25 Cheap eats
middle-of-the-night noshing
needs. $6.99. 1548 Bayview Ave.;
four other GTA locations,
thebagelhouse.com
4
Meat roti
Quality Bread Bakery
The “short eats” (that’s the Sri
Lankan term for “snacks”) at this
Scarborough bakery are kind of
like Hot Pockets—if Hot Pockets
were delicious. Spicy dried
mutton is tucked into a plain
roti that’s then folded up into
a palm-sized treat that can’t be
beat for a bit more than a toonie.
$2.50. 1221 Markham Rd.
5
Mapo tofu
Sichuan Garden
7
Dirty duck fries
Wvrst
King West’s popular beer hall
is a seven-day-a-week sausage
party, but it makes some pretty
great Belgian-style taters that
are dirty in the best possible
way: fried in duck fat and buried
in roasted peppers, jalapeños,
sautéed onions and Wvrst’s
addictive special sauce. $7.25.
oh, that bread—is the main
attraction. But the toppings on
this particular herbed focaccia
concoction are excellent, too:
delicate sheets of roasted
eggplant and zucchini with
fior di latte, arugula, baby kale
and a creamy aïoli. $8.50.
609 King St. W., fornocultura.com
9
Cheese pupusa
Tacos El Asador
609 King St. W., wvrst.com
8
Eggplant tramezzino
Forno Cultura
It doesn’t much matter what
goes on the sandwiches at this
King West bakery: the bread—
These corny, doughy discs at
Koreatown’s long-standing
Salvadorean spot are stuffed
with queso, and sided with tangy
pickled onions, cabbage, carrots
and beets, and a teeny paper
cup of kicky tomato salsa. $3.75.
689 Bloor St. W.
10
For this classic spicy dish, the
Chinatown restaurant tosses
tender cubes of tofu, ground
pork and bean paste in a fiery
pool of chili oil dotted with
crushed Sichuan pepper corns.
The rice provides some respite
from the numbing heat.
$5.99. 359 Spadina Ave.,
sichuangardentoronto.com
6
Half chicken with rice
Churrasco of St. Clair
In the city’s west end, you can’t
throw a rock without hitting a
churrasqueira—and that’s not
a bad thing. But this no-frills
Portuguese chicken shop on
has been turning out golden-
brown, budget-friendly birds
since 1986. Their combo
No. 3—half of a charcoal-grilled
chicken served with seasoned
rice—is a no-brainer. $8.75.
$7.99
Crab-and-pork soup dumplings
Shanghai Dim Sum
Don’t pop these perfectly pinched parcels whole: each
of the Richmond Hill dim sum restaurant’s xiao long bao
with tender crab and pork is filled with piping hot soup that
needs to be carefully slurped.
330 York Regional Rd. 7, Richmond Hill, shanghaidimsum.ca
679 St. Clair Ave. W., churrasco.net
Winter 2017/2018
where 15