Affordable and delicious: Where to snag a meal for under $10 in Ottawa

The Corner

• Name + address: The Corner, 181 Richmond Rd.

• Diet: Meat, modest vegetarian

• Prices: $2-$11

• Wheelchair accessibility: No

• Website: Facebook page 

Online The Corner is described as a “food truck” when it’s actually more of a food shack. It opened just a few months ago, replacing the popular “Bite This”.

Owner Nancy Zheng opened The Corner for her retired parents who had recently moved to Canada. Her father, who swings the spatula, had been a street food vendor and she wanted to ensure that he had a project that would make him feel a little more at home.

The menu is small with a number of handheld eats such as spring rolls, pork bao, pot stickers and pan fried beef pies (beef bing). 

One of the more popular items, which I have yet to try, is the large wonton soup ($11). As I was dining in (so to speak) I wished I had ordered it as the space was rather icy and without heating.

Instead, I satisfied myself with the General Tao’s chicken ($7) which came with a free side of rice. The rice was fine and the deep fried, battered chicken was bathed in a moderately sweet sauce that was pretty standard. For the money, it was fair but not memorable.

Soon, Nancy handed me a small hot and sour soup, which, based on our earlier conversation, she had spiked with extra black vinegar and white pepper. It helped take the chill from my bones. It was packed with silken tofu, bamboo shoots, cloud ear fungus, carrots and scallions. For $1.50, it was more than reasonable.

The vegetable spring rolls were packed with cabbage, carrot and a sprinkling of mung bean vermicelli. The seasoning was modest, but I shared with Nancy that it was time to change the fryer oil as the rolls had a bitter taste.

The pork bao bun ($4) was the star of the show, however. The meat was nicely flavoured and enrobed in an absolutely beautiful steamed dough pastry. Remarkably it was not stodgy but moist and luscious. One of the nicest steamed buns in many years.

The Corner offers a quick stop for those who need something on the go when they’ve got a small hunger. 

JnJ Bakery

• Name + address: JnJ Bakery, 62 Barrette St.

• Website: Facebook page

I’m not certain that for the money, there is better eating to be had than at JnJ. Owner and pastry chef Sung Hae Lee knocks out masterful sweet and savoury croquettes, buns and tarts and her magnificent recipes have made me a regular customer. 

Try her bulgogi and curry chicken croquettes ($4) while sitting down because you’ll be swooning. Just one of these and a salad makes for a delicious and complete meal.

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Run 2 Patty

• Name + address: Run 2 Patty, 1224 Shillington Avenue, Unit A

• Website: www.run2patty.ca

Most Jamaican patties available in Ottawa are brought in wholesale from a handful of producers in Toronto.

I recently ate at a Carribean themed food truck off Innes and the patty was so bad that I elected to not review it. 

Run 2 Patty (which refers to a customer order shouted to the kitchen) has patties better than any I’ve had in recent years in Toronto. They’re stuffed to the crimped edges and are beautifully seasoned. 

Patties come as beef, curried chicken, chickpea, goat, ackee and saltfish and my favourite: oxtail. They’re individually priced at between $3-$4, with boxes of 12 selling for between $30-$35. These are crave-inducing.

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Detola’s Kitchen

• Name + address: Detola’s Kitchen, 2544 Bank St.

• Website: www.detolaskitchen.com

Detola’s Kitchen brings some exceptional Nigerian flavours to spice-hungry foodies in Ottawa.

Her cooking is not just about heat, and you sense that every dish, corny as it may sound, is made with love. You’ll enjoy her beef Nonso’s wrap (one of the best sandwiches of the year) and her comforting goat soup but it’s the smaller, big flavour treats that’ll have you thinking about the great value.

Her beef meat pie ($4) looks like an over-stuffed Cornish pastie and will fill you up until dinner. The vegetable spring rolls (five for $6) are delicate and delicious, and the beef samosas (five for $6) are little crispy packets of wonder done in spring roll pastry and just try to avoid inhaling them all before you even start the car.

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Amma’s Biryani

• Name + address: Amma’s Biryani, 1816 Merivale Rd. (inside Silk Road Foods)

• Website: https://ammasbiryani.net/

It was on a cold January day of this year that I landed at Amma’s Biryani inside the Silk Roads Food shop on Merivale.

I tried a number of items but it was the vegetable biryani ($8.99) that blew my mind. This vegetarian dish was a bowl of fire with whole spices that surprised the palate with every bite. Yes, the spices such as clove, star anise, cardamom are whole so be on the lookout.

If you’re having it either alongside a soup or salad this is a portion big enough for two – four if you’re serving it as a side dish and it may well be one of the best things you’ve tasted this year.

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Bite & Bite

• Name + address: Bite & Bite, 1465 Merivale Rd.

• Website: No

Bite & Bite was another top discovery from January of this year. Everything here is scratch cooking, and it’s one of the best Asian food destinations of the year. 

The prices are modest and their robust and warming noodle soups might set you back as much as $15. The soup stock is based on chicken and it’s cooked fresh each day.

But for $8, you’ll enjoy the best tasting Shanghai dumplings available in Ottawa. Four filling meaty pork dumplings runny with soup that will have you thinking about them long after you're done. Collagen-rich goodness.

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