'Doors Open' exercises in May -- keep an eye out!
- https://janeswalk.org/canada/toronto/ May 3-5
- https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/festivals-events/doors-open-toronto/ May 25-26
Historical
- Black Creek Pioneer Village https://blackcreek.ca/ -- https://goo.gl/maps/B4URu1bXpXQ2 -- outdoor museum with reenactments of the life of European settlers in Ontario; season starts late April
- Unionville Village http://www.unionvilleinfo.com/ -- https://goo.gl/maps/WSbaH3G6qVT2
- Niagara-on-the-Lake https://www.niagaraonthelake.com/ -- https://goo.gl/maps/fjNJubARB892 one of the best-preserved 19th century cities in North America; worth stopping by if you can arrange a trip to Niagara Falls
Theatre
- Fringe Festival & Best of Fringe https://fringetoronto.com/ -- various theatres around downtown
- Dream in High Park -- outdoor Shakespeare plays during the summer
- Stratford Festival (Shakespeare) and Shaw Festival (George Bernard Shaw) happen once a year, but far from Toronto
The main resource I use for finding places to eat in Toronto is blog.to -- https://www.blogto.com/ -- which has a search feature you can use to find different 'Best Of' lists. For example, a few weeks ago I wanted to go out for mussels & beer. I searched the site for 'best mussels' -- https://tinyurl.com/y2awgtm2 and decided Beerbistro and Rodney's Oyster House both looked interesting.
Just searching for 'best of' will yield a lot of different ideas -- https://www.blogto.com/search/?offset=0&ordering=relevancy&q=best%20of.
That said, here are some specific places I know of. I will keep adding places as I think of them....
Coffee
- Boxcar Social (several locations around the city)
- De Mello Palhetta https://goo.gl/maps/JcYWRL37Nd32
Various Genres
- numerous Tibetan restaurants in Parkdale (near Queen & Roncesvalles / Queen & Jameson) -- see https://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2015/05/the_top_10_tibetan_restaurants_in_toronto/
- https://goo.gl/maps/z5VwXasSaaU2 -- Armenian Kitchen
- https://goo.gl/maps/Nj8DUosZrML2 -- Darband -- pretty good Persian restaurant
- https://goo.gl/maps/bdz9biDGEhv -- Tinuno -- Filipino food https://www.blogto.com/restaurants/tinuno-toronto/
Thai
- https://goo.gl/maps/SorUgEKPmkB2 -- Sukhothai -- enjoyed their Tom Yum
- https://goo.gl/maps/BoshiVj9vsj -- Nimman Thai -- also not too bad
Burritos, Sandwiches, Burgers, &c
- Big Fat Burrito and Burrito Bandidos are the two burrito chains I like. Very heavy and filling. I prefer burrito types such as Shrimp or Yam that do not have a lot of meat.
- Burgers - the Burgernator https://goo.gl/maps/TDvXmditHYx
- Sandwiches - the Clubhouse https://goo.gl/maps/ybmVHsaXBKE2
- Shawarma is another popular sandwich genre, but I don't have an opinion on which ones are the best. blog.to to the rescue: https://www.blogto.com/toronto/the_best_shawarma_in_toronto/
Atmospheric Pubs -- if you want to feel like you're in the UK
- Queen's Head https://goo.gl/maps/RGUPsXrJuHo -- Somewhat Anciente and Quainte Britishe Pub With Filling Victuals
- Queen & Beaver https://goo.gl/maps/L945CPtANwN2 -- not a bad place to have two beers
Vegan
- https://goo.gl/maps/VdAZomj8ATz raw vegan food in Port Credit, weird but worth trying during the summer
- Fresh Restaurants has some good juices and salads, but I think it's overpriced.
Russian / Eastern European
- I don't know of any good Russian restaurants.
- Russian food shop -- Yummy Market https://goo.gl/maps/32YYF3qVHGU2
- Eastern European food shop -- Starsky https://goo.gl/maps/ELiyh3ynHXH2
- Polish -- Cafe Polonez (Roncesvalles) https://goo.gl/maps/Wyr69zqzgZN2
Japanese -- places I enjoyed or look forward to trying
- You probably know many more than I do.
- http://www.touhenboku.ca/ ramen, several locations
- http://www.imanishi.ca/ a quiet izakaya sort of place on Dundas St. W
- http://sobacanada.com/ only serious soba maker in Toronto apparently, serves customers once a week near Bloor-Yonge -- has gone back to Japan until June.
- Sanko trading -- https://goo.gl/maps/VvaUUWTYm672 -- specialty Japanese ingredients
Korean
- Galleria and PAT are the Korean supermarket chains, also selling many Japanese ingredients. Galleria has some non-terrible convenience stores downtown if you are tired of Canadian 7-11.
- I really like the food court at this Galleria near Steeles... but it's so far from my house https://goo.gl/maps/ynPw3ug8yw72
- I like the Soon Tofu chains -- Buk Chang Dong and Chodang -- several locations if you search Google Maps
- I like Doo Roo Ae but the TJEX organizers keep taking us there... it is likely to be known to you already.
- Chodang -- https://goo.gl/maps/VFj9i2LkzUL2 -- soon tofu with store-made tofu & rice wine
Asian Malls that are Far from Downtown
- Chinese -- Pacific Mall -- https://goo.gl/maps/nBboDJxXxbL2
- Japanese -- J-Town https://goo.gl/maps/KVwYeeMyRn52