Recently, RAB and I spent a lovely weekend in Toronto. The forecast called for nothing but rain - - but we were greeted with three days of sunshine and friendly smiles. Toronto, where neither of us had been for 20 years, is a wonderful walking town with some great food. At just an hour flight time, I highly recommend Toronto for a weekend trip.
After dropping our luggage at the spacious, classy, centrally-located, ridiculously-reasonable-on-Orbitz Cosmopolitan Hotel, we walked to the nearby St. Lawrence Market area, where Buskerfest (a festival spotlighting street performers) was taking place just outside of the Market building. I'd read some good things about peameal bacon sandwiches and thus visited
Poddington's to try their version. Peameal bacon is Canadian bacon with a cornmeal coating. The sandwich, topped with condiments better suited to a hot dog, was pretty bland and not something I'd seek out again. RAB, on the other hand, did better. He went and purchased two kinds of hot crispy bacon (loin, and belly) from a meat vendor and a fresh onion roll from a bakery. His sandwich, without the toppings, was about half the price of mine, and way, way better.
The St. Lawrence Market is a two-level food market with all the usual - - bakeries, meat, fruit, specialty shops, etc. It's similar to Philly's Reading Terminal Market, but perhaps not quite as wonderful.
That night, we went to
Union, a small, neighborhood restaurant focused on using the best of what's local. They've been open just a few months. We chose to sit at the bar overlooking the tiny kitchen where we got a preview of several dishes before we ordered. We were there at the beginning of dinner service, and the room quickly filled - - so it was exciting to watch the speedy dance as the small kitchen strove to churn out their well-executed fare. The menu is quite limited, with only a handful of appetizers and a few mains on offer.
To start, we shared the rabbit terrine and the summer salad. The rabbit terrine was RAB's favorite bite of the weekend. It was light and airy, with a wonderfully herby rabbit flavor. The summer salad was simply dressed and featured tangy, local goat cheese, house-smoked bacon, and rosti (julienned fried potatoes).
For mains, RAB ordered the steak hache, and I went with the sticky ribs. Both were good, but neither amazed. RAB's dish featured a hamburger over string beans topped with a scallop and pork belly. The highlight of the dish was the well-seasoned hamburger - - the toppings were unnecessary and made the dish too busy for our tastes. Though steak hache sounds nifty, it would have been better on a bun as
a hamburger. The ribs were braised in a tangy saucy, with just the right amount of sweetness. The dish included some crispy pork belly and nicely cooked vegetables. Each main comes with either fries or crushed potatoes with yogurt, radishes, and chives. We tried both, and both were outstanding.
Because we'd gotten up at 5am to make our flight, we skipped desert and also skipped our visit to
Swirl Wine Bar, a new kitchen-free restaurant featuring food in jars, such as pork rillettes. I was a bit sad that Swirl wasn't open during the rest of our short visit. I mention it, because it seems like the kind of place an LTHer might like to visit on a trip to Toronto.
On our second day, we enjoyed dim sum at
Lai Wah Heen in the Metropolitan, an upscale Chinese restaurant that others have posted about. Rather than select one of the fixed price menus, we ordered a la carte and had a wonderful meal, probably the best dim sum I've ever had. One of the dishes, "steamed crystal purse with five-spice shredded duckling and heart of garlic" is the best single bite of dim sum I've ever eaten.
For anyone who visits, in addition to the duck dumpling, I'd happily order again:
> Hot and sour soup with baby shrimp and shredded chicken
> Shredded Pekin duck and enoki mushrooms in thick soup
> Steamed lobster dumpling stuffed with shrimp and vegetables
> Deep fried roll of seafood medley in spicy Malaysian sauce
> Diced BBQ and mushroom in rice roll served with sweet soy sauce
That night, we went to the
Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar for a snack. They feature locally-focused small plates on an ever-changing menu. We sat at one of the bars, admiring a wall of jars. They claimed to use the jars "all the time," but we didn't buy it - - they were exposed to too much light and heat, being right above the stove and grill. In fact, when we got up close, we noticed some cobwebs on and between the jars. They really seem all for show.
We didn't order much, but what we did order was good. Plus, it was nice to get to pair 3 ounce portions of wine with the dishes, rather than ordering full glasses that might not have gone with more than one dish.
We especially enjoyed the local organic fries as a pork bolognese poutine. Great crispy hot fries with a sloppy joe-like topping. Yum. The charcuterie plate was well executed and featured a prune and walnut terrine, pork rillettes, and a chicken liver pate. The pate and rillettes were wonderful, the terrine too pruney and nutty. Finally, we enjoyed hot smoked lake trout with fennel and onion salad -- a great combo and a nice light dish.
On our last day, we'd originally planned on a fancy lunch, but walking down Spadina St. the day before, we decided an Asian lunch crawl was in order. We started at
Pho Hung, where RAB had pho and I had grilled pork and a spring roll over vermicelli. Have to say it, both were better than anything I've had in Chicago. Too many times, the pho broth is too punchy and unbalanced for me with clove and star anise in staring roles. At Pho Hung, the broth was flavorful and well-rounded, with many subtle notes coming together nicely. The beef, too, was delicious and tender. My pork dish was also great, with the hot, crispy spring roll and wonderfully-charred pork. I ate it all, despite the fact that we'd planned on this being only round one of an ambitious multi-restaurant lunch.
Next, we went to the
Dumpling House Restaurant. Dumplings are made by hand in the window. $6 for 12 dumplings - - you choose three kinds. We tried pork with sour cabbage, lamb, shrimp with pork. We went with steamed, rather than fried - - but steamed turned out to be boiled. They were still very good, served with a very interesting, crunchy, sambal-like hot sauce. We ate every one of the dumplings, but agreed that the pork with sour cabbage were the best.
Finally, we stopped at
Banh Mi Nguyen Huong for a pork banh mi. Despite the huge bar of ingredients and massive crowds, I didn't love the banh mi. I was full enough to give it a pass. I would go elsewhere for banh mi next time.
There are three places I wanted to mention where we didn't take photos. We tried coffee and pastries at
Petit Thuet, a downtown French cafe. What we had was wonderful, especially the drip coffee, and everything looked amazing - - pastries, prepared food, charcuterie. We also walked over to the
Mill St. Brewing Company, which is located in the Distillery District, a very cool, old, repurposed distillery complex filled with Victorian industrial architecture, restaurants, and art galleries. Mill St. serves an excellent, very hoppy pilsner. And, finally, right before heading to the airport, we had a drink (or two) at
Beerbistro, a downtown bar/restaurant featuring local microbrews and stellar service.
Ronna
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... He has two other restaurants, I think the newest is Gilead Cafe & Bistro, which gets pretty rave reviews. Then there's also a cafe at the Gardiner museum. JKWB itself was bought by some chef-foodie-investors and has or is being reinvented as something else though
