Must-Try: Bannock’s pickerel taco, the city’s most elaborate steamed bun

By Matthew Hague | Photograph by Sian Richards

From the description on the menu, Bannock’s pickerel taco (which stretches the definition of the term taco) sounds like the work of a chef who hit the sauce and emptied his pantry onto a dim sum bun. The fish—sticky and sweet from a glaze of chili, tamarind and maple syrup—is paired with rutabaga slaw dressed in tangy nam prik dressing (fish sauce, chilies and garlic). On top, there are scallions, cilantro, salty whitefish roe from Lake Huron and creamy house-made tartar sauce. It’s an unlikely mash-up of Chinese, Thai, Latin American and Canadian flavours that, by the magic of umami, somehow work together beautifully. $13. 401 Bay Street, 416-861-6996.