Restaurants and Bakeries in Toronto

Finally...a blog post about FOOD! Toronto is a great place for any foodie. They literally have something for everyone. As I said before, I'm trying to live a healthier lifestyle, so a lot of the places Jon and I went were based off whether or not they had healthy menu options. But of course, I still cheat once in a while and everyone gets cravings. I still like to live my life and go for the sweets or the pizza now and then because it's all about balance. We tried so many different places between both trips, so I'm just going to highlight my favorites and then mention some of the others.

1. Kitten and the Bear - www.kittenandthebear.com

Coming here was probably one of the highlights of the entire trip for me. I've always wanted to go to a quaint little afternoon tea place for hot tea and scones. We don't have many places like that to choose from in PA around where I live, so when I came across this place I knew I had to check it out. This place was literally made for me. I was in love as soon as I walked in the door. Green velvet seats, exposed brick, marble tabletops, vintage tea sets and decor, subtle greenery and an overall soft, feminine feel. They make the best scone I've ever had, and the smell of them hit my nose as soon as we entered. Not only are they known for their wide selection of teas, but they are also known for their variety of jams, which they make and sell in-house. I decided on the house special for the tea and got a scone with the strawberry jam - my mouth is watering just thinking about it! Jon isn't a tea drinker, so he got a black coffee and a cinnamon swirl morning bun. I wanted to buy so many things there (including some jam), but knew I'd be walking around the city all day and only had a small backpack on me. This place is a top priority when I go back to TO. I could spend hours here and there's a lot of different pastries and spreads I'd love to try.

2. The Beet - https://www.instagram.com/thebeetto/

Jon and I agreed this was our favorite restaurant of the trip and contemplated going back a second time during our visit. It was our dinner choice for the first night. They are an organic kitchen and bar. This place was very warm and inviting with just enough lighting and beautiful wood decor and tabletops. We got some carrot and cilantro hummus with pita to split as an appetizer. Jon has always been a pretty picky eater, but in the past few years I've got him to step out of his comfort zone a little and try different things...and some of those things are his favorite things to eat now. He never really cared for hummus but LOVED this hummus and kept talking about it. He got a chuck burger and sweet potato fries and I got a Thai bowl - seriously so good and so fresh!

3. Brett's Ice Cream - www.brettsicecream.com

We went to two different ice cream shops during our trip and this was by far my favorite between the two. It was so bright and colorful inside. They have a great selection of flavors to choose from and they have Konery cones in a ton of different flavors as well. The combinations are endless and it was so hard to choose. I ended up going with chocolate strawberry in a matcha Konery cone and Jon got salted caramel in a cold brew Konery cone. We sat inside and enjoyed our hand dipped ice cream. I would definitely love to come back here and try some other flavor combinations.

4. Rolltation - www.rolltation.com

Two words. Sushi BURRITOS! Jon and I love sushi and we went to a sushi restaurant in TO last year, so this time we decided to check this new place out because a sushi burrito sounded glorious. The location we went to was pretty small, but we were able to snag one of the 4-6 stools they had available. They also make sushi bowls and sushi burgers and you can order something from their pre-made menu or you can build your own. I went with a pre-made option and Jon created his own. We also got some edamame to split. We devoured everything. It was absolutely delicious!

5. Bake Shoppe - www.bakeshoppeto.com

This was really the only bakery we went to...but man, I loved it so much. They had a wide variety in their case to choose from, but the employee told us they are known for their homemade pop tarts and their nutella brown butter cookies, so that's what we went with. They change up their pop tart flavor choices frequently, but they had nutella banana and dansom plum, so we went with one of each. The cookie we split and it was a little too sweet for us. But those pop tarts...man oh man. I wish I could go there all the time and try all the flavors! Get this - they partner with Kitten and the Bear and use their jam in the pop tarts...I wonder why I loved them so much?! They also make specialty cakes and pastries and GIANT pop tarts - yum! It's hard to tell in the second photo, but if you check out their instagram page, they have some great inscriptions for their cakes and pastries (LOL). Also, I must mention the bathroom downstairs was beautiful and they had a picture of Jeff Goldblum on the wall...this bakery won me over.

6. El Catrin Distileria - www.elcatrin.ca

Mexican food is my absolute favorite...and this place caught my eye last time we were in TO and visited the Distillery District, which I'll highlight more of in my next and final blog post about Toronto. We weren't able to go last year, so we made it a point to go this time around. This place is what dreams are made of. They have indoor and outdoor seating, but we chose to sit outside because it's the whole reason this restaurant caught my eye. Tons of fun outdoor patio furniture with bright colored seats and pillows and authentic Mexican decor. I can only imagine how busy this place gets in the evenings. An evening here when it's dark with all the lights sounds magical. I got a sangria and Jon got a stout. We split chips and guac and we both got different authentic tacos. I would most definitely come back here again!

7. Descendant Detroit Style Pizza - descendantdsp.com

Pizza is Jon's favorite food and he wanted to check this place out so bad during our first trip and we didn't get the chance. We made sure we went there this time around and we're both so glad we did. Obviously they have Detroit style pizza. It's thick and crispy crust is so, so good. We had to wait a little bit to get a seat, but they are one of the best voted pizza places in TO, so it was expected. We split a small "Gatt-Daddy" but only got half with peppers since Jon isn't a huge fan. We couldn't help but notice the music playing and Jon kept saying he could tell it was ran by people who go to shows. He got to talking to our waiter and he was right! It was fun talking to them about old and new music. This place was great.

Here's some links and notes on the other food we tried: LA REV - an authentic Mexican restaurant we ended up at because we couldn't get a seat at the brewery we wanted to go to...the food was good, but the service wasn't Sweet Jesus - the other ice cream place we went to that was a little too sweet for us...if you have a sweet tooth and you like crazy flavor combinations, this is the place for you Cafe Crepe - great breakfast joint that serves a wide variety of sweet and savory crepes Short and Sweet Bakeshop - we went to the location that was within Assembly Chef's Hall eatery...we got giant cookie sandwiches which were good, but just too big...we would like to go back to this eatery to check out the other food options Lakeview Restaurant - an absolute MUST if you love vintage diners like me...we got burgers (plant burger for me), fries and chocolate milkshakes