Italian food in Toronto has always been a safe bet — but safe is no longer the goal for the city’s newest generation of Italian restaurants. A fresh wave of openings is pushing the cuisine in directions that feel genuinely exciting, from pasta-by-the-bowl fast casual concepts on Queen West to sophisticated Little Italy dining rooms […]
Some restaurant concepts are built to fill a market gap. Others are built because their creators simply had something specific to say. Eloise and Bar Cart — the dual-concept opening from brothers Graham and Dan Hnatiw at 42 The Esplanade — falls firmly in the second category, and the result is one of the most […]
Not every night out needs to be loud, flashy or relentless. Vinny — the new vinyl-themed cocktail lounge and restaurant from INK Entertainment, now open at 480 King Street West — is betting that there’s a significant appetite in Toronto for something different: a space built around records, cocktails and a steady, bass-driven vibe that […]
Toronto’s restaurant community has a long tradition of using its platforms for good, and Casa Portuguesa in the Castlefield Design District is embodying that spirit in a particularly moving way. The restaurant — best known for its Portuguese hot table featuring piri piri chicken and roasted fish — is hosting a series of Fado nights […]
Toronto’s wellness culture and its dining scene have been circling each other for years, and Kyma — the city’s new “functional dining” restaurant at 2865 Dundas St. — is the boldest attempt yet to merge the two into something genuinely compelling. The concept is straightforward but ambitious: food that’s as good for your body as […]
Pompette has been through more transformations than most Toronto restaurants experience in a lifetime, and every iteration has made it more interesting. What started as a simple cocktail and wine bar with snacks in April 2020 evolved through pandemic pressures into a French restaurant, then became Vinoteca Pompette with a distinctive green exterior — and […]
Grant van Gameren is one of the most influential names in Toronto’s restaurant industry. The force behind Bar Raval, El Rey Mezcal Bar, Martine’s Wine Bar and Harry’s Charbroiled has shaped the city’s dining culture in ways that are hard to overstate. Now, he’s doing something new — and the city’s food community is paying […]
When Kramer’s Bar & Grill closed its doors in Davisville Village in the summer of 2025, it marked the end of a beloved neighbourhood era. But as it turns out, the team behind Kramer’s wasn’t stepping away from the restaurant industry — they were quietly preparing something far more ambitious: not one, but three new […]
Toronto never needs much of an excuse to throw a party, and Cinco de Mayo 2026 proved that the city knows how to celebrate in spectacular fashion. From rooftop takeovers and live mariachi to circus-inspired activations and creative margarita programs, the city delivered a week’s worth of events that made the most of the tequila-soaked […]
There’s a quiet revolution happening on King Street West, and it has everything to do with what time kitchens close. When Portland Square opened in summer 2025, INK Entertainment founder Charles Khabouth made a deliberate decision: two of the four restaurants inside the building — Honey Chinese and Prima Donna — would stay open until […]