What are your favourite restaurants in your city?

[Delirium]

of all places i've come to know, the templeton is still my favourite. a simple diner with awesome food, great staff and you can still play a tune on the jukebox.

Photo http://thetempleton.ca/wp-content/ga...tos/image1.jpg

[giallo]

The Templeton!

I love their smoked salmon omelette. I'm not sure what they do to it, but it tastes so much better than any other salmon omelette I've ever had.

I'm such a sucker for an all day breakfast diner. There could be a dozen good choices within a block, but if I see a diner serving all day breakfast, I'm going there.

[Gerrard]

But you have to admit, the whole people dine in the rest of north america meme around 5-6 is just dumb.

No one does that. Maybe in Ottawa they do but really no where else.

[ehlow]

I haven't been to many of what most consider the best restaurants in Toronto, but I'll offer my 2c anyways:

Caplansky's: Jewish Deli near Kensington Market

Wvrst: Bavarian sausage beerhouse with great duck fat fries near King & Bathurst

Black Camel: Sandwiches near Rosedale subway station. Get brisket with charamoula mayo

Bamiyan Kebab: really good Afghani kebab in Thorncliffe Park, the largest Muslim neighbourhood in Canada.

Diana's seafood: I like getting oysters from this place in Scarborough at Lawrence east where Ford's campaign HQ was.

Churrasco's at Mt Pleasant and Eglinton: good Portugese chicken.

Tokyo Sushi near Bay & Wellesley, hidden small sushi shop I like.

All the ramen places are great. I like the ubiquitous Kenzo even though it's everywhere, but it's fast & good.

The amount of quality Chinese & Asian restaurants in Markham and Scarborough is amazing. Huge Chinese populations there, tons of restaurants.

For example Finch & Midland in Scarborough, there's like 4 plazas full of Asian restaurants. Highway 7 has tons.

I honestly love living here discovering the endless supply of restaurants in Toronto due to multicultural demographics of the city.

One of the things I like is that it's not all downtown, Toronto and the GTA are huge geographically, and all parts of the city have amazing gems waiting to be found, downtown, suburbs, or areas outside of the city. You go to Brampton an suburban city pretty far to the NW, try a random Indian restaurant and it's amazing.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Gerrard

But you have to admit, the whole people dine in the rest of north america meme around 5-6 is just dumb.

No one does that. Maybe in Ottawa they do but really no where else.

I may have been off-base with the exact time(s) but I still have the distinct impression that overall people tend to dine later in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada/U.S.

And regardless of whether people on this forum think this comment detracts from their city's hipness (not that it should*, but hey... knock yourself out), I am definitely not the only who has noticed.

*People in London and Berlin generally dine earlier than people in Madrid and Buenos Aires. Does that make London and Berlin less cool cities?

[Gerrard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I may have been off-base with the exact time(s) but I still have the distinct impression that overall people tend to dine later in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada/U.S.

And regardless of whether people on this forum think this comment detracts from their city's hipness (not that it should*, but hey... knock yourself out), I am definitely not the only who has noticed.

*People in London and Berlin generally dine earlier than people in Madrid and Buenos Aires. Does that make London and Berlin less cool cities?

Not at all. I mean try finding a restaurant open after 11 in Paris. It's pretty tough.

Most people in North America, at least in its big cities tend to eat later. At the very least logistically, it's almost impossible to eat earlier.

People go out for drinks post work, 5-7. At least where I'm from. They don't dine then.

The outliers are really Spain, Argentina etc. Most places are fairly consistently 7-9+

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Gerrard

Not at all. I mean try finding a restaurant open after 11 in Paris. It's pretty tough.

Most people in North America, at least in its big cities tend to eat later. At the very least logistically, it's almost impossible to eat earlier.

People go out for drinks post work, 5-7. At least where I'm from. They don't dine then.

Do you wanna cover the topic of nudity on TV now, Gerrard?

[Gerrard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Do you wanna cover the topic of nudity on TV now, Gerrard?

Not sure what it has to do with dining out.

[kwoldtimer]

Well we're no longer trudging in from the fields looking for our "tea", so it makes sense that city folk are dining later than was once the norm.

[The_Architect]

Add the Fifth Pubhouse Gastro Pub to the list. Especially in the summer the rooftop patio is great, and it has a good beer selection (if slightly expensive).

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by The_Architect

Add the Fifth Pubhouse Gastro Pub to the list. Especially in the summer the rooftop patio is great, and it has a good beer selection (if slightly expensive).

I'm looking forward to checking out the rooftop patio of McCabe's Irish Pub in Downtown Kitchener next summer. It's a popular spot already. with better than average pub food, but the patio, on the roof of a new Beer Store going up next door, should be a great addition.

[SignalHillHiker]

We always ate by 5 unless we had guests (in which case they'd arrive around 5 and the food would actually be on the table for 6:30-7). Mom was a teacher (off at 3 p.m.), so that's probably why. Never realized that was freakishly early until this thread. Explains how many hundreds of times I've had to respond to dinner invites with, "Already ate, sorry."

*****

For Winnipeg:

Mitzi's - excellent chicken fingers and sauce. Cheap fare, of course, but exceptionally well done for a fast food outlet. Easily and by far the best I've ever had.

Ichiban - proper Japanese, you sit beside the stove/skillet/whatever thing and the works. And it's delicious.

VJ's - quick and dirty fries, but delicious.

[TorontoDrew]

I would say the bigger and busier a city is the later people tend to dine. Except for maybe Saturday and Sunday nights I'd say the average dinning time in T.O for most would be around 7-8pm. Heck most restaurants in my area (Riverside) don't open there doors until 6pm. The only way somebody would have an earlier dinner would be if they actually get to leave work at and live right by there work, if they don't work and can cook early, or have a home cook. A 5-6 dine time is for most people very unfeasible.

[1overcosc]

Personally, most days I end up eating dinner around 9pm or so. I have Monday-Friday peak period hours but they're flexible and being a night owl I like to push those hours as late as possible, so I usually get to work around a quarter to ten and leave around six. I get home at six-thirty and often spend an hour or two 'cooling off' from work before getting started on supper.

As a kid I ate supper around 7-8 most days, my parents were workaholics who often did 60+ hour workweeks so we didn't get to eat until late. I'm just used to it.

[Gerrard]

*Shrug*

[giallo]

I went to my favourite ramen place; Ippudo, yesterday for lunch. It's not unique to Shanghai (it's from Fukuoka), but it's easily the most delicious one that's near my apartment. You can find it in various cities across Asia. I guess there's one in NYC now. It was rated one of the top 50 restaurants in the city in 2013.

East Asia has a completely different mind set when it comes to eating at shopping malls. Whether it's Tokyo, Taipei, HK or Singapore, the mall hosts many of the city's best restaurants. Shanghai is no different.

I have to wait until around 1:30 before I go. It's impossible to get a seat otherwise.

ippudo 1 by matteroffact, on Flickr


Some fried dumplings to start. Honestly, they're nothing too special, but that's not why I'm here.

ippudo 3 by matteroffact, on Flickr



This is the reason for coming; Tonkatsu ramen. A very hearty pork broth, perfectly seasoned with melt-in-your-mouth strips of pork belly. I find myself eating here more and more as it gets colder out. It's a perfect fall/winter meal.

ippudo 2 by matteroffact, on Flickr


I'm pretty sure that broth can cure cancer.

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh wow, that looks delicious!

[giallo]

^It was.


Dim sum is no longer a Cantonese thing in modern China. People in Shanghai eat A LOT of it. I couldn't begin to list off all the dim sum restaurants in this city. Hundreds. With so many restaurants serving this popular breakfast/bunch, you'd think it'd be easy to find a good, reliable spot that you could show up to anytime before 2pm, and get a seat. Right? Wrong. Any dim sum place worth its weight in shrimp will have a queue within 10 minutes of opening. On the weekend (which is the only time my wife and I can enjoy it together), it's a chore. If you're not there by 9am, forget it.

Enter Dim Sum Garden

It's new, conveniently located, delicious, and the best part is that not many people have heard of it yet. I've been enjoying top notch dim sum without the early arrival times or annoying queues.

Let's just hope it doesn't get too popular too quickly.


Dim Sum Garden. Located in the lovely French Concession on Shaanxi Rd.

dim sum 7 by matteroffact, on Flickr



I always have to order a turnip cake to start. This one had some nice little chunks of sausage in it.

dim sum 1 by matteroffact, on Flickr



These spinach and shrimp steamed dumplings were a standout.

dim sum 3 by matteroffact, on Flickr


I love steamed black bean spare ribs. They're probably my top dim sum dish if done right. These didn't have much black bean with them, so therefore were lacking that black bean taste. Decent, but I've had way better.

dim sum 4 by matteroffact, on Flickr



Pork and shrimp steamed dumplings. Perfection.

dim sum 5 by matteroffact, on Flickr



I could eat 20.

dim sum 6 by matteroffact, on Flickr


A nice custard bun to finish off the meal. It was good, but I've been spoiled by custard buns in HK.

dim sum 2 by matteroffact, on Flickr


Dim Sum Garden gets a big recommendation. It may not be the best in the city, but it's really good, and you can get a seat.

[MolsonExport]

Mouthwatering Asian treats.

[niwell]

I really want dim sum now - it's been far too long. I could live off of shumai and bbq pork buns if such a thing were possible.