Looking for budget-friendly dining in Toronto and wondering where to find the best affordable restaurants?
To dine here is akin to making a religious pilgrimage: It takes patience, practice, and prayer. The once-“secretive” spot in the gentrifying “mechanical-industrial” strip of Geary Street is pelo longer under wraps. Swarms of people congregate and wait at least an hour outside before opening, a fact not lost on owner and chef Leandro Baldassarre (formerly of three-Michelin-starred Dal Pescatore). With a collected demeanor and without gimmicks, Baldassarre offers what’s considered the city’s best fresh pasta, along with rustic Southern Italian dishes.
A cheap lunch in Toronto isn’t just fuel to keep you going, it can be a midday oasis that improves your whole outlook on the rest of the afternoon.
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Copy Link Since 1982, chef and owner Satee Beharry has been an integral part of Scarborough’s culinary community, building a following long before the days of celebrity chefs, bloggers, and social media influencers.
Pitmaster Darien List has staked his regional barbecue claim in Toronto, offering diners Central Texas-style meats. Relish in signatures like marbled brisket that’s cooked indirectly over pecan wood and licked with just the perfect amount of heady smoke.
Peterson focuses on the Caribbean aspect of the street fair, particularly the strong presence of many good Jamaican restaurants and street food offerings, like jerk chicken and stewed oxtail.
Can a fried chicken sandwich be distinguished and delightful? Chef Jerome Robinson and his legion of #friedchickenlovers definitely think so. Ever the consummate hype man, Robinson welcomes diners to his cozy space with ’90s hip-hop, free-to-play NBA Jam
Longos offers $15 off an order of $100 or more when you get your order delivered by Grocery Gateway. However, this promotion is only available with an SPC card at participating locations in Ontario.
Here, we’ve rounded up our favourite places for cheap eats that you won’t need to financially recover from. Not every item on the menu qualifies as a cheap eat, so use your judgment.
Copy Link Can pies solve all of life’s problems? No, but the ones at Gertie’s get close. Operated by chef Ryan Campbell and his wife, Sara Steep, Gertie’s — named for Campbell’s mother Gerda — throws together humble ingredients with potently evolved results. A butter-enriched crust made with peanuts and graham crackers is topped with a voluptuous mound of soft-whipped mascarpone cream (with some extra-fancy peanut butter mixed in for nutty oomph), followed by a filling of your choice — lush caramel, deeply dark chocolate, or perky strawberry jam — and finished with top-notch roasted Virginia peanuts.
Kor moo yang (grilled pork jowl blessed with a generous fat belt) also leaves a tingling buzz on the lips, thanks to its ample endowment of red chiles. For those who can’t stand the heat, pad woon sen cha-om is a tame yet solid choice: Springy glass noodles are tossed with crumbled egg and garlic, then finished with bitter acacia leaf that’s strewn across the stringy landscape. Open in Google Maps
Copy Link Many successful restaurants that populate the city today are helmed by chefs who got their start at this one. Since 1995, Canoe has showcased the provenance of Canadian ingredients from coast to coast. The fancy enterprise calls the 54th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre home, offering views of the skyline and demanding high prices to go with it. Executive chef Ron McKinlay (who worked alongside Tom Kitchin and Gordon Ramsay) leads the elaborate tasting and hyperseasonal menus. A portrait of Canada is framed in hedonistic creations like his intricate Pig’s Trotter: a compact porky cylinder stuffed with sweetbreads, lap cheong sausage, and wild shrimp from the North Atlantic, counterbalanced by a relief system of tangy read more pickled pears, salty spot prawn bisque, and grassy tarragon emulsion.
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