“You have your secret. Now I have a secret too”: The story behind SumiLicious, the only restaurant in Scarborough to have received a Michelin award

When the international spotlight (finally) fell on Toronto’s food scene a glittering unveiling of the Michelin guide Last Tuesday night at Evergreen Brick Works, one award winner stood out from the rest. SumiLicious, a deli in a shopping center in Scarborough, was the only one of the 30 recognized restaurants outside of the town centre. It picked up Bib gourmand— an award given to restaurants where a two-course meal and dessert or glass of wine costs less than $60 per person — for its Montreal-style cured meats and poutine.

Chef and owner Sumith Fernando (who brings the sumi to SumiLicious) wasn’t there to hear his name or get a well-deserved round of applause. Too busy with the restaurant and his two-and-a-half-month-old baby Shevenka, he missed the invitation. But when Fernando got to work the next morning, he heard the good news. “Some customers didn’t even come to eat – just to congratulate me,” he says.

Fernando, a Sri Lankan-born Catholic, doesn’t exactly fit the stereotype of a deli owner – something typically associated with Ashkenazi Jews from Montreal and New York. When he moved to Montreal in 2002, a friend got him a job with the icon black, which has been doling out phone book-sized stacks of spiced brisket sandwiched between slices of rye for nearly a century. “When I worked at Schwartz’s, I saw so many customers shaking their heads at how good it was as soon as they took the first bite,” says Fernando. It was then that he realized what he wanted to do with his life.

In his 16 years at Schwartz, Fernando did a little bit of everything: he marinated the meat, smoked it and hung it to dry by the window overlooking Saint-Laurent Boulevard. He also worked in the kitchen and behind the counter serving customers. In his spare time, where he dreamed of opening his own fresh food counter, Fernando mixed different combinations of spices and tried to create his own signature blend. Eventually, he was ready to move, but his wife, Shalika de Fonseka, wasn’t so sure. “I actually held it up,” she says. “We were scared. It was a big risk. I had to quit my job and he had to quit his job and he wasn’t sure if it was going to work or not. Eventually we decided it was a risk worth taking.”

Fernando didn’t want to open a deli in downtown or midtown Toronto because there were already so many in those areas. So in 2018 he opened a shop on the border between Markham and Scarborough, an area close enough to the city’s Jewish communities to provide an initial base of support. “In his first and second years, he was there all day and worked so hard,” says de Fonseka. “But it started to pay off.”

At Schwartz, Fernando says, the meat is marinated for 10 days and then smoked for up to eight hours. At SumiLicious, he likes to marinate and smoke the breast even longer to enhance the flavor. “I see the difference when I marinate it for several days,” he says. He also played around with his spice mix to get it just right. But of course, like Schwartz’s, it won’t reveal what’s in it. “They have their secret,” he says. “Now I have a secret too.”

At first the challenge was convincing those who had never tried smoked meat to give it a try, but soon more business came by word of mouth. It also helped that SumiLicious serves Halal certified meat and dished up Fernando’s version of some of the world’s best home cooking. “I didn’t expect poutine to be so popular,” he says.

Four years after opening, SumiLicious is as busy as ever and will only grow after being included in Toronto’s Michelin Guide. “We are happy and excited today, especially for this recognition and the customer support,” says de Fonseka. But Fernando has no plans to stop experimenting with his recipes. “One day I want to try something different, something spicy,” he says, adding that he plans to add butterfly chicken to the menu.

Whether the family prefers Montreal or Toronto, let’s put it this way, they’ll be cheering for the Leafs this season. “We still love Montreal, but this city is welcoming and offers a lot of opportunities,” says de Fonseka. “We love Toronto.”

SumiLicious, 5-5631 Steeles Avenue E, Scarborough, 647-347-8899, sumilicious.ca