Top 5 restaurants in Toronto

Before I start with my list I need to caveat that by “in Toronto”  I mean GTA, so that includes Scarborough, Markham etc… It is not a list of the fanciest restaurants, or the ones with the most accolades, just the ones I think are best.

Pantheon Greek Restaurant

This is a quintessential Greek restaurant in the heart of Greek town, steps away from the Chester TTC station.  The patio is awesome in the summer if you can get a table.  I recommend you start with the spanikotiropita as an appetizer.  The philo pastry is light and crunchy, the pastry oozes cheese and the portion comes in two so it is easy to share.  Also recommended is the grilled calamari.  You will be tempted to take the fried squid but resist, the grilled is the better one.  With a light coating of olive oil and lemon it is mouth watering in it’s simplicity.

For dinner I would recommend the lamb souvlaki.  It comes with the usual side – rice, potatoes and Greek salad.  But the Ontario lamb is positively wonderful. The tziki is also super garlicy and creamy, although I wish the portion was a little larger so I could put it on everything.  When ordering the lamb try to order it medium or medium-well otherwise it might start getting tough.

Rol San

Rol San is cheap eats. The decor leaves a little to be desired with the plastic table cloths and cheesy posters on the wall, the truth is you don’t come here for the atmosphere. It’s cheap, it’s good and if you don’t get there early on a Sunday morning you will wait for an hour.  While you can order regular Chinese fare here, I wouldn’t bother.  Where they  really shine at is “Dim Sum” or “Yum Cha”.  Dim Sum is like Chinese Tapas.

The nice thing about dim sum at Rol San is you order it, it comes; unlike traditional dim sum where the staff wheel around cart and you pick things off. The dishes are small but plentiful and with the large menu there is something for everyone. The secret to Dim Sum is to go with as large of a group as you can, the more people the cheap it gets and the more dishes you can try.

For the hard-core there are items like chicken’s feet and ox tail but the tamer there is shrimp dumplings and xaio-mai.  I recommend the squid tentacles, lotus leaf rice and mango pudding (my 3 musts for any Dim Sum visit). The squid should be golden and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The lotus leaf has rice, meat and a quails egg inside and should be steaming and fragrant. The mango pudding has chunks of real mango and evaporated milk on top. You should order it last though otherwise it sits there as dessert until you finish the rest.

Joons

This was once my favorite restaurant in Toronto.  There are several locations now, one in Korea town on Bloor between Ossington and Bathurst; and the other is on Yonge Street North of Sheppard.  There was a time when Zuimei and I ate at Joons twice a week!

The Kam Ja Tang, pork bone soup is a must, especially on the cold winter nights here in Toronto.  It is spicy, flavorful and has potatoes.  Who doesn’t love potatoes?  Normally we would order it as an appetizer.  The main dish I recommend is Dak Gal Bi.  It is chicken, sweet potatoes, cabbage, green onion, spicy sauce and rice cakes.  The rice cakes are usually extra so make sure you order them.  The Dak Gal Bi will be cooked at your table on a little gas powered stove.  You will need to stir it occasionally, otherwise the rice cakes stick.

What makes this dish so wonderful is that you eat the until there is just sauce and smaller pieces of meat and vegetables, then you put rice, sesame oil, and nori in and fry up the rice.  This is the gooey, savory goodness that makes this dish so awesome.  Dak Gal bi is my favorite Korean dish and afterwards I am always stuffed and happy.

3 Seasons Hanoi

This restaurant is a relatively new find for Zuimei and I.  There are several locations but I like the one in Old Chinatown (Broadview and Gerrard), which has some neat guys serving.  (I am pretty sure they are on my team so…) They have a variety of the standard Vietnamese dishes.  Coffee with condensed milk over ice for the warm days, Pho Tai (noodle soup with thinly sliced raw beef)  for the cold ones.

What makes this little Northern Vietnamese restaurant’s so special is the signature dish, grouper vermicelli. I am not a big fish eater, typically I prefer to order meat dishes, but this fish is magical.  The  grouper is lightly dusted with flour, dill and curry (I think) and then fried so the edges are crispy.  This is served on a bed of vermicelli noodles, shredded lettuce, cilantro and peanuts.  You can add sauce or just eat it the way it is. I <3 this fish!  I have also tried the grouper as a soup and it is equally good.  Other standout  dishes for me are the beef sate with basil and mint and calamari patties.

Maple Yip

Like all good lists I have saved the best for last.  I eat a lot of Chinese food.  I mean a lot. I have eaten it all across Canada; eaten it all across China, and if there is one place I can guarantee a good Chinese dinner this is it.  There are so many good things about this restaurant it is hard to know where to start.  The day before you are going to eat there I would recommend you call ahead and order the winter melon.  I believe last time it cost around $40 for a medium/large melon.   This melon is steamed and inside is a soup with seafood and vegetables.  The best part if you can eat the bowl afterwards!  It is the perfect starter for any meal, but you have to order it the day before because it is so hard to make.  If you have company or are entertaining they are guaranteed to be blown away.  I had a birthday party for Zuimei here and ordered some of these winter melons and our friends still talk about them almost a year later!

The service at Maple Yip is great.  In fact your longest wait is waiting to get a table!  In typical Chinese fashion all the dishes hit the table within moments of each other.  My personal favorites are the mixed seafood in a taro bird’s nest, deep fried pork chops, stir-fried vegetables and Garlic, salt and pepper squid and the best mei-cai kou rou in the city.  The name translates terribly to preserved vegetables with pork belly.  But think bacon, cut thick & slowly braised in soy sauce, served on a bed of cabbage that soaks up the juices and fat.  All I can say is “Hell Ya!”

So there you have it.  My list of my favorite restaurants in Toronto. They are just a start, since I haven’t eaten at every restaurant in the city, but they are a good start.  I find in a city like Toronto which has so many ethnicities and so many cultures it is a crime to not try every cuisine  you can.  From Ethiopian to Russian, Chinese to French this city has a huge variety that is hard to find anywhere else in the world so get out and enjoy it!

Bon Appetit!