Comida, thực phẩm, yemek. Words said daily in Mexico, Vietnam or Turkish. Words that simply mean food.
I am proud to say that I am one of those people that loves eating. I simply do. There is simply nothing better than trying out different dishes from different countries every week. I get tired easily eating the same thing all over again. For me, life is simply too short not to try out new things. I am not saying that I am a big fan of eating weird things like cockroaches and other “delicacies”, but trying out different dishes every now and then makes me feel more worldly about international cuisine.
One piece of advice that I have to give to future exchange students is to try and eat something new weekly. When you are in Toronto, its not worth going to McDonalds or other fast food chains. Toronto is known for its multiculturalism. And at the heart of any multicultural society… there is also an abundance of ethnic food that is worth being tried.
In my time in Canada, I tried out many ethnic restaurants and in those 4 months I tried out more ethnic food that I did in my entire life. I am not going to write about all the ethnic restaurants that I’ve been to, but I am going to make a Top 5 of my favorite places to eat in Toronto.
Here is my top 5 restaurants in Toronto :
5. PhỚ Bistro – Vietnamese/thai restaurant
PhỚ Bistro is a restaurant worth going if you want to enjoy a Europeanized thai or chinese dish in a casual décor. The reason why I am saying that the food is Europeanized is because it is not as spicy as a traditional thai/chinese dish. Although on their website, this restaurant appears to serve only Vietnamese food, in its menu one can find also Chinese food. Furthermore, their menu offers a wide variety of dishes. The only down side of eating there is the distance. Both restaurants are situated in retail parks, and one can only get there by car. I am not sure if they offer a delivery service, but I recommend this restaurant for someone who wants to enjoy a not so spicy thai dish. Here is their website - http://www.phobistrova.com/ . Even though their website only displays a few dishes in the menu section, their menu is far more diverse.
This restaurant is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants I’ve ever been to. Situated in Kensington Market, near China Town, this restaurant hides between a Mexican market and an abandoned building. The design of the place is not fancy at all, yet the food is absolutely delicious. They advertise themselves as serving the best Taquitos in town, and I must say, they really do serve the best tacos I have ever had. What I really like about this restaurant is that they serve affordable Mexican food, in a welcoming environment. The must try food, in my opinion, is the guacamole, as well as Bistec Tacos. When it comes to drinks, I would recommend Tamarind, a sweet and sour drink. The design of buildings that surround the restaurant look also very “mexican”, as the street has a combination of old buildings, modernized quite wonderful by graffiti’s. Here is the web page of the restaurant - http://www.eltrompo.ca/menu.html . 3. Sofra Istanbul – Turkish restaurant
Sofra Istanbul is a Mediterranean Grill restaurant really close to Keele campus. I would recommend this restaurant whenever someone has a craving for meat. One thing that I was really surprised when I got to Canada is that meat is a bit expensive. Of course, one can buy nuggets from any food shop, but they are very unhealthy and I personally got tired of eating them. Therefore, when I went to Sofra Istanbul it was like I arrived in Heaven. They serve any type of meat and kebab, as well as many other traditional Turkish dishes such as mousakka, yayla soup, tzatziki, hummus with tahini and sarma. Besides, their dessert menu is also traditional, serving baklava, Kadayiph and pistachio rolls. The design of the restaurant is not traditional, but the food certainly is. Besides, they also do deliveries. Here is the website of the place - http://sofraistanbul.com/ . 2. Smoke’s Poutinerie
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| Montreal Poutine |
This take away restaurant, located in many areas in Toronto, has a very rich menu of poutine. Poutine is the traditional dish of Canadians. The traditional poutine contains fries and eastern township cheese curds, topped by gravy. However, this take away took the traditional dish and upgraded it, making the dish almost customizable. One of the poutine I had here is called Montreal Poutine and it contains shaved Montreal smoked meat ( a traditional Canadian meat, only made in Montreal), a pickle slice and yellow mustard, on top of the traditional poutine. Although the combination might seem unfortunate, the taste is absolutely delicious. Another poutine I tried from them is the Bacon Poutine which has a lot of bacon. So, this poutine would be perfect for any British person that is missing his bacon from home. What is more is that you can customize any type of poutine by adding extras such as vegetable gravy, meat sauce, spicy curry sauce, chili, mushrooms, caramelized onions, as well as any type of meat ( pork, chicken, beef). I personally loved this place. Besides, the staff is very friendly. Here is their website - http://smokespoutinerie.com/
1. 360° Restaurant at the CN Tower
If you like fancy food, then this is the place to go. The main attractions of this restaurant is not only represented by the amazing food, but the restaurant also rotates 360 °, therefore one can see the amazing view of Toronto more than 351 metres below. However, although the restaurant is fancy, it does not mean that you pay a lot as well. The restaurant offers lunch and dinner prix fix menu (containing a large choice of appetizers, mains and desserts). The prices for this prix fix menus differ from 48 Canadian dollars to 68 Canadian dollars, and the price difference is set by the time you come to eat there as eating dinner is more expensive than eating lunch. The menu is diverse, from Cesar Salad to Pan Seared fillet of apple wood smoked Atlantic salmon. Besides, according to their website, 360° restaurant received the Guinness World Record for World’s highest wine cellar.
Furthermore, after dinner, one can also visit the rest of tower. By going a level below the restaurant, you can stay on a glass floor, seeing more than 300 metres underneath you.
I personally recommend this restaurant for anyone that wants to have a memorable lunch or dinner, in such a great city as Toronto.
Bacon? That's for me :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your top 5 restaurants, some of them are my favourites, too, especially the ethnic ones. It is very banal and I didn't perceive it from the start, but yes, the multiplicity of ethnic restaurants are characteristic of the multiculturality of Toronto, with its mosaic of ethnic districts and nationalities. Some of the aspects you mentioned grabbed my attention, especially the fact that the ethnic restaurants in your top 5 didn't look very impressive from the outside, but rather non-ethnic at first sight. The second thing is that also some of the food is a) "Europeanized" (or maybe "Canadianized"?) and b) ethnic restaurants offer food from not only their ethnic origins but also that of related cultural and geographic areas.
I think all this is representative of the Diasporic/ ethnic Minority life in Canada and in general: the cultures of ethnic groups lose part of their sharply distinct character, become more Canadian (or European, if you wish) while staying - at least in the eyes of European Canadians - ethnic. While keeping their original cultural identity on the inside, they take on an almost purely Canadian outward appearance, seemingly embracing the new culture. This corresponds more or less to the idea of Second Culture Acquisition, where the outward aspects, those that are not central to identity, change easily, while central aspects of identity remain unchanged for a long time. At the same time, there is the emergence of a hyphenated identity, which is by far not majority culture, yet not quite the same as it was in the countries of origin, already influenced by the country of immigration. This may be far fetched, and I am well aware that food is made more European also in order not to shock the unaccustomed European customers. Similarly, while mixing with Canadian customs and tastes, similar cultures also seem to move closer, a Vietnamese restaurant offers Chinese food, and Turkish restaurants serve Russian borsht – I exactly remember that Sofra Istanbul does, but please don’t ask me how Russian and Turkish cultures are related! It looks like – apart from the mere wish to attract as many different customers as possible – related cultural groups might tend to move closer to each other under the pressure of a majority culture and as a possible reaction to being treated by outsiders like members of the same group.
Of course these are mere assumptions that need some backing up by case studies, but I think that your example of food is representative of certain tendencies of cultures in general.