Exploring the food in Mississauga can be difficult, however my visit to the Masala Canteen had potential to make finding food less stressful. The Masala Canteen is a new Indian restaurant that serves a flair of different Indian dishes, with influences from other countries, making it a popular spot to indulge in many flavourful options. In addition, there are halal options to be held here as well.

Masala Canteen has been opened about 3 months now and has captured the attention of many within the Mississauga community.

The restaurant itself had beautiful interior designs and modern seating which added to the restaurant’s appeal. The walls were decorated with Indian styled art and many decorations added to this restaurant’s amazing atmosphere. In addition, the menu was presented in a well thought out manner and it was easy to read because everything was in one place. We were able to make an order with the owner himself and he promptly took the order to the kitchen.

We started off with some appetizer courses to share – we had ordered the Tandoori Stuffed Mushrooms and the Paneer Three Ways. On the side, we were also served some lemon, pickles and onions for garnishing.

The Tandoori Stuffed Mushrooms were sauté fresh button mushrooms with stuffed cheddar cheese and fresh green masala. I believe it was due to the green masala that this dish was a bit on the spicier end (at least for me) but if you are a fan of mushrooms and want to try something different, this dish is definitely for you.

As for the Paneer Three Way – this was a paneer dish that was flavoured with creamy saffron, red chilli,  lime and fresh green masala as well. The green masala didn’t come out too prominently with this dish but the flavours were definitely there. I enjoyed this paneer dish, however I would prefer it in its traditional “Saag Paneer” style curry. It’s more soft compared to the Paneer Three Way, which was prepared in Tandoori style type cooking. However, for the purposes of trying something new we decided to have this dish – so there were no regrets!

For drinks, my partner and I had the owner choose some of his favourites – the Canteen Mojito as well as the Naamkeen Peru. 

The Canteen Mojito was a classic homemade mocktail, with blood orange puree, agave, lime juice, fresh mint leaves and soda. It was a great tasting mojito but I would have preferred it to be more cold in temperature.

As for the Naamkeen Peru, my partner thought it was a very unique drink which had its perks. The spicy taste it left him was emphasized by the tabasco sauce added to the guava juice.

Both drinks were served in very interesting cups that captured both of our attentions.

The main course (of course) had to be Garlic Naan and Butter Chicken. This was served to us steaming hot and emitting an array of beautiful fragrances. All the tastes were there, however there are a couple of things that I wanted to point out during this particular visit.

The garlic naan that was served to us, upon trying it out, became quite hard very fast. In my experience, the best naan in general was soft and easy to pull. The garlic naan we got at the restaurant this evening unfortunately got pretty hard fairly quickly. Although the taste was there, having the naan softer would have made the experience of eating it at the restaurant a lot better.

In addition, the butter chicken would have been perfect if it weren’t too salty. I found that the salt of the dish was quite overwhelming, and my partner also agreed. I do agree that the taste of the butter chicken was there though, and it was definitely delicious to eat. However, those who are a bit more sensitive to salt such as myself might want to request that the chef makes it a bit less salty.

Overall, Masala Canteen was still a very well-established restaurant to try out some Indian food in Mississauga. It is definitely a worthy visit for a date night or special occasion, and can offer a great selection of food to try. When you visit the Masala Canteen, I would recommend trying some of their Pan-Asian dishes, which have influences from neighbouring Asian countries into their flair of original Indian dishes.

For more information on Masala Canteen, take a look on their website: https://masalacanteen.ca/

Ratings

Plating – ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Ambiance – ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Taste – ♡ ♡ ♡

Service – ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡