(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

My flight from Calgary to Toronto arrived on Saturday evening, just a bit too late to catch the last train back to Kingston. I decided to stay in Toronto for the night, and then head back to Kingston on Sunday afternoon. This gave me just enough time to visit some old (and new!) haunts in Toronto.

My hotel was downtown on Queen’s Quay, so I assumed that I’d have no problem finding dinner even though it was well past 9:00 p.m. (It took 1 hour and 39 minutes for my luggage to show up on the airport carousel, so not all of the pandemic kinks have been worked out yet!) I started to get worried though: ever since the pandemic, a lot of restaurants stop serving by 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. My first two choices fell into this category. I finally decided to take a chance on something called “My Roti Place”.

This ended up being one of those happy accidents that makes travel so enjoyable. The roti (almost like a rectangular soft tortilla) had an absolutely delicious filling. My filling was Paneer (an Indian cheese) in a curry called “Awesome Tangra Hakka Chilly”, but you could design your own with one of four levels of spiciness. I opted for “medium” (the others are “mild”, “serious” and “stupid”) and it was perfect for me. This wasn’t elegant cuisine by any means, but it “gave me a sense of enormous well-being” (to quote Blur, from their mid-1990s hit Parklife). And just like that, I have another “go-to” place in downtown Toronto.

The next day, the temperature eventually rose to an unseasonably warm 16’C. Far too hot for March 6 in Canada, perhaps, but perfect for a wander from Queen’s Quay to Kensington Market. I found some vinyl rarities at Kops on Queen Street West, a store that was around even when I lived in Toronto in the early 1990s. They have an outstanding selection (as in thousands and thousands) of high-quality 45s: you’ll have no trouble finding the song you’re looking for.

The vibe in Kensington Market was spectacular. I don’t think I’ve seen such a vital streetscape since the pandemic began. The Market can be pretty ramshackle in places, but it remains very low-rise and has largely avoided the creeping corporatization that has hit other parts of downtown Toronto (including parts of Queen Street West). While there’s been a bit of a shift from markets to restaurants, it’s still a great place to go when you are hungry (or plan to be soon).

I had a huge breakfast at the hotel, and wasn’t ready to face a delicious but weighty “pastel de choclo” at Jumbo Empanadas, a place (and delicious specialty) I’ve written about before. But the warm weather made some homemade gelato at Dolce a most satisfactory fall-back option. They have a lot of authentic Italian flavours, and it was wonderful to have some of their gelato again after a pause of several years. I really miss having gelato in Italy, and look forward to doing that again someday.

I’ve written about eating Hungarian food in Toronto before but, oddly enough, it has always been at Hungarian restaurants. But as you can see, Kensington Market now has a “Hungary-Thai” restaurant that features cuisine from both Hungary and Thailand. I still wasn’t hungry enough to justify a visit this time, but I’m glad to see that Kensington Market continues to attract and support unique places like this.

This sunny and vibrant afternoon made me crave more of the energy that you can find in great city neighbourhoods. I’ve already made plans for another city visit…I’ll have some more Toronto photos (and some hints about where I’m going next) in this space soon!