In an effort to explore a new neighbourhood in the city and find some good places to eat, this Saturday we decided to go on a culinary tour of the Danforth! Much tasty food was had.
Welcome to Greektown!
There are so many places to eat in Toronto that it can be hard to figure out where to go. Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods - each one with its own feel and food selection - so a food tour seemed like a great way to get to know the place a bit better. Having really enjoyed the food tour in St. John’s, we knew it would be a worthwhile trip.
We opted for a tour through the Danforth neighbourhood; the Danforth is famous for its food, and every year it hosts one of the largest food festivals in North America, the Taste of the Danforth. The area has been home to many Greek immigrants since the late 1950’s, so obviously there are some excellent Greek treats on offer, but recently it has become a much more diverse spot, as we experienced on our tour.
We opted for a tour through the Danforth neighbourhood; the Danforth is famous for its food, and every year it hosts one of the largest food festivals in North America, the Taste of the Danforth. The area has been home to many Greek immigrants since the late 1950’s, so obviously there are some excellent Greek treats on offer, but recently it has become a much more diverse spot, as we experienced on our tour.
Our first two restaurants
Starting off with a coffee and cake at Marvel Coffee, we moved on to sample food at 6 different places along Danforth Avenue. Needless to say, its reputation as a foodie neighbourhood is well deserved as we got the chance to sample everything from traditional Chinese dumplings, to Turkish Pizza, Greek pastries, gyros, and mezze. Our guide also highlighted some of the history of the area and the stories behind the restaurants we visited, which included:
- Marvel Coffee
- Mother’s Dumplings (awesome, traditional dumplings)
- Mr. Pide (delicious Turkish pizza)
- Akropolis (cheesy, spinachy pastry)
- Alexandros Take - Out (the best gyros ever)
- Pan (meze, Greek wine and flaming uzo cheese)
- Athens (honey pastry ball things that were amazing)
 Elizabeth enjoying some dumplings |  Luke enjoying some cheesy pastries |
The tours are run by The Culinary Adventure Co. and we’d thoroughly recommend checking them out. We are definitely planning to go on more of their tours in the future, as they offer a quite a variety of options in and around Toronto (and culinary adventures beyond the GTA). We promise we’re not sponsored by The Culinary Adventure Co. in any way, we just had a really good time.
Our penultimate stop: Pan
Later that evening our friend Garrett from Newfoundland was in town, so we headed out for even more food (at a traditional Japanese restaurant downtown) before heading back to the the Danforth for some James Bond themed improv comedy, and a few beers at a micro brewery. All in all, a lot of fun. And a lot of food.
(SLIDESHOW)
Want to know what we were up to last year? We were getting lost while Geocaching in St. John's. And two years ago we were at the St. John's Printer's Fair.
