Café
Mocha Mocha
489 Danforth, at Logan, 416-778-7896. After operating Lima, Peru’s, only Dutch pancake house, Marijan and Mercedes Tripkovic opened this nutritious noshery in 1991. Count on a cross-cultural menu that incorporates Latin American, Italian and African influences. Warning: chaotic on weekends. Best: spicy East African chicken stew with brown rice and house salad – shredded carrot, red cabbage, cuke, tomato and leaf lettuce in lemony honey Dijon Tex Mex burritos stuffed with refried beans, topped with diced avocado, pickled jalapeño and sour cream vegetarian club sandwiches, a triple-decker stacked with grilled eggplant, avocado and mozzarella on organic whole-wheat toast made-to-order egg salad on Fred’s multigrain for dessert, Wanda’s retro apple pie. Complete meals for $25 per person ($18 at lunch or brunch), including all taxes, tip and a domestic beer. Average main $10. Open Monday to Saturday 9 am to 9 pm, Sunday 11 am to 9 pm. Licensed. Delivery. Access: barrier-free, but very crowded room. Rating: NNN
Chinese Vegetarian
Buddha’s Vegetarian Foods
666 Dundas W, at Denison, 416-603-3811. Possibly the bleakest eatery in town, this austere white and grim grey room is decorated with only an incense-burning shrine and some travel posters. Who minds the digs, though, when the 100 per cent vegan grub is as energizing to the body as the soul? Warning: since Buddhists believe that garlic and onion encourage lust, explosive temper and non-karmic body odour, spicing is kept to a minimum. Best: meaty Chinese, slivered button and whole straw mushrooms with Chinese broccoli and carrot over thick rice noodles toasted cashew and tofu stir-fry with celery, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, red pepper, baby corn and fresh garden peas. Complete meals for $10 per person, including all taxes and tip. Average main $7. Open Wednesday to Monday 11 am to 9 pm. Closed Tuesday and Christmas. Unlicensed. Cash only. Access: three steps at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
Ethiopian Vegetarian
M&B Yummy Ethiopian Vegetarian Cuisine
1263 Queen W, at Brock, 416-516-2798. Despite some confusion over her initial card, this modest Ethiopian eatery is now exclusively vegetarian, much of it vegan. Advisory: this is finger food, literally, so bring your own fork. Best: massive veggie combos served on injera piled with faux “meat,” curried cabbage, beans with carrots, collard greens and lentil dahl all-day breakfasts like smoky fava bean foul topped with raw onion, tomato and chilies shiro fit-fit, a porridge of olive-oil-soaked injera flatbread laced with caramelized onion and jalapeño that’s said to cure hangovers for dessert, house-baked vegan pastries Ethiopian coffee ceremony for six. Complete meals for $15 per person, including all taxes, tip and a spiced Ethiopian tea. Average main $9. Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday noon to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday noon to 11 pm all-day brunch Sunday 11 am to 9 pm. Closed Tuesday and weekdays from 4 to 5 pm. Unlicensed. Access: two steps at door, three steps to washrooms. Rating: NNN
Indian Vegetarian
Udupi Palace
1460 Gerrard E, at Rhodes, 416-405-8189. This white-on-white south Indian family eatery is so spotless, you could eat right off the white ceramic floor. Through open doors, you note a gleaming stainless steel kitchen where staff dressed in jeans and matching golf shirts polish things that are already lustrous. Warning: spicing is meek and the always busy space noisy. Best: 24-inch-diameter dosai made from fermented lentil flour that range from flapjack-thick to tissue-thin, like the vellumesque Paper Dosa coupled with tame lentil, carrot and pepper sambal, pasty coconut relish and coriander-mint chutney Special Rava Masala Dosa, a green-chili-flecked pancake battered and deep-fried yellow banana peppers stuffed with curried potatoes and peas to finish, sweet carrot halwa puréed pudding. Complete meals for $15 per person, including all taxes and tip. Average main $8. Open Sunday to Thursday noon to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday noon to 11 pm. Licensed. Access: six steps at door, washrooms on same floor. Rating: NNN
Japanese
Manpuku
105 McCaul, at Dundas W, 416-979-6763. This self-described “modern Japanese eatery” in the food court of Village by the Grange just east of the AGO sets itself apart from virtually every other Japanese joint in the GTA by not serving sushi. Instead, it offers an extremely inexpensive card of Osaka-centric noodle soups and dumpling dishes in casually modern digs that belie its food court setting. Best: niku udon, thick, slurpable wheat noodles in fishy soy broth topped with thinly shaved and slightly fatty beef in teriyaki-style sauce kake udon with sliced pink kamaboko fish cake and scallion chiffonade takoyaki, doughy golden dumplings with a tender nugget of octopus at their core, garnished with bonito flakes, powdered seaweed and sweet Japanese mayo. Complete meals for $10 per person, including all taxes, tip and a Japanese soda. Average main $5. Open Monday to Wednesday 10 am to 8 pm, Thursday to Friday 10 am to 11 pm, Saturday 11 am to 11 pm. Closed Sunday, holidays. Licensed. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNN
Korean
Buk Chang Dong To Fu
691 Bloor W, at Clinton, 416-537-0972. One of many informal fast-food eateries along the Koreatown strip, this hard-to-find spot specializes in “soon,” a fiery soup thick with tofu, seafood or meat served with kimchee, raw scallion and other incendiary condiments. Always busy, indifferent service at best. Best: to begin, a parade of banchan like vinegared wakame with onion and carrot from the extremely short lineup, five varieties of soon – kimchee, New Zealand mussels, sliced pork or beef, or unshelled shrimp – all mixed with miso broth, red chili pepper, raw egg and scallions over oven-baked sticky rice bi bim bap, a meal-in-one crunchy rice casserole stirred with raw egg and layered with ground beef, slivered zucchini, carrot, marinated mushrooms and sprouts. Complete meals for $10 per person, including all taxes, tip and a glass of hot water. Average main $7. Open daily 11 am to 10 pm. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
Pakistani
Lahore Tikka House
1365 Gerrard E, at Highfield, 416-406-1668. This hectic east-side Pakistani eatery seats customers in a series of interconnected sari-decorated trailers. Warning: order any dish hot and be prepared for meltdown-level heat. Best: slashed whole red snapper tikka, smoky from the charcoal-fuelled tandoor, skewered with lightly charred turmeric-tanged onion, potato and tomato aromatic minced lamb kebabs lemon-scented aloo gobi rich with waxy spuds and al dente cauliflower yellow lentils and pulverized spinach palak dahl vegetable biryani with chickpeas, crunchy cauliflower and carrot butter-brushed naan tossed with sesame seeds house-made almond kulfi ice cream. Complete meals for $20 per person, including all taxes, tip and a glass of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. Average main $9. Open Sunday to Thursday noon to 1 am, Friday and Saturday noon to 2 am. Unlicensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
Portuguese
Caffe Brasiliano
849 Dundas W, at Euclid, 416-603-6607. Since moving across the street into far fancier digs, this west-side Portuguese cafeteria-cum-coffee-house has become known by more than just cabbies and folks who happen to live close by. Around since the 60s, the place hosts a multiculti mix of grumpy old men, coffee-swilling locals with toddlers in tow and early-morning club kids still up from the night before, all starting the day substantially with Old World home cookin’. Best: the rotating list of weekday specials – filet of sole, chicken drumsticks, or pasta al forno on Monday, baked chicken Tuesday, Wednesday-only lasagna, Thursday’s canneloni and Friday’s well-done roast beef – all sided with roasted potato, lemony chickpea salad and mixed Portuguese veggies doused in olive oil to drink, strong house-roasted coffee. Complete meals for $11, including all taxes, tip and a coffee. Average main $8. Open Monday to Saturday 6 am to 11 pm. Closed Sunday, some holidays. Licensed. Cash only. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNN
Salvadoran
Tacos El Asador
690 Bloor W, at Clinton, 416-538-9747. As its name suggests, the grub here is an El Salvadoran interpretation of Mexican street food. Although the taqueria’s minimal decor and picnic bench seating aren’t conducive to chilling, the family-style service is always warm. Best: humongous plates piled with thin pan-fried steak, mild tomato salsa, refried beans, rice studded with corn kernels and red pepper, and a salad of cucumber, sweet pepper and avocado crisp tacos stuffed with lime-tenderized chicken, beef or pork pupusas layered with cheese and bean-and-squash purée and topped with red and white cabbage slaw as well as sliced onion, jalapeño and chili salsa. Complete meals for $14 per person, including all taxes, tip and an imported Mexican beer. Average main $7. Open Monday to Saturday noon to 9 pm, Sunday 2 to 9 pm. Licensed. Cash only. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
Vietnamese
Hanoi 3 Seasons
1135 Queen E, at Larchmount, 416-469-3010. Owner Hai Luke Tran trades on the success of his North Vietnamese boîte with the launch of a second Seasons in hip Leslieville. Sporting chic Southeast Asian antiques, the new room is even more upmarket than the original. Other locations: 588 Gerrard E, at Broadview, 416-463-9940. Best: from a virtually identical menu, start with Hanoi’s signature dish, Hen, baby clams in chili turmeric sauce sided with black sesame seed crackers rice paper-wrapped spring rolls stuffed with minced sausage and sided with delicate calamari fritters laced with dill (Cha Gio Cha Muc) meaty green New Zealand mussels steamed in lemongrass satay grilled grouper with dill and chilies over vermicelli and pho fixin’s. Complete dinners for $30 per person (lunches $20), including all taxes, tip and a glass of house wine. Average main $9/$8. Open Tuesday to Sunday for lunch noon to 3 pm, dinner 6 to 11 pm. Closed Monday. Licensed. Access: short bump at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNNN
