Restaurant 3030 Dundas West is a hotbed of culture in the ever-more-happening Junction. The cavernous space is a bit of everything: a bar, restaurant, art gallery and concert hall rolled into one. Paintings from local artists — like cool cat Nick Sweetman — oversee patrons downing local brews and tucking into eats before heading to

Strictly Shanghainese restaurants are few and far between in and around the city — usually, the cuisine is fused with food from other regions of China like Szecuhuan or Taiwan. But for great Shanghainese food, head up to A La Kitchen for soup-filled dumplings and other classics like noodle dishes and braised meats.

Since its Chinatown location opened its doors in 1988, Asian Legend has spread across Toronto to give all diners a taste of northern Chinese dim sum and stir-fry. Their cooking motto is "northern flavours with a traditional style," which has allowed for its chefs, all from reputable dining locales in Taiwan and mainland China, to fine-tune the menu and bring diners dishes like the especially flavour-rich kung pao chicken.

Avling, the east end’s pastel-hued brewery on Queen Street is more than just a pretty face. The sustainable brewpub’s top tier-talent, assembled by founder Max Meighen, includes head chef Suzanne Barr (previously the chef and owner of Toronto’s beloved Saturday Dinette), head brewer Brandon Judd, who comes by way of Godspeed Brewery, and head butcher

These days King Street West is a bit of a scene. From the transit-only streets, to the exclusive rooftop pools and elitist bars and restaurants, it’s getting harder to find a place where you can just relax. Whereas this might be true of Belfast Love on Friday nights, when the bar is filled to capacity

Grabbing its name from the classic martial arts flick, BIG TROUBLE is a Chinatown bar that promises the 20-something set a good time. Sibling owners Andrew and Christine Pham wanted to properly celebrate the hood they grew up in; multicoloured lanterns dot the room, red drapes decorate the windows while a dragon oversees the bathrooms

Brickworks Ciderhouse is located in Riverdale, within close proximity of the trendy Broadview Hotel.

When it comes to fighting off biting cold temperatures this time of the year, a visit to Toronto’s Koreatown at Christie and Bloor is always the perfect solution. When the mercury drops to -15 degrees, just hop into one of a handful of restaurants like Owl of Minerva, Tofu Village or Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu and you’ll find hordes of hungry students, local residents and even tattooed hipsters all huddled over hot bowls of Korean dishes like pork bone soup, kimchi stew or bibimbap.

In continuing their steady takeover of Toronto’s dining scene — following the openings of the hugely successful Weslodge Saloon and Patria — restaurateurs-du-jour Hanif Harji and Charles Khabouth had originally planned to open a seafood restaurant as their latest venture. Then, Harji took a business trip to the Middle East, where he experienced food that he knew he had to bring to Toronto.

Byblos Uptown Toronto represents a marriage of Eastern Mediterranean cuisine with strong influences from both traditional and local ingredients.

Meet Mark McEwan’s fine dining restaurant, Bymark, in the heart of the financial district in the atrium of the TD Towers. The space’s main dining room boasts a floor-to-ceiling wine cellar but there are also private dining rooms, a spacious patio and a modern bar. The kitchen is headed up by executive chef Brooke McDougall

The authentic Chinese restaurant with a French name, C’est Bon, has been not just a staple, but a favourite of midtown for over a decade. The founding Chen family comes from a French Taiwanese background, hence the name and cuisine of the restaurant. Most of the menu is made up of classic Szechuan dishes, like

For over 30 years, Café Polonez has been a family-run restaurant in the heart of Toronto’s Polish community. The name comes from the French word “polonaise,” which is a ceremonial Polish dance similar to a waltz. Café Polonez is known for their homemade lightly-breaded schnitzel, alongside plenty of other authentic Polish cuisine such as herring

Since the dim sum downtown has sunk in a slough of grease, dumpling-seeking Sinophiles have few alternatives. At first glance, Casa Imperial is an unlikely candidate: a baroque mansion loaded with gargantuan crystal chandeliers, ersatz British hunting scenes and musty brocaded draperies. It’s about as Chinese-looking as Casa Loma, but the dim sum is quite

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

A wide variety of Pan Asian hot and cold dishes, as well as fusion eats, meet dim sum offerings at this Yonge and Eglinton joint. It’s sort of like an Asian tapas vibe, where every dish – from the traditional hand-pulled noodles to the healthy, steamed dumplings – is meant to be shared. The menu

Located at the Golden Square Centre in Mississauga, Chi’s Congee and Noodle House offers both of its namesakes as well as wonton soup, dumplings, sweet and sour pork and other Chinese food favourites. The congee, which is a rice porridge popular in many Asian countries, is served in many variations including chicken and duck, shrimp,

This week’s cheap eat is all the way up at Metro Square in Markham. As a teenager, there were many late nights spent here, upstairs in the arcade (when smoking inside was still allowed), gossiping over cheesecake at Cafe Mirage or sipping on this “new” Taiwanese drink (bubble tea) at Ten Ren’s Tea Time (now Serissa Cafe).

Don’t feel like waiting for your meal? Why not head over to Chop Chop where the only thing better than the Chinese food is how fast it lands on your plate. Perched on the southwest corner of Dundas and Markham, this fast-food restaurant is making Chinese food healthy and quickly. The interior is clean and

Janet Zuccarini, Gusto 54 Group’s boss lady and recipient of the 2017 Pinnacle Awards Independent Restaurateur of the Year, is expanding her portfolio of ethnic eats. The restaurateur is partners with Pai and Kiin, but Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen marks her first independent, non-Italian joint, just a stones throw from King West staple, Gusto 101. Chubby’s