Tastes like home!
In Trinidad, a meal doesn't begin until a jar of homemade hot pepper sauce comes to the table. It's one of the island traditions, my parents wanted to share when they first opened Island Foods Restaurant in Toronto, 1974. Mom's recipe combines fresh scotch bonnets with a unique blend of spices for an authentic home-style Caribbean flavour that people can't get enough of.
Add to all your favourite dishes. Your mouth will water for more!
Pepper & Lime…So Divine!
In Trinidad, we LOVE our lime pepper sauce. Island Foods makes it like Mom – with all the mouth-watering tastes you crave from our original scotch bonnet recipe with a fresh twist of lime. Add to all your favourite dishes and have fun exploring the islands!
Try our newest flavour!
Tamarind is a tropical fruit used in cuisines around the world. In Trinidad, we LOVE our tamarind. Use this sauce with street food favourites like doubles and phlories. It’s delicious as a dip for fried foods and adds a spicy sweet-sour flavour to noodles, sauces, stir-fries, curries and seafood. An ideal marinade!
Winner of Best Sauce at Heat Wave Expo, London 2020.
Since 1974, Island Foods Restaurants have introduced Toronto to authentic Caribbean flavours. Our hot sauce has always been a part of that taste experience. With a combination of fresh scotch bonnet peppers and my mom’s special spice blend, our hot sauces deliver heat with a unique home-style flavour that our customers describe as “mouthwatering”
In 2008, when I started helping my mom make our Island Foods® Hot Sauce, it was exclusively for our three restaurants. However, customer demand and take-home sales grew and kept growing. People found our versatile hot sauces tasted great on almost everything, not just Caribbean! With my mom as my guiding principle and standard for excellence, I decided to make Island Foods® Hot Sauce more accessible to everyone
Today, we still make our hot sauce in small batches with the same quality our friends and customers have enjoyed for over 44 years. Now all our new friends can take home a bit of Caribbean heat to savour on all their favourite foods.
In 1967, my parents, Ramasar and Ruth Sawh left Trinidad for New York to study Computer Programming. In 1968, they came to Canada, where Toronto became their home. Unsatisfied with the jobs they had secured, they decided to start their own business and so their journey as entrepreneurs began.
Finding the right business took a little time but in 1973, an opportunity to open a restaurant in Dufferin Mall Food Court appeared. By this time, the family had grown to include my 3 yr. old brother and myself. My mom had always been a great cook but neither parent had restaurant experience. Taking a chance, they invested everything and opened the first Island Foods Restaurant the following year.
In a short time, clients became lifelong friends, staff – an extension of family…and Island Foods was a success. By 1976, family and business had grown. Our family welcomed the arrival of twin girls and the restaurant expanded to a new location at the C.N.E. The 1182 King Street West and Village by the Grange locations followed. Over the years, we are proud and happy to see our customer base grow to include the newest generations of our customers’ children and grandchildren.
Today, we still believe in serving only our best. We are truly a family business. My brother and his family operate their own location at 1310 Don Mills Road and other family members can always be found at our 1182 King Street location.
If you would like to see our products in a store near you, please let us know. Contact us