eating is cool

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada which is quite possibly one of the most vibrant cities in the world and has a ton of places to eat great food. I've had the opportunity to eat things from everywhere so I consider myself a bit of a foodie. This is a list of 9 awesome restaurants to go to in no particular order along with why I go there.

My favorite steak sandwich EVER can be found at Bistro 243. When I go for a steak sandwich I want great bread and great meat. Anything you can add to it to enhance the experience is awesome and these guys do it the best. Fresh Artisan bread, the meat is seasoned perfectly and extremely tender, classic sauteed onion and mushroom toppings but the kicker for sure is that homemade garlic aioli. It's ridiculous how fucking awesome this sandwich is.

You can't go wrong with hand crafted, organic pizza with tons of insane toppings and countless amounts of combinations. If you can put tandoori chicken, mango, basil and fresh goat cheese on a pizza for like $20 then it's Definitely the place to go. MAGIC OVEN dude. Go there.

I'm a guy that stays away from sweets for the most part UNLESS you can make me the most decadent pecan butter tart or creme brulee. If you like custard, bread pudding, or vanilla bean ice cream then you'll love creme brulee and the best in Toronto hands down is at The Beacher Cafe on Queen St E in the beaches. They use organic cane sugar and real vanilla bean to create this extremely velvety treat and I promise you that you will not be let down. I still have dreams about it.

If you're like me and you love grass-fed meat cooked to a perfect medium-rare, served with organic seasonal vegetable and topped with herb butter then you gotta try the 10oz Rib-eye at Mill St. Brew Pub. The rib-eye is for sure the juiciest, most succulent steak you'll ever eat and the chefs at this joint will put the guys at The Keg to shame (although the keg does have some damn good steaks). This is the place to be if you're looking for locally sourced meat, veggies, and beer. I always said that if I found a place that served a spectacular steak and had Tankhouse on tap that I would eat and drink there until I died. This just so happens to be the place. CHECK IT OUT.              P.S. it's served with hand-cut Yukon Gold potatoes.

For those of you who know me well you know I hate fast-food restaurants and burger chains with a passion because they take the art out of food and make it all about the money. I don't love burgers because they're $3.50 for 2. I love burgers because I like the combination of great bread, great meat and great toppings and if I have to pay $7 to be able to bite into something unprocessed, juicy, tender as hell and packed with mega-flavour then I'm down to do that. Big Smoke Burger, formerly known as Craft Burger is like crack in burger form. I won't say much else but if this is my favorite burger then it must be good.

I'm a Sri-Lankan Tamil guy. When I eat rice and curry it's with my hand (my East Indian peeps know what I'm talking about) and I was raised on curry so I'm definitely a flavour/spice/curry connoisseur. My absolute favourite Indian dish is butter chicken. It's rich, buttery, spicy with a hint of tomato and overall just an amazing culinary experience. When you think of India in Toronto it's either Little India or Gerrard St. and it's hard for me to choose which place has the best butter chicken. Dhaba and Amaya are awesome but I like Lahore Tikka House on Gerrard St. a little better. The place is a little seedy but in terms of flavour for a bargain this is the place to be. They've been around for a while so they know what they're doing and they get my seal of approval. If you decide to go please call me so I can tag along.

If I go to a place that has fish tacos on it's menu then you best believe that is exactly what I'm ordering. I go to St Louis Bar'n'Grill from time to time and although their fish tacos are very lack-luster I still order it EVERY time. An ex-girlfriend of mine and I were on a search for the best fish tacos in Toronto (after watching I Love you Man) and we happened across a restaurant called South of Temperance on Adelaide which blew my fucking mind. The equation for a fish taco is fish+crunch+tortilla=fish taco. Add grilled pineapple, jicama slaw, avocado salsa and hot sauce and you have, in my opinion, Toronto's best fish taco. South of temperance, I love you man.

Best jerk chicken in the city by a mile is from Albert's on St Clair W. For me, a good jerk chicken is spicy, salty, somewhat sweet, moist and most importantly it must be accompanied by rice and peas. You can seriously taste the love in this chicken by how deep the flavour is. Most jerk chicken will only have flavour in the skin and not really permeating the meat. At Albert's the flavour will punch you straight in yuh bloodclot mouth. Like every other caribbean restaurant it looks pretty run down and is in a weird part of town but it's the motherfucking shit man.

If you live(d) in Scarborough then you're automatically a Hakka food expert so it goes without saying that chili chicken is one of your favorite dishes on the planet. I've eaten at 6-7 different Hakka joints in my 26 years of life but 2 really stand out as the better ones in the city. One is Tangerine Asian Restaurant on Ellesmere and the other is Lucky Chinese on Lawrence.  Kim Kim, China Cottage, Chung Moi all suck balls compared to these 2 because of one simple thing : volume. When restaurants are busy they sell and replenish stock easily so the food is always fresh. If you're not busy, I'm not dining. Anyhow, chili chicken is spicy Chinese style chicken with Indian flare. The combination of the oriental and Indian spices and flavours have a way of surprising even the pickiest eaters (my sister). You'll enjoy this.


Remember ladies and gents, your bodies are fueled by food and drink like cars are fueled by oil and gas. Eat well, drink well and you shall live well. Fuck fast food.