Twenty-litre pots of jalapeno chowder, chili con carne, curried chicken and wild rice soups simmer slowly, their flavours deepening with each stir. On any given day, Daniel Robinson and Leo Tsangarakis, co-owners of The Burnt Tongue, serve over 500 bowls of soup to hungry diners who eagerly scorch their tongues in the name of flavour. Billed as fast, quality food at a reasonable price, the idea behind The Burnt Tongue was pure serendipity. Having met in Hamilton while working in the restaurant industry - Dan as a chef and Leo as a waiter - the two realized they wanted to open their own business.
Dan, a classically trained chef, suggested to Leo the idea of serving soup. Leo, after being raised in the restaurant industry, batted around the idea of an Amsterdam-style restaurant he had visited. Soon after, The Burnt Tongue was born, featuring soup, hamburgers and frites. “We hit the ground running,” Leo says as he explains how he raced to city hall on Friday, September 13, 2013 to pick up the permit to open the eatery on the day of Hamilton’s Supercrawl, where an average 100,000 people converge downtown.
