Charidise is a gourmet Taiwanese-inspired lunch spot feeding students and professionals alike in the Baldwin village. “Cha” means “tea” in Mandarin, and in tandem with the notion of “paradise,” you get the picture of what this restaurant strives to be. With many options of loose leaf tea, bubble tea and everything in between, Charidise lives up to its name and then some. The wide array of food offerings includes classic Taiwanese snacks like the popcorn chicken over rice with a hard-boiled egg and Japanese fried octopus balls known as takoyaki. Fried food is definitely a staple for Charidise, but with Japanese-style curry chicken atop a bowl of spaghetti, the fare refuses to be nailed down into one category, taking inspiration from east Asian street food and the streets of Toronto.
