So I celebrated my birthday today – December 26th, a.k.a. Boxing Day or St. Stephen’s Day for the more religiously inclined. I usually spend birthdays safe at home, locked away from the post-Christmas crazies at the malls, hoping that someone will remember to call or send me a Facebook greeting, or at least re-gift some god-awful Christmas pressie as my birthday treat. This year, however, I decided to head out and join my dear friend, Donna (with whom I shared many an “adventure” when we both worked at Yuk Yuk’s Komedy Kabaret in the 1980s) at Toronto’s latest hotspot – the Shameful Tiki Room on Queen St West (just past Dufferin).
Donna Lypchuk (L) and me (R) enjoying a festive Hawaiian feast
Haven’t hung out with Donna for a while so there was a lot to catch up on other than birthdays and our various aches, pains and bitching about our sags, bags and WTF is that growing there?…LOL!
The lovely folks at Shameful Tiki made us a sumptuous repast and as I arrived early, I sat at the bar waiting for Donna to arrive and got stuck into a “Pain Killer” cocktail that certainly lived up to its name (below). 
The drinks are all very affordable and pack a real punch. Many are rum-based and I admired their drinks menu which was reminiscent of the bar “placemat” at the old Trader Vic’s in Waikiki where I used to spend many an hour killing time between flights to and from Australia. All you have to do is just point to the picture of which drinkie you’d like and the barkeep at the Shameful Tiki Room will create a masterpiece in a glass, complete with garnishes and fancy swizzle stick.
When Donna arrived, we moved to a cozy booth at the back of the room surrounded by all sorts of tiki memorabilia and mid-century Hawaiian nic-nacs. The music was right out of Mad Men and each time the song changed I found myself humming along and singing with Deano, Frank, and even a little Don Ho! Talk about authentic…wow
The food menu is short but sweet…all sorts of nibblies and treats so we opted for the tiki platter that gave us a selection of everything and I highly recommend the awesome Huli-Huli chicken wings, all sticky and spicy. I also enjoyed the teriyaki fried broccoli and the Spam fried rice ball…yummm. We made short work of the platter and ordered even more wings. It was a virtual luau!
We were so stuffed..Donna offered up a ladylike burp (below)
…while I sucked those damned chicken wings dry!!!
More drinks? Sure….then we got a bit sloshed. “allo, sailor!”
Fellow diners at a neighbouring table got stuck in to one of the “mystery bowls” announced to all in the tiki lounge by the bartender striking a big noisy gong. They were such a fun bunch…
So here’s to the wonderful SHAMEFUL TIKI ROOM, 1378 Queen West, Toronto. Yes, we’ll be back for more…lots more. I have an entire double-sided drinks menu to point-n-guzzle my way thru this coming year!
See you all there: http://shamefultikiroom.com/toronto/