(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

My second trip to Toronto this fall was entirely different from the first.  This one was focused on Christmas shopping and the entertainment district:  I didn’t get anywhere close to Bloor Street or The Annex this time!

We stayed in a hotel very close to the St. Lawrence Market; lunch was at a popular new restaurant called “Loaded Pierogi”.  The menu here is essentially confined to pierogi, but the toppings are the real attraction.  I went for the pulled pork and goat cheese pierogi, while my wife went for the bacon and caramelized onion pierogi.  These sustained us for an entire afternoon of Christmas shopping.

Toronto’s Distillery District (see also the photo at the very top of this post) is transformed into a European-style outdoor Christmas Market for the weeks leading up to Christmas.  Perhaps to control the crowds, there is a cover charge of $6.00 on Friday evenings and weekends.  As with most such charges, it does not add any real value but we didn’t have any choice with the timing of our visit.

Fortunately, to set off any ill feelings about the cover charge, there were some vendors from the “old countries”.  I enjoyed the Dutch kiosk and there were also some Swiss treats at one of the German kiosks.  We focused only on the “must-have” items, as we still had some unusual shopping lined up for the following day.

As I had enjoyed my visit to the Second City comedy facility in Chicago in 2014, we caught an evening show at the Toronto location.  We enjoyed the show itself but the leg and shoulder room was abysmal. We didn’t really have any choice for our seating, but you will definitely want to avoid the front row if you are of even average height and width.  Unfortunately, the advertised free improv session is after the *second* show of the evening, so you will have a long wait if you attend the first show.

On Sunday morning, we had a fun shopping experience at the Swedish (!) Christmas Market.  I have never seen so many Swedes in one place outside of Sweden before.  The line-up for the food stalls was massive, as this market takes place only on one weekend and the “regulars” knew exactly what they wanted.  However, there was no cover charge and we ended up getting some really interesting items for Christmas.

Thanks to some corporate sponsorship, a number of historic sites in Toronto had free admission that weekend.  We visited the William Lyon Mackenzie House on Bond Street:  besides being a forefather of one of Canada’s longest-serving Prime Ministers (William Lyon Mackenzie King), Mackenzie was also the first mayor of the city of Toronto and was a leader of the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.  We enjoyed some authentic baked goods, prepared the 19th century way in a very unpredictable gas-fired oven.

For lunch, we went to “Real Mo-Mo’s” and had some Tosti Hawaii.  Despite the name, it is in fact a largely Dutch restaurant with dishes ranging from Dutch pancakes to Bitterballen and Uitsmijter open-faced sandwiches.   It was hidden away on a small street just north of the St. Lawrence Market – yet another place to check out on a return visit.

I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with some details on my 2018 travel itinerary:  I’ve got trips planned for both the winter and summer months!

(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

My October trip to Toronto was only for one night, but I made sure I took advantage of some of the great food that the city has to offer.

My first stop was an old favourite:  Jumbo Empanadas in the Kensington Market district.  I go here for pastel de choclo (corn pie) whenever I can…and the translation of “corn pie” really does not do it justice.  I  wrote about its awesomeness in a previous post and I am happy to report that it was just as good this time around.

The setting is not fancy.  The view from the front window is colourful (see photo at the top of the post), although you can see little else but other Latin American shops and restaurants in this part of Kensington Market.  But it’s the food that matters, and the addictive mixture of sweet, savoury and spicy (I went for the special salsa as well this time) proves that the Chileans know a thing or two about complex flavours.

As the concert hall was at the edge of a neighbourhood called “The Annex”, I stayed at a B&B called Madison Manor located just off Bloor Street West.  I have a special affinity for this part of Toronto, as I lived within walking distance of it in the early 1990s.  I wandered by my old apartment on Avenue Road and was amazed by how much “intensification” had taken place in the area in the past 25 years.  But the building is still there and the location is still excellent.

As for the Annex itself, another favourite haunt of mine was the Country Style Hungarian restaurant.  As you can see from the photograph, it’s still there too but I didn’t have a chance to stop in this time.  However, if you’re ever in the mood for a big Hungarian meal after a long day of wandering around the city, this is your place.  It’s still family-run and the only remaining Hungarian restaurant in this part of Toronto:  there used to be about a dozen.  Happily, it appears that a Hungarian pastry shop has sprung up next door…perhaps a renaissance is taking place?

The evolution of the neighbourhood is ongoing.  I never actually bought anything at the legendary Honest Ed’s bargain emporium…and it is now too late, as it recently closed.  I snapped the above picture to visually capture it before its almost certain redevelopment.  Like the downtown Sam the Record Man, this is a long-standing landmark that people still talk about even though it is no longer open.

Immediately west of The Annex is Koreatown.  This was just a bit too far for me to visit on a regular basis when I lived in Toronto, but was perfectly situated for lunch on this trip.  It was difficult to pick one restaurant over another (there are a *lot*), but I eventually settled on the Jin Dal Lae simply because it had recently opened.

I ordered the Bulgogi Bento Box for $8.95 and wasn’t expecting much for that price in a city where eating out can be quite expensive (by Canadian standards).  I was very surprised to receive eight small side dishes, ranging from fried tofu to kimchi, before the box itself arrived.  In addition to gyoza and a heaping helping of tender bulgogi, there was also soup (which didn’t make it into the photo)…and I utterly failed in my attempt to have a light lunch.

While this trip took place about 4 weeks ago, I will find myself in Toronto again soon.  Stay tuned for details!