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Restaurant prices in Toronto can vary significantly depending on where they’re located. For instance, dining in upscale neighborhoods such as Yorkville or in restaurants with a waterfront view like at Harbourfront may come at a premium price.

There’s no option to choose what’s in the bags, so it’s probably not for you if you have strict dietary restrictions.

You still have to pay a “pickup fee” if you pick up your own order, which is equivalent to the delivery fee.

And although full meals aren’t the thing here, Campbell and Oben have curated a high-quality assortment of crudites, cheese plates, and tinned seafood to enjoy between glasses. Open in Google Maps

Pitmaster Darien List has staked his regional barbecue claim in Toronto, offering diners Central Texas-style meats. Relish in signatures like marbled brisket that’s cooked indirectly over pecan wood and licked with just the perfect amount of heady smoke.

Soulpepper Theatre If you’re interested in theatre, you need to check out Soulpepper (external link, opens in new window)  and the variety of programming they offer.

Copy Link To dine here is akin to making a religious pilgrimage: It takes patience, practice, and prayer. The once-“secretive” spot in the gentrifying “mechanical-industrial” strip of Geary Street is pelo longer under wraps. Swarms of people congregate and wait at least an hour outside before opening, a fact not lost on owner and chef Leandro Baldassarre (formerly of three-Michelin-starred Dal Pescatore). With a collected demeanor and without gimmicks, Baldassarre offers what’s considered the city’s best fresh pasta, along with rustic Southern Italian dishes.

I’ve tried tons of Toronto food apps over the years, and today I’ll be talking about the best ones for ordering takeout and delivery.

Copy Link Rachel Adjei is a Ghanaian Canadian chef and food justice advocate who celebrates much of the underrepresented African diaspora in Toronto. She founded the Abibiman Project to support Black food sovereignty initiatives via a range of pantry products, pop-up dinners, and catering — all in the hopes of challenging people’s perceptions of African foods and the narratives surrounding them. At her staple pop-up location at the Grapefruit Moon in the Annex, her ever-evolving dinner menus offer deep-dives into specific African regions, which Adjei contextualizes with information about the corresponding culture.

The whopping 158 neighborhoods reflect the various groups who have immigrated to Toronto over the centuries, subsequently carving out food havens and hubs of their own. That diversity has lent a certain malleability to the restaurant scene. Toronto doesn’t really have a steadfast signature dish (no disrespect to the late legendary chef Anthony Bourdain, but that insipid peameal bacon sandwich was never “a thing” with locals) and the city may never coalesce around one item. The vast tapestry of food heritage could never be encapsulated in a single meal.

Standout selections by head chef Joseph Ysmael include the Husband + Wife Beef, an addictive inferno of tripe and shank cuts bathed in chile oil and finished with peanuts; chewy silver needle noodles that sing with a backbone of soy sauce and overtures of earthy black mushrooms; gnawable lamb ribs perfumed with cumin; Toronto Dinner Deals and a favorite, plump cubes of mapo tofu topped with salty nuggets of dry-aged beef, Sichuan peppercorn, and garlic chives. Save room for the soft-serve dessert: a swirly-twirly, soybean-based wonder that gets a bear hug of crushed cinder toffee and a drizzle of mature soy sauce caramel. Open in Google Maps

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It’s worth checking them out before choosing your dining destination. It could mean the difference between a full price meal and a delicious discount.