7 Foods in Toronto - Best Authentic Restaurants - TasteAtlas
Search locations or food
OR
Sign up

What to eat in Toronto? Where to eat in Toronto? 7 Traditional Foods You Have To Try in Toronto

The best traditional dishes in Toronto and the best authentic restaurants that make them, recommended by industry professionals.
Last update: Sat May 18 2024
VIEW MORE
01
Ate it? Rate it
Wanna try?
Add to list

Originating from Toronto, this simple sandwich consists of thick slices of fatty and crispy peameal bacon on a Kaiser bun. The bun soaks up the bacon's juices, developing its own meaty texture in the process. The sandwich is usually paired with mustard, and nowadays there are even modern versions with added cheese, eggs, tomatoes, or lettuce.


The bacon is called peameal because it used to be rolled in ground yellow peas, and although it's now typically rolled in cornmeal, the name peameal bacon remains unchanged.

MOST ICONIC Peameal bacon sandwich

1
Carousel Bakery
02

Appetizer

TORONTO, Canada
3.4
Ate it? Rate it
Wanna try?
Add to list

Sushi pizza is an unusual spin on sushi that is popular throughout Canada, especially in Toronto. It consists of a fried rice patty topped with salmon, tuna, or crab, avocado slices, spicy mayonnaise, and soy-wasabi sauce. It is believed that the dish was invented by a Japanese chef Kaoru Ohsada in a restaurant named Nami.


Originally, he made the dish by frying sushi rice, topping it with salmon, and garnishing it with tobiko fish roe and chopped onions. Today, sushi pizza is often accompanied by soy sauce or pickled ginger on the side. This food trend has also crossed national borders, so you can occasionally find it in poké restaurants in the United States.

MOST ICONIC Sushi pizza

1
Square Fish
2
Sushi Inn
3
Sushi On Bloor
03
Ate it? Rate it
Wanna try?
Add to list

Pancakes are traditionally consumed across North America and Canada, made from a starchy batter, eggs, milk, and butter. Their origin is probably German, with the traditional Pfannkuchen recipe being brought by German immigrants who settled in the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.


The pancake has a similar appearance and flavor as the French crêpe but differs in diameter (5 to 10 cm) and thickness. The thickness is achieved by the use of a leavening agent, either baking soda or nutritional yeast. American and Canadian pancakes are typically served for breakfast, in a pile, topped with maple syrup and butter. 

MOST ICONIC Pancakes with maple syrup

04

Potato Dish

QUEBEC, Canada
4.2
Ate it? Rate it
Wanna try?
Add to list

Even though its name stems from the French boudin—a word that usually refers to the pudding-like fillings of sausages—this soppy treat originating from the French Canadian province of Quebec consists of french fries drowned in a thick, brown gravy dotted with clumps of pale, soft, semi-creamy cheese curds.


The potatoes are more coarsely cut than regular fries, and they are sometimes even fried twice so that the exterior remains crispy while the interior remains soft, whereas the cheese does not melt but just softens, adding that special squeakiness to the dish, and the gravy is made with either beef or chicken stock with the addition of vinegar. 

MOST ICONIC Poutine

1
The Lakeview Restaurant
2
Smoke's Poutinerie
3
Utopia Cafe & Grill
05
Ate it? Rate it
Wanna try?
Add to list

Long before beef jerky, there was pemmican, a Native American snack with a high fat content that was originally used as travel food. The word pemmican (pimîhkâ) comes from the Cree tribe and is derived from the word pimi, meaning fat or grease.


It's made from a mixture of fat and lean meat of buffalos. The meat is thinly sliced, dried, and ground into a powder to make beef jerky, which is later mixed with fat to make pemmican. The flavor is creamy and salty, and pemmican bars are considered an outdoor tradition, useful for hunters, fishermen, and campers alike, as it provides tons of energy in a small package and it also has a very long shelf life. 

MOST ICONIC Pemmican

1
Boralia
06
Ate it? Rate it
Wanna try?
Add to list

Butter tart is a humble food that achieved iconic status in early 20th-century Canada. The filling is traditionally made with a combination of walnuts, eggs, brown sugar, butter, and white vinegar, and it's then placed into small, flaky, deep or shallow tart shells before baking.


Early versions of the recipe, dating back to 1915, suggest that currants and raisins should also be included in the mixture. There are lots of theories about the origin of the tart – some say that it is related to pecan pie, which was brought to the country by American slaves, some say it evolved from Quebec's sugar pie, while others say it's linked to Border Tarts from southern Scotland. 

MOST ICONIC Butter tarts

1
Wanda's Pie in the Sky
2
Bonjour Brioche
3
Bunner's Bakeshop
07

Savory Pie

QUEBEC, Canada
3.9
Ate it? Rate it
Wanna try?
Add to list

Tourtière is a traditional French-Canadian spiced meat pie that is often prepared between Christmas and New Year's Eve, but since it is so savory and fragrant, it doesn't stay on the menu for too long. Usually made with pork, it sometimes also includes beef for a different texture and flavor.


The meat is additionally enhanced with lots of onions, diced or mashed potatoes, and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. The mixture of meat, herbs, and vegetables is served under a lid of golden, flaky pastry dough, making it an ideal winter meal. 
VARIATIONS OF Tourtière

MOST ICONIC Tourtière

1
Le Papillon on Front