As I mentioned before, my wife and I always the looking for a local, non-chain restaurant to try. The first night we ate at
Scaddabush. They have a 10 locations in the Toronto area, while technically you could call it a chain, it was local and the food was outstanding. So much so, we ate there again on this trip and again in 2019. They take proven classic Italian dishes and make them more delicious.
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| Spaghetti and a meatball for me and a pesto dish for the wife. |
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| Dessert? You have to ask? We are on vacation! |
My wife is half Portuguese and she was dertermined to find authentic Portuguese food on our trip. She found a restaurant called
Nando's. I looked at their Wikipedia page and the have more than 1000 locations in 35 countries (so much for non-chain, we are 0-2 so far!)
Their specialty is PERi-PERi chicken along with other Portuguese delicacies. We started with sangria, ordered the chicken, and finished with a traditional custard.
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| Yeah...no thanks! |
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| Pastel de Choclo! Pastel de Choclo! Pastel de Choclo! |
Chilean food in Toronto? Si, por favor!
Jumbo Empanadas is located in
Kensington Market, which can be best described as a crossroad of the world. This bazaar looks like a movie set! You can eat food from different countries, purchase vintage clothing, hang out at a bar, get your bike fixed, and buy all sorts of natural products.
We didn't have enough creole food in Seattle, so when I found one in a where-to-eat magazine, off we went.
Southern Accent Restaurant (finally, a non-chain!) impressed us from the moment we walked in. We started with Whisky Sours.
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| Fried Okra and Hush Puppies for the appetizers. |
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| Perfectly tender ribs for me and Jambalaya for her. |
We had eaten so much food, we declined dessert. The barman was not satisfied with our answer, so he offered us free beignets. That bastard, I thought as I shoved the flaky dessert in my mouth!
I had to go to three Greek eateries in Greek Town to find just one that serves Avgolemono Soup. Still scratching my head over that one. Before I was seated at this restaurant, I asked the host if they served Avgolemono Soup. He stopped, looked at me, and said, "yes, of course we do." Probably though I was some moron, asking such a stupid question.
The rest of the ordering went smoothly at
The Pantheon. Lamb Kabobs with rice, potatoes, and carrots.
There is a section in city where the old distilleries have been converted to new distilleries now producing high quality, local alcohol.
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| I drank an Old Fashioned for Don. |
This restaurant,
Marche Movenpick, is an European marketplace. They have different food stations with any type of food you want. All fresh ingredients, made to order, right in front of you. It was so overwhelming with all the choices I had, I wandered around for a good 10 minutes trying to decide what I wanted to eat (everything!). I finally choose stir-fry with rice and drank a beer. If I worked in the vicinity, I would eat here everyday, trying to go through all the stations.
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| I never knew Japanese Cheesecake was a thing! |
On the morning we left, we ate Tim Hortons for breakfast. It was akin to Dunkin' Donuts back home, minus the iced tea.
