Iqaluit | Sybaritica

There is a tiny little establishment here in Iqaluit known as the Grind & Brew which, besides serving coffee, also has a small menu and a few tables for dining. Thus far, however, I have only eaten their pizza as a delivery order but, not long ago, we received a flyer, in the form of a new, improved menu, indicating that Thai, and a few Chinese dishes, are now available. It took a while, but last night, feeling a bit too lazy to cook, my wife and I finally got around to trying a couple of their Thai selections…

We ordered 2 main dishes: The Shrimp in Red Curry sauce (on the left) and the Beef with Pepper Paste and Ginger. The selections both came with a single portion of steamed white rice and were supposed to be accompanied by vegetable spring rolls but these were forgotten. Having missing items on delivery orders is a recurrent and very annoying reality here in Iqaluit but, in this case, I was a little taken aback at how such a small and simple order could get messed up. The restaurant definitely loses points for this omission, in my books.

As to the quality of the food, I can fairly state that it was very tasty. The ‘chili’ heat was what I would describe as mild to moderate and the vegetables, chiefly peppers and onions, were nicely crisp-tender  as they should be. On the whole, though, there really wasn’t any of the complex flavor of a high-end Thai restaurant, (no hint of lemongrass, or Galingale, for example), but for all that it wasn’t bad at all. The food is, I should say, is Thai ‘fast-food’ rather than traditional but, given the Arctic location, it is very welcome.

My only real quibble, other than the sloppy delivery, is the portion size. The meal was about $53 with delivery charges, which is not out of line with other northern restaurant meal costs, but there really wasn’t a lot. For the same amount of money, the Navigator, our only other local source of Chinese cuisine, would provide enough for my wife and I to have leftovers for a second meal…. here, it was just one plate each.

Anyway, I am glad to see a little bit more variety coming to the local food scene and, sometime soon, I will investigate the menu, and the premises, a little more fully and do a more thorough review…

…