(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)
As we near the end of 2025, I’d like to share some of my local food experiences (and a concert) over the past few months.
Every time I’m in Burlington, I make sure that I visit its vibrant downtown core. It’s always very busy and there are many dining options. One of my favourites is the Rayhoon restaurant, which specializes in Persian cuisine. It also has a great location in the “Village Square”. On this occasion, I ordered Fesenjoon, which is a rich stew featuring chicken, butternut squash, pomegranate molasses and ground walnut. I like the sweet and sour contrast…definitely more sour than the typical “sweet and sour” you find in Canada.
In September, I had some al pastor tacos at ChĂșuk in Pickering. If you like pineapple, this is the taco for you. And it’s not the only Mexican option in suburban Pickering. I loved the pollo con mole at Cielito Lindo.
Back home in Kingston, I saw The Grapes of Wrath perform an acoustic concert at the intimate Broom Factory. They were very popular in Canada through the late 1980s and early 1990s, so it was nice to see them in such a cozy venue. I had interviewed the two other members of the group in the mid 1990s (when they were in an offshoot band called Ginger), so I think the circle is now complete!
I lived 11 months of my life in Brockville, so I feel somewhat more connected to it than other similarly-sized Ontario towns. It doesn’t seem to have changed very much since my last visit, but I was happy to see some interesting food options on King Street.
We had intended to visit another restaurant, but it was closed on Mondays and we ended up at the Pho Hut instead. Their menu was quite large, so I can’t really tell you what I had…the picture below will have to do.
From Brockville, we moved on to Ottawa again. Blog regulars will know that I find myself in Ottawa quite a bit. This is not the first time that the Chateau Laurier hotel features at the top of one of my posts. Anyway, on this trip, we went to an old favourite for dinner: Khao Thai, on Murray Street in the Byward Market district. It is a little more upscale than your typical Thai eatery, and the quality of the food has always been excellent.
Not every Ottawa dining experience has been exquisite. Before leaving the city, we had lunch at a fairly well-known diner. The Reuben sandwich was fine, but a bit more balance between the sandwich and the fries would have been appreciated. Seriously, what’s with the grotesque amount of fries?
Coming up next on the blog: an interesting hobby that can (and did) scratch the travel itch…at least for a little while…