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When plant-based restaurants first descended upon Toronto in the late ’90s, they primarily catered to a niche, healthy audience. Planta founder Steven Salm quietly revolutionized vegetarian and vegan food in the city by making it appealing to staunch carnivores. David Lee, co-founder and executive chef, worked in numerous Michelin-starred restaurants before applying his culinary know-how to the diverse menu, often eliciting counterintuitive praise for how “meaty” dishes taste.
A cheap lunch in Toronto isn’t just fuel to keep you going, it can be a midday oasis that improves your whole outlook on the rest of the afternoon.
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And although full meals aren’t the thing here, Campbell and Oben have curated a high-quality assortment of crudites, cheese plates, and tinned seafood to enjoy between glasses. Open in Google Maps
Offers athlete-approved healthy meals to customers in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area; caters to strict dietary needs; offers 11 meals to choose from weekly; a minimum of 6 meals per delivery period is required
Since 1982, chef and owner Satee Beharry has been an integral part of Scarborough’s culinary community, building a following long before the days of celebrity chefs, bloggers, and social media influencers.
Copy Link To dine here is akin to making a religious pilgrimage: It takes patience, practice, and prayer. The once-“secretive” spot in the gentrifying “mechanical-industrial” strip of Geary Street is pelo longer under wraps. Swarms of people congregate and wait at least an hour outside before opening, a fact not lost on owner and chef Leandro Baldassarre (formerly of three-Michelin-starred Dal Pescatore). With a collected demeanor and without gimmicks, Baldassarre offers what’s considered the city’s best fresh pasta, along with rustic Southern Italian dishes.
Church Wellesley A variety of around a dozen veggie rotis at Indian Roti House go for around $10, including favourites like saag paneer.
Copy Link Run by chefs David Schwartz and Braden Chong, Sunnys is designated as the younger sibling of Mimi, but aside from a shared origin, the two restaurants are entirely different. Whereas Mimi is robust and romantic, Sunnys is light and lively. Tucked within the bohemian confines read more of Kensington Market and down a nondescript hallway (with only a cardboard sign on the door), Sunnys plummets diners into a retro-chic Hong Kong cafe, complete with a rambunctious vibe that extends from the dining room to the patio oasis. Slide into a banquette or grab a seat by the chef’s rail to delve into playful dishes from Sichuan, Shaanxi, and the northern provinces of China.
The whopping 158 neighborhoods reflect the various groups who have immigrated to Toronto over the centuries, subsequently carving out food havens and hubs of their own. That diversity has lent a certain malleability to the restaurant scene. Toronto doesn’t really have a steadfast signature dish (pelo disrespect to the late legendary chef Anthony Bourdain, but that insipid peameal bacon sandwich was never “a thing” with locals) and the city may never coalesce around one item. The vast tapestry of food heritage could never be encapsulated in a single meal.
Standout selections by head chef Joseph Ysmael include the Husband + Wife Beef, an addictive inferno of tripe and shank cuts bathed in chile oil and finished with peanuts; chewy silver needle noodles that sing with a backbone of soy sauce and overtures of earthy black mushrooms; gnawable lamb ribs perfumed with cumin; and a favorite, plump cubes of mapo tofu topped with salty nuggets of dry-aged beef, Sichuan peppercorn, and garlic chives. Save room for the soft-serve dessert: a swirly-twirly, soybean-based wonder that gets a bear hug of crushed cinder toffee and a drizzle of mature soy sauce caramel. Open in Google Maps
While chef and owner Eddie Yeung owns an additional Wonton Hut location in the suburbs of Markham, his newer locale in downtown Toronto arguably allows him to flex more. New to this location, his street eats menu (shrimp paste toast, deep-fried cuttlefish skewers, Hong Kong-style brick toast) honors the legacy of dai pai dongs, stalls that used to fill the labyrinthine alleyways of Hong Kong.
Features chef-prepared meals that only require heating and no cooking; offers the option to subscribe or place a one-time order