The Bon Vivant Blog

Yes, we’ve been here before, but this is totally one of our favourite ‘cheap eats’ places in Toronto. It has all the ambiance of an anatomy lab – but who cares – it has some of the best Chinese vegetarian food that I’ve had in Toronto. Their mock duck (big pic, above) – tastes nothing [...]

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(note: wrote this in January – just getting around to posting it now) Back in Toronto for the weekend – woo-hoo! Look, Canadians – you may or may not like Toronto and/or Torontonians, but damn this city has some great food. And it looks like from reading some of the local magazines and blogs that [...]

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This funky diner has been around forever in downtown Toronto and deservedly so. It is a funky old diner filled with booths and the requisite counter with stools . The service is good but also laid-back – if the place isn’t busy they are happy to let you sit there – although there is a [...]

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We were excited to go to this restaurant by chef David Lee of Splendido fame, particularly because we had read that it was one of the best new restaurants in 2009. You can’t miss this restaurant with the bright green lighting at the windows on a busy strip on Queen Street East. Once you walk [...]

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A long-standing chinese buddhist vegetarian restaurant that is very popular with vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike due to the tasty, large and cheap chinese vegetarian dishes. Warning – it is very basic décor – you come here for the food and the food only. The best dishes are the mock duck and the hot and sour [...]

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If you are in the Beaches and looking for a place to grab some regular diner food in a kid-friendly restaurant then this would not be a bad place. My friends who live in the neighbourhood like to go here because they have a kids’ menu (with crayons to boot) and they never have to [...]

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This is a popular totally vegan restaurant in the heart of Kensington. I remember when it first opened as a tiny storefront with a few seats which soon expanded into the building next door. I have a strange addiction to their muffins – which have a nice crusty top and are tasty but with a [...]

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A popular local Kensington coffee shop just off one of the busy streets. – but it is definitely worth the short stroll. There is no real signage except for the coffee cup with a galaxy-like symbol above the door. [ad] The beans are roasted in house and the baristas rigorously trained before they serve actual [...]

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So we decided to take a leisurely stroll to the restaurant on Harbord –somewhere on Harbord – unfortunately we forgot the address. Luckily, we did know that the walls were supposed to be pepto-bismol pink. After a bit of window-peering we found the place and the wall color was not as shocking as described and [...]

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Dufflet Rosenberg – the “Queen of Cakes” is a Toronto institution who first opened her eponymous cafe over 30 years ago when she opened her first store on Queen West. There are now 3 Dufflet cafes scattered around town and we stopped by the location in the Beaches. The Beaches actually has a small serene [...]

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