It was September 2008 when my friend Leeanne moved to Toronto from our hometown of Wyoming, Ont. She came here to study at the University of Toronto and I, as someone who had made the move five years prior, took it upon myself to make sure her first year here was a non-stop show of all the cultural tastes Toronto has to offer and that I hadn’t fully explored myself.
It wasn’t long before our friend Jorhan began to join us, and our casual travels in cuisine became more than a means to spend time together; it became a challenge to experience as many different types of food and cultures as possible.
Our journey around the world, all in one incredibly multi-cultural city, began in Japan.
Leeanne proved to me on our first outing she would be up for most anything with which I would present her. We met one chilly September evening and walked to my favourite sushi bar in Toronto, Daily Sushi on Carlton Street. She started cautiously with a salmon roll and teriyaki salmon, while I dove into a BBQ eel and avocado roll and tempura shrimp. Her verdict on the raw fish was not as enthusiastic as I had hoped, but to her credit, I was able to convince her to return with me to the small, simple restaurant next to the Carlton Cinema on one other occasion, with the condition that she could freely dine on the cooked offerings at the restaurant.
We continued to travel Asia by chowing on pad thai and orange chicken on cafeteria-style benches at Salad King on Gould Street, sampling a variety of fresh and deep fried rolls at Spring Rolls, and daring to eat spicy kimchi at Korean Grill House on Yonge Street, while beef and squid simmered on a grill in the middle of our table.
Our trio was soon jetsetting our way through European restaurants.
Leeanne lives in Toronto’s Little Portugal, so this was a natural place to start our European culinary tour. We dove greedily into thick, custardy Portugese pastries before heading east on College Street to Little Italy, where pasta and pizza at Café Diplomatico only whet our appetites for more Italian carbohydrates. We found ourselves back in Little Italy for antipasto platters and dishes of creamy, just-made gelato on the street-side patio of Sicilian Ice Cream.
Not wanting to repeat ourselves when Toronto offers so many culinary choices, we forged on through Europe, heading to the Danforth for salty saganaki at a Greek restaurant, complemented by cool tzatziki smothered on pork souvlaki.
Before leaving Europe, there was one final stop to take on our food tour, to Embrujo Flamenco Tapas Restaurant on the Danforth for Spanish food. I was expecting a lot from this restaurant, especially from the tortilla de patatas – a fried egg and potato pie – as Spanish friends I made while living in Europe spoiled me monthly with thick wedges of the vegetarian tapas. I was not disappointed, and our experience at the Spanish restaurant, with its wood accents and cinnamon-infused sangria, would only have been better if we had been there during the flamenco dancing shows.
Crossing the culinary ocean, Leeanne and I met for Mardi Gras at the Louisiana-themed, Cajun Corner restaurant on Laird Drive, where sandwiches stuffed with po’boy shrimp and Cajun coleslaw were only half the attraction. The bevy of Mardi Gras costumes and decorations for sale in the restaurant, plus products for purchase from Louisiana, like bags of strong “Wake The F*** Up Coffee,” added to the charm of the small restaurant, though we thought it being Mardi Gras would have made the restaurant a little busier. The restaurant belonged only to us for our hour-long stay.
Heading south, and rejoined with Jorhan, we made stops in Mexico, courtesy of Canada’s first Chipotle Grill at Yonge-Dundas Square, and in South America, at Jumbo Empanada in Kensington Market, where Chilean empanadas – deep fried half-moons traditionally stuffed with beef, onions, raisins and an egg – are a true specialty in Toronto, as the line-ups on any given day at the restaurant prove.
With so many other varieties of food available to try in Toronto – from Indian to Caribbean to French – I wonder where our culinary adventure will end – and where it has yet to take us.
- Nicole Feenstra