kebab — charred corn & okra, tamarind sauce
butternut squash & shiitake rice — preserved lemon, chili, toasted almonds
I would definitely recommend Fat pasha and would not think twice about going back.

From the moment I walked through the door I liked the energy of this place. When we were walked through the back to the patio I geeked out and turned to my friend and said so loud and excitedly «this place is awesome» — the hostess gave a little chuckle.
We were seated on the end of someone else’s big bench table — which I always appreciate as friendly and engaging, and a demonstration that a place is not stuffy. The waiter helped us choose a glass of wine to our taste and from there the night continued to impress.
Delicious hummus and lamb skewers were enjoyed, but the cauliflower was the true winner — so good.
I will be back.

Walked here on a Sunday for brunch around 11:30AM — it wasn’t too busy so got seated quite fast. Despite it being quite a hot day — my friend and I decided to sit outside in their back patio (very cute set up with wooden tables and greens — the only flaw being metal chairs which burned a little under the sun). Our table was right beside the koi fish pond (our waiter let us feed the fish before we left, after we kindly asked a few times :).
We took a while to decide what to order, and our waiter was very patient with us. He also offered a few suggestions — pointing out the most popular items and items which are not served at dinner. After a fair bit of stalking on Instagram, we finally decided on our orders — the smoked fish on bread challah (surprising light with smoked salmon and sour cream, and some addictive pickled onions), the falafel sandwich (huge falafel balls, purple cabbage and chopped salad exploding out of the pita bread — I had to eat it with cutlery but thought everything tasted great), and 3 dips (beet root, sweet potato, and our favourite eggplant) to share. We were a bit too ambitious, and I had to take a bit of my sandwich to go. Overall, we were satisfied with the flavours and size of our orders.
The only complaint I have about our experience was that halfway through our meal, it started to get super hot and we were burning/​melting after the sun. We were thinking of rushing to finish our meal so we can leave — but eventually they put out their foldable roof. It became much cooler and more pleasant under the shade, so we stayed for a bit longer to actually enjoy the remaining of our meal.

First, I do not give 5 stars, unless I see a completely flawless restaurant. But Fat Pasha gets a well deserved 4 stars for the following reasons:
Décor: I love the small quaint, rustic look, from the hardwood flooring to the retro chairs and table. It is a small but very busy place. Better reserve ahead of time. The liquor shelves, open kitchen and marble bar countertop brings a modern fused with a old style, for my tastes, I like it. You will not feel out of place with casual wear, staff and customers dressed in jeans, shorts and t-​shirt. But the only flaw is that it does get a bit noisy and an irritating mosquito was buzzing around.
Service: The staff is very friendly and mostly female., not a bad thing. The maître d and wait staff was attentive and very knowledgable on what is best for table of 2. The wait staff recommended certain platters and served them with army like timing and precision, paced when to deliver each platter.
Food: Started off great with a glass of Cantine fontezoppa verdicchio white wine, perfect for a meal at Fat Pasha. First platter was 5 salads which a vegan would enjoy. 5 for $ 25 (beet root relish & dukkah, tzatziki & sumac, cranberry matboucha with bagel spice, garlic fried tomatoes and best chopped eggplant & tahini). Next was the grilled squid in mint sauce, squid cooked to perfection but perhaps a bit minty taste but still good. Finally the best for last was the Latka platter consisting of pastrami Salmon, smoked fish, with sour cream and caviar given with pita bread. Finally dessert, I selected the «sufganiyot» (3 donuts with cream custard and jello jelly). Delicious. My friend had the Nutella babka bread pudding which also sampled and did not disappoint.
Price: For a company of two, everything including 20% tip came below $ 140, not the cheapest but both myself and my friend were full and cleaned our plates
I have been previously to Byblos and food wise very similar in tastes and would recommend both but you do not like dressing up then reserve a place at Fat Pasha!

I had dinner at Fat Pasha just a few days after a great dinner at Byblos so I was really looking forward to having what promised to be another great middle eastern dinner and I did not leave disapointed! I’m not going to compare the two except say that Fat Pasha does have a more intimate and cozy setting than the more elegantly laid out Byblos, they are both excellent and it would be tough to recommend one over the other.
I was seated at the bar type seating which didn’t allow for the greatest table space of all but it was still enough to enjoy the meal. We ordered the roast califlower, grilled squid and quite a bit of hummus, and everything was amazing! I highly recommend them all, perhaps the cauliflower would take the spot as the must try from that lot?
It was extremely busy, we had to wait for close to an hour, which was spent drinking at a pub near by, but the food was worth the wait! Hopefully I get a proper table as oppose to the bar type sitting the next time so I would have more room to spread out the food.
Overall, one of the better meals I’ve had in the city!

WOW! Fat Pasha is insanely good!!!
I came in on a Wednesday evening at 7:30. Glad I made a reservation because it was PACKED. The restaurant isn’t huge and the tables are pretty close together, but my dinner was quite enjoyable. In fact, I was impressed with how low the noise level was despite the amount of people in the room.
Service was prompt, food was delicious!
We had:
Roasted cauliflower — ⁵⁄₅ seasoned to perfection!
Cornish hen — ⁵⁄₅ large portion. About 8 or 10 pieces. Very tasty
Squash salad — ⁵⁄₅ this is like a squash dip. It is amazing
Hummus — ⁵⁄₅
Eggplant dip– ⁵⁄₅
I came with a friend, but this was enough food for 3 people. The portions were very generous, the prices were reasonable. A group of 4 could easily eat here for less than $ 200.
I highly recommend Fat Pasha. I can’t wait to come back and try more dishes.

Food: 8.5÷10
Atmosphere: ⁸⁄₁₀
Service: ⁸⁄₁₀
Overall experience: ⁸⁄₁₀
Went for lunch for the first time a few weeks ago and was not disappointed. We managed to grab a seat at the bar and quickly decided to share a couple plates so as not to fill up too much.
We had:
— the 3 salad combo (garlic fried tomatoes, labneh evoo za’atar (which is a yogurt based dip), and chopped eggplant & tahini)
— pasha plate with za’atar chicken
The salad trio was great. You definitely need to like dips, and those types of textures, but it was a great variety to go with the pita that came with it. The yogurt-​based one was my favourite. It was light enough for lunch but was still extremely satisfying.
The chicken dish was also great. Accompanied by beets, some vegetables and pita, it was a well rounded dish that could definitely satisfy a lunch craving.
The interior was clean and focused on keeping the Middle Eastern theme alive. The staff were what you would expect — friendly, but nothing above and beyond.
The bottom line: if you like Middle Eastern food, this place will not disappoint.

Fat Pasha was a fun brunch experience. A small place specializing in middle-​eastern style Jewish cuisine mostly with a flash of the more common, North American type too.
My girlfriend and I order the full Salatim place, which included 7 salads. Two I loved: the squash and the beets. Both were sweet and went very well with the pita. Two I found to be very good: the eggplant and the roasted tomatoes. Bother were savoury with a touch of garlic. The other three — tahini with everything spice, cream cheese, and mixed greens — were just ok. In fact I was not a huge fan of the cream cheese. All of the salads had a lot of oil. In some cases, like with the squash and the beets and the eggplant it was ok. Cream cheese covered in oil somehow wasn’t a great combinations. But again, squash and beets were just excellent.
We also ordered the chopped liver. I liked this dish. Very rich, filled with a bunch of goodies like egg and fried onions and topped with chicken schmaltz (poured right at the table). It came with challah bread.
The service was very friendly too.
I thought that it was a bit pricey. The bill for the plate of salads and the chopped liver was, with tax and tip, a little more than $ 60 which is a bit too much for casual brunch. Mind you I very much like a casual brunch, when paired with the correct pricing. In all, this place is probably $ 10 – 15 more expensive than it needs to be.
I will add one more point, not a negative but a good-​to-​know. Fat Pasha is a small place, so definitely make reservations ahead!

Can’t stop thinking about our weekend brunch at Fat Pasha. Come here if you’re looking for an atypical meal — Jewish food with Turkish and Mediterranean flare.
Oh and come here with a raging appetite because the portion sizes require you to unleash that second stomach you never knew you had.
We ordered the following for two (had two meals of leftovers!):
Shakshuka ($ 14): sweet and hot pepper tomato poached eggs, sweet peas, grateful bread challah and added lamb meatballs (+$ 6). This dish is served on a sizzling hot skillet. The eggs are perfectly poached and immersed in the melted tomato sauce. You can eat it straight from the skillet or dipped with the pita bread. The lamb meat balls were what we expected, gamey balls of meat –I wouldn’t say they make or break the dish, but a good addition if you’re looking to add more protein. This dish reminds me of the Fried Egg and Tomato «Cho Jīdàn» staple of Northern Chinese Cuisine.
Brisket Pasha Plate ($ 16) — Served with pita, tabule, tahini, and pickles. The brisket was tender and flaky. The tabule and tahini made great side additions to the dish. If you order a pasha plate and a salatim, you can opt to exclude the tabule and tahini choices from the salatim (if you’re debating between which salatim dishes to order).
Salatim ($ 32) — Seven sharing plates of dips and salads with charred pita. They were all delish, I’ve noted my three favourites with asterisks (*).
1. Rapini tabuleh
2. Beet root relish*
3. Butternut squash, sumac*
4. Labneh evoo za’atar
5. Tahini, everything bagel spice
6. Garlic fried tomates
7. Chopped eggplant and tahini*
French Press Coffee (~$ 10) — Fresh, servers about 3 cups of coffee.
The weekend brunch hour gets busy, I recommend calling in for a reservation. I generally like to be seated at the bar if there is one, that way I can watch the magic behind the preparation of the drinks. In particular during brunch hours, you’ll be concealed in the aromatic scents of the French press and espresso maker. Also, water service is always on point when you’re near a server.
Overall:
Food: (¹⁰⁄₁₀) — Food was made with fresh ingredients and marinated with a fantastic melody of spices. You do pay the cost for fresh ingredients, be prepared to spend a hefty dollar dining here.
Atmosphere: (¹⁰⁄₁₀) –Bright, clean, and bustling brunch scene.
Service (⁸⁄₁₀) — Food takes longer than usual to be served. At times a bit hard to wave down a server (even when seated at the bar).
Bring deep pockets and eat here.