Restaurants in Toronto
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360°
You don't need to tell us that dining at the top of the CN Tower is an obvious cliché, and it's damn pricey too, but come on, how can you compete with those views?! Even if the food was ordinary (which it most certainly isn't), there would be no better place in Toronto, if not Canada, for a high-class meal and a conversation about mankind's magnificent achievements. And the elevator ride is free!
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Richtree Market Restaurant
Inside the skeletal BC Place, this rainbow-flag-dappled market-style eatery plates up generous serves to satisfy every whim – cakes, freshly made soups, pizza slices, pasta dishes, roast chicken, fried rice, baked goods, fresh juices and coffee. Contemporary adult Brit-rock (Sting, Clapton et al) lends an air of affluent self-satisfaction to themed eating areas. Most of the pot-plants are real; the parrot in the cage isn't. There's another branch in the Eaton Centre.
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Fressen
The zenith of vegetarian and vegan dining in Toronto, Fressen’s brilliant service and sumptuous brick-and-wood dining room make for an enjoyable night out (even for carnivores). A stylish organic menu picks through world cuisines, depending on season. Weekend vegan brunch is a hit.
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Canoe
Toronto's definitive dining space may still be Canoe, and what a space it is! Sweeping views of choppy Lake Ontario and the Toronto Islands extend from the dining room, about half-mast to the CN Tower. Intriguing regional Canadian haute cuisine is on offer here. Find your sea legs after the elevator ride then tuck into a plate of pan-seared Yarmouth scallops ($23) or Nunavut caribou hind ($44). Reservations essential.
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Tacos el Asador
For an authentic taste of old Mexico, tether your horse to a bike rack and sit your saddle-sore behind down in this taco-sized Koreatown canteen. Burritos, enchiladas, nachos, tostadas and guacamole clatter across tiny timber tables beneath Mexican flags. Crane your neck to check the hockey score on the TV and swallow some cold Corona in the same movement.
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Phõ’ Hu’ng
Bloor-Yorkville ( [tel] 416-963-5080; 2nd fl, 200 Bloor St W; subway Museum) Clipped service and infernally busy tables are the price you pay for Phõ’ Hu’ng’s awesome Vietnamese soups. A few dishes may be a touch too authentic for some (what, don’t you like pork intestines and blood?). A fair-weather bonus is the patio.
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Saffron Tree
Readers rave about Saffron Tree, an unmissable saffron-hued bastion of spicy delight in the dull hospital wastelands north of Dundas St. Service is utterly polite, and classics like butter chicken and lamb vindaloo won't let you down. There's a 10% discount if you want to get take-out and impress your hotel's management with curry aromas.
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Le Gourmand
A nirvana for foodies, Le Gourmand is a classy grocery store stocking Napa Valley mustards, rare Mexican chocolates and jars of Italian eggplant pesto. Peruse the deli case and pastry shelves, sip a foamy cappuccino or cool off with a homemade gelato. As for breakfast, can we tempt you with a Portobello mushroom and goats' cheese omelette ($9) ?
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Bright Pearl
Walk by the stone lions up to the 2nd floor of Hsin Kuang shopping centre and discover this Cantonese-style banquet hall. Dim sum rules – dozens upon dozens of dishes (dumplings, wantons, satays, pork buns, spring rolls etc, including vegetarian) are wheeled out and enthusiastically proffered. The bathrooms are a source of much pride.
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Future Bakery & Café
Future Bakery stays busy selling budget dishes like cheese crepes and homemade borsht with sour cream. Out on the huge street-side patio, lecture-dodgers slap backs and chug pints or push through all-night study sessions with bowls of café au lait and slabs of caramel cheesecake. Twisted '60s psychedelic pop contorts the airwaves.
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Monsoon
Clean Zen lines, outrageous tropical flowers and mid-century modern designs mix harmoniously in this sexy subterranean lounge. The menu offers a downpour of flavors, listing the likes of halibut seared in ginger-saké sauce or Bangkok bouillabaisse along with lemongrass sorbet to refresh your palate between glorious courses.
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Commensal
Cafeteria-style Commensal sells 100-plus buffet dishes from breakfast to dinner, many of them priced by weight (lasagna is $2.43 per 100g). Fresh salads, hot mains with international flavors, and naturally sweetened desserts are a step above normal cafeteria food. Also accommodates most dietary restrictions.
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Indochine
Simple and unpretentious, this discreet food room is a gem. Signature dishes include the likes of Vancouver crab sautéed in lemon, garlic and wine. Plenty of vegetarian, fried rice and stir-fry noodle options too. Finish with a Vietnamese coffee or a disconcerting-looking purple rice dessert.
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Toast
Beyond velvet curtains is an artsy, old-fangled bistro that’s best for weekend brunch: $12 for eggs Benedict or French toast with cranberries and cream cheese. Relax on the velvet antique couch or dine at one of the Formica tables, and if there’s a wait, check out the local art on the walls.
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Siddhartha
Siddhartha's special chicken korma (vegetables cooked with Indian spices and garnished with dried fruit; $9) may sound a bit weird, but it's delicious. So are its classic curries. They're also south of Queen West – same hours, but you'll pay a few dollars more.
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By the Way
An Annex fixture, this cheerful corner bistro has a fusion menu that leans towards Middle Eastern. Although there’s plenty of meat on the menu, vegetarians won’t go hungry. Service is A+ and the wine list features Niagara ice varietals and labels from far-flung Oregon and Australia.
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Dumpling House Restaurant
Watch dumplings being rolled in the window, then walk right in, sit right down and order a steaming mass of them. Impale steamed or pan-fried pork, chicken, beef, seafood or vegetarian dumplings on your chopsticks, dunk them in soy sauce and dispense with them forthwith.
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Ethiopian House
It’s a packed and popular place with African-inspired murals on the walls, but there’s no silverware in sight as sherro wot (seasoned chickpeas) and gored-gored (spiced beef) are slathered onto wonderful moist injera (bread).
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Saigon Sister
A stylish retreat from Yonge St’s subwoofer chaos. Head straight for the gorgeous garden patio, or position yourself amongst potted cacti to dine on soups, salads and stir-fries, memorable fruit drinks, teas and cocktails.
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Mildred Pearce
In a former book-binding warehouse in an industrial tumbleweed pocket of West Queen West, Mildred Pearce is an unexpected treasure. Shimmering drapes reach floor-to-ceiling, framing full-wall murals of medieval feasting scenes. Super-courteous staff deliver meaty mains like pan-seared veal liver with bacon-roasted fingerling potatoes, rapini, Roquefort and thyme shallot jus ($26). Wine is served in shimmering balloons polished like diamonds. Who's Mildred? She's the fictional character Joan Crawford played in her 1945 Oscar- winning role.
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Auberge du Pommier
A culinary college for Toronto's best chefs, graceful Auberge du Pommier is constructed from a pair of 19th-century woodcutters' cottages. Plates of roast lamb loin with olive tapenade and Provençal vegetables ($38), and butter-poached lobster glazed with citrus and tarragon ($40) look like they should be in a gallery (or at least a cookbook). Wine selections focus on French vintages, plus a few Niagara labels. It's a long hike from the city centre north of the intersection of Yonge St and York Mills Rd, opposite William Carson Cres.
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Pure Spirits
The best of the upmarket eateries in the Distillery District, Pure Spirits' superb brick-lined vault fills with theatre-goers, international tourists and affluent locals enjoying plates of oysters on ice ($2 to $3 each) and delicious seafood and meat meals, like the Arctic Char – a mussel and clam bourride (soup) with toasted pine nuts, basil, vegetables and pesto tapenade ($27). Free live jazz on the patio in summer aerates the mood; reservations essential.
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Spices Café
Lost in a realm of fat wallets and million-dollar deals closed with the snap of a cell phone, Spices presents an incongruously affordable and atmospheric option for lunch or an early city dinner. A sitar soundtrack twangs seductively, and there's a homemade feel to the food, served buffet-style or packaged up for a quick-fire take-out. Grab some samosas, a butter chicken curry and a mango lassi and head for the Cloud Forest Conservatory down the street.
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Vertical
Vertical hangs off the side of an upmarket downtown foodcourt (protected from the proletariat by double doors and a sassy maître d').Chef Tawfik Shehata scales lofty lunchtime heights, his seasonal specials spinning off a core menu of pasta dishes and meaty mains. Dinners are a little more adventurous with mains like potato-wrapped tuna with roasted eggplant and salsa rossa ($33). Wines sluice from California to Italy, Australia and the Niagara Peninsula.
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Chapter Eleven
Part lounge bar, part restaurant, Cabbagetown's Chapter Eleven derives its name from a US term for bankruptcy. Perhaps they're tempting fate, but if they keep doing what they're doing now, bankruptcy won't ever be a problem. The menu has plenty of appetizers (hummus, deep-fried pepperoni, wings; $4 to $6), or tackle something more substantial like the spinach salad with goat's cheese, grapes, cherry tomatoes, chicken, sliced almonds and balsamic vinegar ($11).
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