Restaurants in Toronto
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Spoon
Impressive Spoon ladles out a dose of style amongst an otherwise dated row of restaurants. It’s a long, thin room with voluminous wine glasses, spoon-shaped chairs, lulling jazz and picture-perfect clientele. Start with some PEI mussels in green tea, lemongrass, lime leaf and coconut broth, before moving on to the braised lamb shank with sweet-potato mash, sprouts and pomegranate reduction. Wines by the glass or bottle.
reviewed
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Urban
Drawing more than its fair share of diners to this stretch of King St W, Urban's secret is its cool rooftop patio where a mature crowd lingers over dishes like the daily risotto ($18) and halibut saltimbocca with herb and mascarpone polenta, ratatouille and olive oil ($28). If you have to ask what saltimbocca is, staff are knowledgeable without smugness. Exactly how do they roll the serviettes to create a replica of City Hall?
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Pizza Libretto
A bit north of Queen West in Portugal Village, Pizza Libretto crafts what is arguably the best pizza in town. The secret? A wood-fired oven built by a third-generation pizza-oven builder with stones shipped from Italy. Besides certified Neapolitan pizza and other Naples staples, the menu also includes a prix fixe lunch (salad, pizza and gelato for $15) and an all-Italian wine list. Make sure you reserve your table for weekends.
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Terroni
Queen West ( [tel] 416-504-0320; 720 Queen St W; streetcar 501) Terroni is a traditional southern Italian grocer and deli. Off-duty Toronto chefs shamble through the doors for wood oven–fired pizzas, wines by the glass and fresh panini, all approaching perfection. Walls are lined with jars of pasta, olives and preserved peppers. Fresh cut flowers sit on the counter, and razzmatazz big-band jazz keeps the mood ‘up.’
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Celestin
Chef Pascal Ribreau's imaginative French cooking triumphs inside a converted 1920s bank, where tantalizing amuse-bouche (amusements for the mouth) precede artful mains of succulent duck confit, pan-seared giant prawns with smoked pepper compote or roasted Québec squab. Celestin's atmosphere induces serenity, with widely spaced tables and superb waitstaff who are on a first-name basis with the wines cellared in the old bank vault.
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Beer Bistro
Packed to the gills with city lunchers during the day and boozy, flush-faced suits after dark, this stylish bistro offers sensational sandwiches, salads, meat and seafood dishes, each with a suggested beer pairing. Descriptions of the alcoholic experience include 'spicy, ' 'bold, ' 'robust' and 'sociable.' Try the grilled lamb loin niçoise with a pint of 'appetizing' Petrus Oud Bruin ($22). Avoid the side patio unless it's balmy beer weather.
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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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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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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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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.
reviewed
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.
reviewed
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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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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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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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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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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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