A Good Guide to Toronto

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Canada is a place I have always wanted to visit. Its nature, lakes, and landscapes are world-renowned, but Toronto as a destination slipped under my radar. When the opportunity to visit came up when I was invited as part of a collaboration with Virgin Atlantic (who have just launched a new flight route there, marking as AD here although this post is not part of the collab), I thought, you know what, hell yeah. I love a city break, and I think this city is a great place to stop on a broader trip when visiting Canada or for a long weekend if living closer. We went very early in April and sadly it wasn’t the best of weather (-17 temperature days!) much of the city was in sleepy winter mode but I think we made the best of our time and discovered some excellent food spots, neighbourhoods and thrift stores which I of course had to share with you.

Where to stay:

We stayed at The Anndore House, which was located in the lower downtown area of Toronto. It was cute, had lovely service (shout out to our doorman who gave us the best tips), and was a great place to stay. If I were to return, I would stay at The Ace, the neighbourhood was more vibey, the design was more me and the drinks at the bar were *chefs kiss*

Coffee Spots:

When we visited the city, it was freezing, so finding a coffee shop felt almost essential between walking around. Of all the ones we stopped by, I think Rooms was my favourite. There are a couple of locations across the city, but both places offer excellent drinks. My personal favourite was the Tokyo Fog a mix of Jasmine tea and Matcha which is earthy, fragrant and sweet, it goes down quite nicely. I tried a few across the city, but theirs was the best. Other notable spots below:

• Rooms | 17 Baldwin - 17 Baldwin St, Toronto, ON M5T 1L1, Canada

• Found Coffee | Roncesvalles, found.coffee - 2088 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6R 1W9, Canada

• Reunion Coffee Roasters, reunioncoffeeroasters.com - 385 Roncesvalles Ave, Toronto, ON M6R 2N1, Canada

• Augusta Coffee Bar - 229 Augusta Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2L4, Canada

• Ethica Coffee Roasters, ethicaroasters.com - 213 Sterling Rd, Toronto, ON M6R 2B2, Canada

• Subtext Coffee Roasters, subtext.coffee - 130 Cawthra Ave Unit 104, Toronto, ON M6N 3C2, Canada

• Buno Coffee (Queen W), buno-coffee.ca - 1048 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1H7, Canada

The best Thrift shops:

Finding thrift shops has become part of every city itinerary we plan, and I have to say Toronto blew it out of the park. Dan found a brand new Patagonia Fleece, a Columbia fleece and a Columbia backpack. The plus-size options were pretty scarce (as always), but I found some unbelievably good silverware trays, which I have been looking for for the longest time. (Image below from Pinterest)

Here’s the complete list of all the spots we hit:

The Salvation Army Thrift Store - 20 Leslie St Unit 101, Toronto, ON M4M 3L4, Canada

Wildlife Thrift Store - 67 Front St E, Toronto, ON M5E 1B5, Canada

King of Kensington - 217 Augusta Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2L4, Canada

Value Village and Value Village Boutique (Multiple locations) - 639 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2B7, Canada / 18 Edward St Unit #3 & #5, Toronto, ON M5G 1C9, Canada

Where to eat & drink:

Toronto is criminally underrated when it comes to its international food scene. The city is brimming with restaurants from all cultures. Korean, Chinese, Caribbean, Laoitian, Thai - you name it, they had it, and it all hit. Here are some of the best places we ate or were recommended to us that I hope you will go to on my behalf.

Gateau Ghost, gateaughost.com (Photo shown above), is an excellent fusion restaurant that mixes Korean Food with a modern twist. We ordered their Bulgogi Beef Poutine and their Prawn Toast and Fries. Of the two, I preferred the cornflake-crusted prawn toast, but please promise me you will not leave this place without at least one of their homemade madeleines. The Snickers one, in particular, sent me to outer space.

Vilda’s, vildastoronto.com - We got their famous Pizza Caesar Sandwich but I wish we had gotten their rotisserie chicken instead.

Pizzeria Badiali, pizzeriabadiali.com - Do not miss this Pizza spot. It serves delicious slices of true NY-style crust and is decently priced. My personal favourite is the vodka sauce slice.

Sang-Ji Fried Bao (Downtown), sangjifriedbao.ca - This tiny store was right next to our hotel, and apparently, it has the best fried Bao in the city. We didn’t get to try it, but our hotel doorman told me it needed to make this list, so we will have to take his word (he didn’t steer us wrong with his other recs)

THAI NYYOM http://www.thainyyom.ca/ - One of the best meals we have ever eaten is a dish called Khao Soi, a Thai curry soup dish from Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. We look for it wherever we go, especially as we’ve never had a good bowl in London. Well, it turns out Toronto delivered. This Khao Soi took us straight back to Thailand; I almost cried when I ate it. It was so good that I asked if they sold the paste, and the sweet owners packaged us up a tub to take home!!

9 Mile Jamaican and International Cuisine, 9milerestaurant.ca - According to everyone, you cannot come to Toronto and not try a Jamaican Pattie, there is a long history with them across the city, and people take their Pattie spots pretty seriously. We went kinda rogue and walked into one in a neighbourhood we were heading for its thrift shops, and wow, what a happy accident. The stuffed Pattie here with jerk chicken, macaroni cheese and plantain was out of this world. The owner even threw in a free one because we were undecisive on what one to get, how kind!

Masa Deli & Cafe, & Better Days Coffee & Donuts - These are in the same area, we ventured here after I did a deep dive on the best breakfast sandwich in the city. The area is very local, residential and has little else around, but I would say it’s worth the venture. We ordered the sausage and egg breakfast sandwich and the Chorizo Breakfast burrito. The sausage and egg far exceeded the burrito imo, the cheddar and aioli with crispy kale was just stunning. After you're done here, walk a few steps down and get a doughnut and coffee. Oh boy, did these hit! The maple dip and sour cream were outrageously good.

Sunny's Chinese https://sunnyschinese.com/ - Another spot that came highly recommended, but we didn’t manage to make it to. Upscale, elevated modern Chinese food with a twist. We couldn’t get a table, but hopefully, we can make it back.

Lao Lao Bar, laolaobar.com - This was around the corner from our hotel and another accidental find, and wow, it delivered. We had never tried Laotian cuisine before, and it reminded me a lot of northern Thai food. There were even some Thai dishes on the menu, but trust me when I say, get the pork skewers. The sauce was sweet, savoury, and sticky, absolutely perfect in every way.

NomNomNom Poutine, nomnomnom.ca - I know that Poutine is a dish from Quebec, but it felt criminal to come to Canada and not try it. I went deep on a Reddit search, and this one came highly recommended. It’s a tiny food stall in a somewhat random area, but I don’t regret going one bit. Everything about this was perfect: the curds used were from Quebec, the gravy was thick and rich, and the hand-cut fries were fluffy and crispy at the same time. I would fly back to Toronto just for this.

Yin Ji Chang Fen 銀記腸粉 (Downtown) - I knew I wanted to get some good dumplings when I was in the city, and specifically, I wanted to try rice paper rolls (also known as steamed rice rolls or Cheung fun) from this particular place. These freshly cut rice dumplings were divine. We ordered a few things on the menu, one being the prawn and chive, but I wish we had just ordered these in various flavours. That first bite was so memorable, and now I am on a mission to find somewhere that does them this well in London.

Daldongnae Korean BBQ https://www.daldongnaebbq.com/ - I LOVE Korean BBQ, and thankfully, this city has a huge array of Korean restaurants. This place had such high Google reviews that it felt like a no-brainer, and I have to say, whilst it was slightly different to the Korean BBQ I had tried in LA (in Koreatown), the value and quality were excellent. I preferred all the side options more than the meat, which is the most important part of a Korean BBQ restaurant, but perhaps I ordered wrong.

St. Lawrence Market https://www.stlawrencemarket.com/ - This is a lovely indoor market where you can try a traditional Canadian peameal bacon sandwich. These bacon buns are cooked on a flat grill and topped with either maple or mustard dressing (we did both), and they are pure comfort. There are a few stalls to try this from, but our personal favourite was Paddingtons. The bun was crispier and the bacon had more flavour. There’s also an excellent sub sandwich bar inside and an old-fashioned bakery selling traditional cakes and treats, although to be honest, they didn’t blow me away, and I would skip them if I went again.

Where to Shop

Bevvy’s, bevvyshop.com and SOBR are great for any non-drinkers, SOBR in particular even had a little tasting section where you could have drinks at the bar which I thought was really cool!

T&T Supermarket Downtown Store was one of the best Asian supermarkets I have ever visited. They had everything, but they had an excellent skincare and haircare section, which I took advantage of with the fantastic exchange rate.

Baa Baazaar, baabaazaar.com - This is a gorgeous shop selling beautiful knick-knacks, homewares, books, candles and more

Sunnyside Provisions - This store sells lovely food goods and wine. It also has a fresh food counter and a little seating area downstairs.

The Mercantile - If you know me by now, you will know that I had a time in here. This shop sold everything from cheeses to chocolates to jams to sauces. I bought a few local Canadian items here, like maple syrup and honey butter crisps, which I have yet to try.

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I hope you found these recommendations helpful. We really loved our five days in the city, and we both said we imagined it would be even cooler and more vibey in the sunshine when activities on the lake are back up and running. Oh well, that's a reason for me to go back!

Any questions, meet me in the Chat <3

TTYL x