When I think of Greektown in Toronto, I think of tourist traps. Sure, there are many Greek restaurants but they all have nearly the same souvlakis and grilled seafood. If I go there for Greek food, I usually end up at Athens Pastries. It stands out as one of the few specialists of Greek pastries. Perfect for a quick bite.
Athens Pastries: original and flagship store on Danforth Avenue
Athens Pastries has been in Greektown for over 40 years. They’ve become a neighbourhood fixture and admirably kept up with the times with renovations. Part of their success lies in having a small menu that it can perfect on. There are just 3 savoury options and 4 sweet ones. Hasn’t changed in years. Furthermore, their savoury options are really just variations of the same thing: filo pies. Go in the morning to get the widest selection.
If you didn’t know, the best time to get ice cream is in the dead of winter. Go during the night if you can. That way, you can avoid summer lineups. It might sound like a joke, but not until you see the queues at Bang Bang Ice Cream during warmer months.
Bang Bang Ice Cream
Bang Bang seems like any other boutique ice cream store on the surface. Indie, takeout only, free samples, some creative flavours, but not eyebrow-raising like Death In Venice. Their strength lies in perfecting what they do. I am no ice cream connoisseur but Bang Bang is superior to chi-chi ice creameries I’ve tried in foodie American cities.
Their unique claims to fame include ice cream cradled in Hong Kong egg waffles (鷄蛋仔) and signature flavours like Totaro (ube and coconut) and London Fog (Earl Grey). “Bakery” is in Bang Bang’s full name, though they really only produce confections that can be slathered with ice cream. This isn’t a knock on their baked products. They are good but ice cream is really Bang Bang’s raison d’être.
Donburi (丼) is a general term for rice bowl meals. Literally a bowl of rice with stuff on top. There is no rule on what goes on top, but traditional combinations are gyu don (牛丼; stewed beef slices and onion), ten don (天丼; tempura), katsu don (カツ丼; schnitzel), and unagi don (鰻丼; grilled eel).
Oddly enough, the best donburi restaurant in Toronto eschews these classic bowls and goes for modern interpretations. It’s still recognizably Japanese though.
Onnki Donburi
Onnki Donburi has the elusive winning combination of taste, presentation, portion, and price. The cooking and plating is like a mid-range to top-end restaurant, yet the portion sizes are perfect and don’t leave diners wanting. It hasn’t forgotten the casual roots of donburi either and is moderately priced.
There aren’t any Maltese dinner restaurants in Toronto. The Maltese food establishments here are cafeterias that offer the national pastry, pastizzi, among other things. Nannu’s Pastizzi is the best of the lot, has the largest variety, and even has decent Maltese lunch options.
Butter tarts are one of the few food specialties of Ontario and indeed, Canada. It’s not famous because it’s not much different from other tarts nor is it a craveable food. But if you want to taste what the fuss is all about, head to The Maids’ Cottage or anywhere that carries their goods.
The Maids’ Cottage
Butter tart components
Although butter tarts contain butter, the predominant flavour is indistinct sugar. A butter tart is made of shortcrust pastry and a filling of butter, egg, and lots of sugar. It is almost identical to sugar pies from Quebec or American pecan pie. From this basic recipe, it is not unusual to add other ingredients like pecans or raisins. At commercial bakeries, they are usually palm-sized so that customers can mix and match flavours.
The most difficult component to pull off is the filling. Nobody likes a liquid filling, so the key to getting a right consistency lies with temperature control and ingredient mix. Personal preferences may vary but I think the best consistency is one where the filling has just set. No liquid should run out when one bites into the tart, but the filling should bulge a little.
The pastry is just standard shortcrust pastry. Any decent baker should be able to create a crumbly shell while still being solid enough to hold the filling and withstand slicing. Traditionally, the pastry shell is thick.
The food
The Maids’ Cottage has the largest variety of butter tarts in the country. They have seasonal specials and gluten-free (GF) options. When I went, there were these flavours:
This restaurant closed in late 2023. Thanks for the memories!
Rasovara is my favourite vegetarian restaurant in the Greater Toronto Area. Heck, it’s one of my favourite restaurants of any type. Vegetarian cuisine usually conjures images of organic salads and mock meats. But don’t forget that South Asians have been perfecting it for centuries. Vegetarian dishes can rival any meat dish, given the right ingredients and technique.
Rasovara is a specialist in premium thalis. That’s a pretty bold move considering that thalis are associated with cheap daily specials. Even better, their dishes hail from Rajasthan and Gujarat, which are under-represented in Toronto. They also have a smattering of Punjabi ones. I rank Rasovara highly because they manage to make every dish taste different from one another and of course, sumptuous. No mean feat considering there are 8 different curries in their thali. Each ingredient had a different cooking time and they were able to achieve perfection.
Rasovara
Thali—the original Indian buffet
Thalis are multi-course meals served at once on the same platter. The arrangement is invariably rice and breads in the middle and small bowls around the perimeter for the various curries. They may be vegetarian or not. Traditionally, refills are unlimited, so they are the original all-you-can-eat meal.
Thalis are an affordable way to sample a bit of everything. Items in a thali change often, on the whims of the chef. Kind of like a tasting menu for the masses. But cafeteria quality. I have eaten dozens of thalis across India and none of them were memorable. It’s difficult to find a premium version of something that is associated with a lunch special. Rasovara bucks the trend.
Ecuadorian dishes are mostly the same as its neighbours, Colombia and Peru. There are a couple of unique ones, but none of them has captured the attention of South America, let alone the world. If you would like to try this lesser-known cuisine, La Morena is a good place to start. It specializes in snacks but offers special entrées on weekends.
La Morena
Their most popular finger foods are South American empanadas. Argentinian, Chilean, and Colombian varieties are on their regular menu. Strangely, Ecuadorian ones are absent. More on that later.
There are less than 10 Yemeni restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area. All of them serve mandi. It goes to show what the most popular export of that nation is. While none of them cook it in the traditional way (in an underground pit), they are all still pretty tasty. Of these restaurants, Monasaba is by far the best in every aspect.
Monasaba
Mandi—A celebratory rice feast
Mandi (مندي) is a rice dish cooked with meat stock and spices reminiscent of North India. While the rice cooks, meat is placed on top of it so that its juices can seep down. It reminds me of Indian biryani and that is not coincidental. Yemen had strong historical trade links with India. Traditionally, mandi is served during feasts since it is laborious to prepare. It’s doesn’t make sense to cook a small portion after going through the hassle of setting up an underground oven. So, Yemenis use a large vat that can feed multiple families.
Today, mandi can be found around the Arabian peninsula. In Dubai, it has become a food fad with food court stalls and fancy restaurants popping up with their own renditions. Since visiting Yemen and Saudi Arabia is out of the question for most foreigners, Dubai is the most accessible place to try mandi. And if you can’t travel to the Middle East, Monasaba in Mississauga has an excellent version as well.
Lai Wah Heen is the grand dame of luxury dim sum, incorporating ingredients like lobster and caviar since the 1990s. It won critical acclaim but standards went downhill for a long time before rising again. Today, it’s still a decent place to try high-end dim sum if you don’t want to make the trip to Richmond Hill and Markham.
Hotel entrance to Lai Wah Heen
Lai Wah Heen
Online reviews are harsh, mainly because the price doesn’t meet expectations. Indeed, some items like char siu bao (barbecued pork buns) don’t taste that all different from average restaurants but are priced higher. The trick is to select the right things. Research on their specialties beforehand and get the unique ones. Then, the experience won’t be as bad as detractors claim.
This restaurant closed in March 2021. Thanks for the memories!
Slurp-worthy boat noodles and other lesser-known Thai noodles
Delightfully ungrammatical name aside, Boat King of Thai Noodles is the place to get a wide range of Thai noodles. Everyone knows about pad thai. Some know about pad see ew (ผัดซีอิ๊ว) and pad kee mao (ผัดขี้เมา). This restaurant offers lesser-known dishes that only Thai food enthusiasts will recognize. For example, its signature and namesake is boat noodles. It’s the best version in Toronto. Then again, there aren’t a lot of competitors. Nana used to offer this before the pandemic. Kiin used to offer it when they had lunch service. Now, Thai Noodle is the only other place near downtown that has boat noodles.
Boat King of Thai Noodles
Kway tiaw reua—the unsung emblem of Thai noodles
I have a confession to make. I don’t like pad thai. This after eating it all over Thailand and seeking the best restaurants. It’s too boring for me and strikes me as a leftovers dish. Even though pad thai is identified as the iconic dish of Thailand, it should be boat noodles. Just like how green curry is unique to Thailand, boat noodles are quite different from its noodle cousins in China and Southeast Asia.
Boat noodles are known as kway tiaw reua in Thai (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือ). It also goes by other English transliterations like kuai tiao reua or guay teow rua. I use the least ambiguous spelling here. Boat noodles gets its name from vendors rowing on boats through Bangkok’s canals. The food was prepared in the boat and handed off to customers on the shore. In modern times, restaurateurs have moved to dry land.
The defining characteristics of boat noodles are its small serving size and its blood-infused broth. Yup, you read that right. There is some pig and cow blood to thicken the broth. It doesn’t taste strong like Chinese or Vietnamese blood cakes but it darkens the brown broth and adds to the texture and richness. Most people wouldn’t even notice it. The bowl is small because historically, vendors wanted to minimize spillage when passing it to customers. Nowadays, it has become a tradition to order multiple bowls and stack them up like some kind of trophy to gluttony.
There are several varieties of boat noodles. You can mix and match the type of noodles and broth. Common noodles are sen yai (เส้นใหญ่; broad, flat rice noodles), sen lek (เส้นเล็ก; thin rice noodles also used for pad thai), and ba mee (บะหมี่; yellow egg noodles). Broth choices are beef blood, pork blood, yen ta foo (fermented red bean curd), or tom yum. The blood choices, called nam tok, are representative of boat noodles.
Boat noodles at Pa Yak, near Victory Monument in Bangkok. Clockwise from left: pork sen yai with blood broth, pork sen yai with tom yam broth, beef sen yai with blood broth.
Toppings include meat slices, meat balls, liver, leafy vegetables like morning glory, bean sprouts, fried garlic, and pork crackling. Diners add peanuts, sugar, chillies, and other condiments to taste. It’s a comforting dish. The broth packs meatiness and umami that makes you want to order more.
