Royal Indian cuisine in Scarborough — Shaaz is built around the Mandi, slow-cooked meat and rice prepared in a pit until the meat is fall-apart tender and the rice has absorbed every aromatic. The biryani and the Chicken 65 round out a menu that takes Mughal cooking seriously. Open until 2am nightly.
Neighbourhood: Scarborough · Address: 2043 Eglinton Ave E, Scarborough, ON M1L 2M9 · Hours: Mon–Sun 12:00 PM – 2:00 AM · Price Range: $$ · Phone: (416) 285-0800 · Website: https://theshaaz.com/ · Editorial status: Not yet verified
Shaaz serves Scarborough’s best mandi—a slow-cooked, pit-roasted meat and rice dish rarely found outside specialty houses. Open until 2am, it’s a legit late-night option when most good kitchens are closed.
Shaaz takes Mughal dishes seriously: their mandi pit uses traditional techniques to coax deep flavour and tenderness out of lamb and chicken, while even side dishes like Chicken 65 are made from scratch. The menu is tight, focused, and mostly unavailable anywhere else in Toronto after midnight.
Shaaz positions itself around "royal Indian cuisine" and the bawarchis — the master cooks of the Mughal royal kitchens — who originated the slow-cooking traditions the restaurant is built on. The Mandi is the centrepiece: meat and rice cooked together in a sealed pit, where the slow heat renders the meat fall-apart tender while the rice steams in the dripping juices and the whole thing becomes aromatic in a way that stove-top cooking cannot replicate. Shaaz describes it as "moist and dewy" — the rice is lightly clumped with meat juices, the lamb or chicken has the softness of something cooked without rushing.
The biryani — available in multiple varieties from classic to newer preparations — has the same philosophical commitment to the original form: layered rice and meat, whole spices, saffron, cooked sealed. Chicken 65, the spicy fried chicken snack from Chennai that has spread across the South Asian culinary diaspora, is Shaaz's nod to the crowd-pleasing end of the menu and is correctly done — battered, twice-fried, hit with curry leaves and dried red chili.
The haleem (slow-cooked wheat, lentil, and meat porridge — a dish of Persian origin that spread through Mughal court cooking and then throughout South Asia) is the menu's most labour-intensive dish and worth ordering when it's available. Kebabs are a staple: seekh, boti, reshmi.
Shaaz is open until 2am every night, which makes it the reliable Scarborough destination when the evening extends longer than expected.
Shaaz Restaurant is at 2043 Eglinton Avenue East, Scarborough, ON M1L 2M9. Phone: 416-285-0800. It's accessible by the TTC 34 Eglinton East bus along Eglinton Ave E. The restaurant is open until 2am nightly, making it one of Scarborough's best late-night dining options.
Mandi is the signature dish — a traditional Yemeni-origin preparation popular across the Gulf and now in South Asian cooking: meat (lamb or chicken) and rice slow-cooked together in a sealed pit. The slow heat keeps the meat moist and tender while the rice absorbs the dripping juices and the sealed steam. The result is aromatic, deeply flavoured, and distinct from biryani. At Shaaz it's available from $65 and is intended for groups.
WTF Toronto creates guides using independent editorial research, official sources, local knowledge and firsthand experience where available. Commercial relationships are disclosed where applicable.