- Go to the Moghul...there are two..the one I remember is at Yonge &
Bloor, I believe. *Wonderful* Indian food!
- You can wander around Little India, which is at Coxwell and
Gerrard, I believe. I recommend the Madras Express Cafe if you
want a cheap, fast Indian meal. It's South Indian (masala dosae
and the like), and is vegetarian. My family always used to go
for channae bhaturae at one of the little scummy dinner/sweet
shops. Heaven.
You can also wander around Chinatown, at Dundas and Spadina.
I'd recommend Lee Garden, which is a block or two north of the
intersection or Hsin Kuang.
-Here's a list of some Toronto restaurants that I've enjoyed in
the past six years. Caution: some may not be open anymore -
call to check.
Chinese:
Lee Garden (358 Spadina, north of Dundas)
Recommended, but I've never been there (lines
too long)
House of Noodles (on Dundas somewhere)
As hinted by the name, they specialize in noodle
dishes, but have much, much more. GREAT noodles!
Hungarian: The Continental, 521 Bloor (East of Bathurst)
Very, very good, and very, very cheap
Indian: The Mogul, 563 Bloor (Bloor & Bathurst)
Less expensive than it looks - very good food.
Jamaican: The Pattie King, Kensington Market; good Jamaican
patties.
The Real Jerk (Queen and Broadview) was highly
recommended, but was closed when I was there
(they've moved since?)
Malaysian: Penang Island (Malaysian and Singaporean food)
Very popular restaurant with very good food -
the shark in coconut-tomato-spice sauce was
superb
Mauritius: Belle Mare Cafe, 3345 Dundas St. W.
Interesting food (when have you eaten food from
Mauritius?), but less than mind-blowing. No
crowds.
Thai: Sawasdee, 124 Eglinton W.
Very, very good Thai food. Fancier and pricier
than most other places I went to. (Moderate)
Turkish: Efes, 605 Bloor, west of Bathurst
Restaurant is usually empty, service is confused,
and it is a bit expensive, but the food is good.
Vietnamese: Pho Hung, 374 Spadina (N of Dundas)
Very good Vietnamese food - try the soup (pho). Cheap.
International: The Rivoli, Queen St W;
Very good, Thai-influenced nouvelle cuisine;
nice outdoor seating (in the summer).
**************
- If you want ethnic food, Toronto's the place to come. I
believe Toronto has been officially recognized by the United
Nations as the most multicultural city on earth. We have the
largest Italian population outside Italy, and someone on the net
recently said we also have the largest Chinese population in
the Western World (I hadn't heard that before).
We also have large Indian & Pakistani populations, as well as
many French, Portuguese, Greek, German, Polish, Ukrainian
various Caribbean and countless other ethnic groups. There's
even a few of us WASPs left (but you wouldn't want to eat in
our restaurants :-)
If you're here in late June, there's a major multicultural
festival called Caravan, where each ethnic group has a pavilion
featuring the traditional food, music, dancing, etc. of their
culture. It lasts 9 or 10 days, and a $15 or so pass will get
you into all the pavillions for the whole week (food and drinks
are extra).
Downtown Area:
Bombay Palace (Jarvis & Front): Part of an international chain of
Indian restaurants. Has very good lunch buffet (7 days a week).
Good dinners. There is also a branch near Lawrence and Markham
Road in Scarborough.
Sangam (Bay & College): Good Indian restaurant. I think they have a
lunch buffet too.
Bangkok Garden(Dundas & Bay): excellent Thai restaurant. A little
on the expensive side. Try the emerald curry.
Champion House(Dundas & Spadina): Szechuan and Peking food.
Outstanding Peking duck. Mu shu beef, Tung An chicken and
"Double cooked pork string" (?) are also very good. Monday
nights they have a special vegetarian menu (I haven't tried it).
PETER's Chung King (College & Spadina) (NOT the one called just
"Chung King"): Good Szechuan food. Orange beef is very good.
La Bodega (Dundas & McCaul near the Art Gallery): Good more or
less French restaurant. The rack of lamb is excellent. Entrecote
with Bearnaise sauce is too. Fairly expensive.
Anesty's (Church & Front): Reasonably good Greek restaurant.
Penelope's (Yonge & Front): Ditto.
Hughie's (Yonge & Front): Upscale burgers, fries and pies.
The lamburger with mint mayonnaise is wonderful.
Simcoe (University & Richmond): Nouvelish (New American??) cuisine.
Movenpick (York & Richmond) [NOT the one on Yorkville]: Part of the
Swiss-based chain. Has a nice Sunday buffer brunch (reservations
recommended), including an ice-cream buffet (try the apple & cinnamon).
Reasonably good lunch & dinner, too. Has a Wine Spectator award-winning
wine list.
Lick's (Yonge & Dundas): Wonderful burgers in frenetic 50's rock
atmosphere. Will cook to order (most of the staff don't know what
"rare" really means, so keep a close watch on the cook). Toppings
include Dijon mustard, hot peppers. They have several other locations.
If you're here on a warm, sunny weekend day, and you like people-watching,
take a walk along the boardwalk in the Beaches (east end of the city),
and stop at Lick's on Queen street for an ice cream or burger.
Midtown (mostly Yonge-Bloor-Yorkville-Museum area):
Pink Pearl (Avenue Road & Davenport): Great Dim Sum. Supposed to be
good Szechuan/Peking food too, but I've only had the dim sim.
Several other locations around town.
Le Rendezvous (Avenue Road & Bloor): Good French restaurant.
Fairly expensive.
Truffles (in Four Seasons Yorkville hotel near Avenue Road & Bloor):
Very good French-ish food. Very expensive.
The Sultan's Tent (Bay & Bloor): Moroccan restaurant (be prepared to
eat with your fingers). Fairly cheap.
Southern Accent (Bathurst & Bloor): A New Orleans or Cajun (sort of)
restaurant. Reasonable food. Probably not very authentic. Ask for
the hot sauce. Reasonably priced.
Uptown (North Toronto/North York):
Pronto (Mount Pleasant & Eglinton): Started as Italian; now California
with an Italian accent. Expensive, but be worth it [maybe - the latest
review I saw said they are slipping, but it might have been an off night].
Cafe Pleiade (Mount Pleasant & Eglinton): Small, fairly expensive,
great lamb chops.
Tandoori House (Yonge & Sheppard): Very good Indian restaurant near
North York City Hall.
Dr Kim's (Yonge & Sheppard): Supposedly good Korean restaurant
near above (good reviews, but I haven't tried it myself)
Angelini's (Avenue Road and Lawrence): Good Italian restaurant.
The downtown branch is apparently more French (haven't tried it)
than Italian.
Camarra's (Dufferin & Lawrence): By far the best pizza in the city.
My favourite combo is bacon, black olives, capers and Parmesan cheese.
Camarra's salad is good. Haven't tried anything else (e.g. veal on
a bun, lasagna) but they certainly look good on other people's tables.
East End (Beaches/Scarborough)
Armenian Kitchen (Victoria Park north of Eglinton): Very good middle
eastern restaurant. Moderate prices. Your best bet is probably a
whole bunch of appetizers.
Bombay Palace (Markham Road north of Lawrence): see above
Lick's (Queen St E near Woodbine, & Kingston Rd near Midland): see
above
**********
Some restaurants in the vicinity of the downtown Hilton:
The Amsterdam (a brewpub), on John St. near King. $50 for two.
La Fenice Wine Bar, 319 King St. Or, if you want to spend *a lot* of
money, La Fenice Restaurant (my mother and I blew $125 pretty quickly!).
The Palmerston, 488 College St - you'll have to take a cab or
streetcars, but it's the least expensive of the star-chef places, and
quite excellent.
Queen Mother Cafe, 208 Queen St - hip Queen West Laotian-Thai, lots of
vegetarian, not expensive.
Champion House, 480 Dundas W. - northern Szechuan
Kom Jug Yuen, 371 Spadina Ave. - try anything in black bean sauce
(their's is the best in town).
Babur, 279 Dundas St. W. - excellent Indian, can be hard to get a seat
at lunch.
Yamase, 317 King St. W. - one of the better Japanese places in town.
Chiado, 864 College St. - again a bit of a trip, but worth it for
unusually good Portuguese food, great wine list (port too), beautiful
surroundings, not badly priced either.
Souz Dal, College west of Bathurst - hip tapas bar.
Sri Malaysia, Baldwin and McCaul (between Dundas and College) - great,
inexpensive Malaysian, no atmosphere.
Vanipha - 193 Augusta (in Kensington Market) - good Thai-Lao, try
lunch on a Saturday and check out the Market.
Ouzeri, 500 Danforth Ave. - worth the subway trip for a really fun
Greek restaurant that even has decent food.
Massimo's, Queen near Bathurst - good calzone, lovely decor.
Bar Italia, 584 College St. - a bar with pool tables, hip clientele,
and enormous, delicious sandwiches. Good espresso too, in the heart
of Littly Italy (South).
***************************
IMHO, the absolute *best* steak I have ever eaten (and I have heard
similar stories from others) was at a restaurant in Toronto called
the Black Angus (not to be confused with the chain of lesser quality
steakhouses of the same name formerly found at least in the Midwestern US).
The grill is right in the restaurant, so you can watch them cook your
steak if you like. I believe they cook over a wood fire, but maybe my
memory is failing me.
The restaurant is located in northwestern Toronto, so I'm not sure if
this is close to where you will be or not. In addition, it is not
necessarily inexpensive either, but the steak was well worth it.
**************************
The Indonesia (Indonesian Obviously) : Yonge above Wellseley (downtown)
Cuisine of India (Indian Obviously): Yonge near North York Centre
Young Lok, Champion House, Lee's Garden: in or near Chinatown
Satay Satay (Thai): Bloor West
Le Kashmir (Indian): Bloor West
Ole Malacca (Singapore): St. Clair West
Havana (Cuban): College St.
The Real Jerk (Jamaican) - Two locations, Queen East at Broadview and
Richmond West near John, the Queen St. one is reputed to have better food but
personally I can't tell the difference.
Thai Garden: Sheppard & Warden
Astoria Gardens (Greek): Danforth Ave. (or most any Greek restaurant on the
same strip)
Vijay's (Carribean) (on Cumberland?)
Bahamian Kitchen (Caribbean) on Baldwin
Queen of Sheba: Ethiopian; near Bloor and Osslington
Yitz's Deli: Jewish?; on Eglington, west of Ave Rd.
Kensington Patty: West Indies; in Kensington Market, my favorite patties.
Kensington Kitchen, Harbord/Major: Mid-east, good food & atmosphere.
Boulevard Cafe, Harbord/Lippincott: Peruvian, serene, atmosphere.
Poretta, Harbord/Robert: Italian, excellent, family run, not cheap.