Toronto Travel Guide

St.Lawrence Market – What a beautiful market! I haven’t seen such a big choice of French cheese for a while, may be last time in France. If you want to know the origin of people who live in a city, just go to the local food market. French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian… you can find here anything from Bavarian sausages to Pasta de Nata (traditional Portuguese pastry). Come here to taste traditional food from around the world or have lunch in one of the local cafes. Variety of food and quality will surprise you.

Beaver Tails – so beavertail is a popular Canadian fried dough snack. Fully customizable, this sugar/fat bomb can be topped with all sorts of candy toppings. I went for classy Banana+Nutella with no regrets. Follow your nose next time you walk along the waterfront, and you won’t miss this BeaverTails’ largest Ontario location.

Poutini’s House of Poutine – Poutine is a fancy word for cheese fries with gravy. Well, there is more than that involved here. It’s not just cheese, but cheese curd and it’s not just gravy, but a thick and vinegary barbeque gravy (there is a vegetarian option too). It’s definitely not healthy, but obsessively good. Needless to say, there is only Poutine in the menu.

Sweet Jesus – they definitely go hard on their soft served ice cream here. As they claim, “…the goal is to combine conceptual thinking with high-quality ingredients and products, in an effort to make something that tastes and looks, unlike anything you’ve ever seen and had before. Amen.” Check out them at @sweetjesus for some of their craziest creations, it will make your mouth water.

Guschlbauer – it’s an Austrian bakery that has been around since 1919 but has recently opened its first North American location in Toronto. They specialize on so called devil buns, which feature creamy cheese between layers of pastry. These puffy buns look so good, you close your eyes when you take the first bite.

Attractions

Steam Whistle City Brewery – prime location (right across from the SkyDome) and high-quality European style pilsner are two reasons you should add this brewery to your must-visit list. Come for lunch or after a long day of walking off the city when the steam-powered whistle makes its call signaling the end of a fulfilling workday.
Casa Loma – Toronto’s Majestic castle is now a museum and landmark as well as a popular wedding venue, a haunted house, an escape room, a winter wonderland, a music performance scene and soon a steakhouse. Read the story behind the castle here.

Neighborhoods

Lakeshore – you can’t visit Toronto and not to see Lake Ontario. Walk along the water or rent a kayak to explore the lake’s shorelines and overview the city skyline from the lake.
Yorkville – used to be Toronto’s bohemian enclave in the 60’s, and is now full of designer boutiques, high-end hotels, and restaurants. Should you want to have a little walk, far from the glamorous crowd, just cross the Avenue Road and stroll the streets of this cute neighborhood, full of beautiful brownstone buildings and maple trees.

Other cool neighborhoods: Distillery District (cobblestone and Victorian Industrial architecture) Queen / Ossington (Brooklyn of Toronto, best three blocks to wine and dine), Kensington (multicultural market with great food).