Joanne Kates Top 100 $

Buca exec chef Rob Gentile has mastered the art of branch plant quality control. Both the food and the service at Bar Buca are consistently impeccable. No reservations, communal high-tops, friendly prices, it stands at the intersection of casual and classy. The plates are small but each bite packs an overwhelming flavour punch. Tuna carpaccio comes in a bath of aromatic EVOO jazzed with squid ink salt and fennel fronds to underline the sweetness of the fish. Goat and ricotta meatballs are rich, gamey, and smothered in the most intense tomato sauce (perfect dipping for house-made sourdough). Skewers of baby octopus and sopressata sit on luxe potato crème infused with lemon EVOO. Schiacciata are out of this world: fillings like melt-in-your mouth roast pork with tangy apple mostarda and velvety mascarpone sandwiched between ultra-crisp baked bread. Don’t skip dessert, cause their cannoli are creamy crisp erotica.

Lovers of Indian food will be over the moon here. The app that puts a big smile on my taste buds is chaat: Crispy puffed rice with pomegranate, potato, tamarind chutney, chickpeas and yogurt — sweet, hot, fabulous. Street inspired spicy chicken tikka is the fab, and serving it on buttery flaky paratha with mint chutney is inspired. Tamil kothu roti (from Sri Lanka) is equally jazzy — chopped paratha with raw cabbage, chiles, exotic sprouts, onions, coriander and lemon. Supercharged savour! Charcoal grilled prawns come in a sweet little tiffin box with crunchy noodles and mango slaw. Arvi tuk is a splendour of jumped up flavours: A base of crunchy fried taro topped with tamarind chutney, kachumber (Indian chopped salad), chile spiced yogurt and thin slices of watermelon radish. And no tipping here!

Only 20 seats but it’s the sweetest little seafood resto in town, based on the simple notion that perfectly fresh fish goes great with… anything. The small menu reaches from Italy to Japan via Thailand, and with great grace. It’s easiest to order pan-fried fish, as you see on display at their impeccable retail fish counter. But they do complex really well too: Their trademark okonomiyaki pancake — a tradition to which whole restos in Japan are dedicated — is a feather-light pancake stuffed with the fish of the day, shredded cabbage and mountain yam and bacon, and topped bonito and green onion and super-yummy secret sauce. Their Thai lobster salad is loaded with lobster spiked with toast peanuts, chiles, Thai basil and vinegar. And we love the chowder, a clean un-thick cream. Quaff the Caesar with housemade clamato and cucumber vodka. Dreamy.

Chef Noureen Feerasta started cooking at home, absorbing curry and pakora from her Ismaili parents’ genealogy and experience — her family’s time in Burma infected her khao shay with complex rich broth that’s 10 times more interesting than the trad Thai coconut soup in khao soi. Her restaurant is plain, decorated only with a gorgeous beaded dress from the wedding she cancelled. The extravaganza is all on the plates: Scallop ceviche is a chile-kissed lime-scented treat with coconut milk, puffed rice and complex masala spicing. Chef’s crispy parathas are filled with crispy veg fritter with slightly pickled cabbage and coriander-tinged yogurt. Even desserts are distinctive: Coconut panna cotta is exotic limpid velvet topped with puckery pineapple gel. For milk pastry she reduces milk for hours on low heat, flavours it with cardamom and deep-fries it in phyllo packets, strewing it with rose petals and almonds.

Restaurants in downtown Toronto come and go but KSR is six years in and only on its 2nd chef. Food is crispy and creamy, sweet and sour, salty and spicy. Khao soi, their signature curry stew of tender chicken in coconut cream, has two kinds of egg noodle — boiled in the stew, and deep-fried on top. Deep-fried squash fingers are a tad greasy but deliciously offset with tangy tamarind sauce. All of the curries are decent, but standout is the Massaman which gets its unique flavour from tamarind and peanuts. Other notables are Pad gra prao — minced meat zinged with holy basil and lime leaves, topped with crispy fried egg, and crispy rice salad — gingery, herbal, with just the right amount of spice. They don’t take reservations so expect to stand in line, but the food is worth it.

That Toronto should be renamed ramen-town few would dispute; and of all the ramen parlours in town, this is the classy one. It’s still ramen, but all the fixins are the finest — fab pork belly and shoulder, rich broth, the nori is crisp, the egg is perfectly poached rather than humdrum hard-boiled, and we love the sweet fish cake. As for sides, maestro David Chang’s trademark cloud-like steamed buns with sweet pork belly, lightly pickled cucumber and hoisin are a Momo riff on Peking duck. This NYC export takes limited reservations and has no backs on the seats but oh joy, they now take reservations.

Gracefully channeling a 1920’s loggers bar: Birch saplings twinkling with Edison bulbs line the walkway from the street (behind Rose and Sons), piles of split wood remind us that we’re Canajun, eh? Inside it’s log cabin all the way with long wooden communal tables, rough blankets for padding and candle lanterns dangling from the beams. The wood fire at the back says cozy and the smoky ribs may be the best in town — meaty, pink, innocent of sauce but loaded with flavour. And a garnish of crunchy pears cooked with pecorino, sage, walnuts and happy grease. Noisy and fun.

Grant van Gameren, of the superb Bar Isabel, opened Raval to mimic the tapas bars of Barcelona. Its look is pure Gaudi, mahogany carved into great swooping curves and cutouts, a triumph of gorgeous whimsy. It’s a bar. You stand. No cutlery save for a tiny fork, mostly finger food — pintxos — small bites either speared on toothpicks or on great bread. Grant is a pickle addict. His crunchy dills and chile-pickled guindilla peppers, jazz spears of melt-in-the-mouth tuna confit. Lightly pickled tender white anchovies play nicely with marinated red peppers on bread. Small clams which are canned as soon as they’re harvested in Spain are the best thing I’ve ever had from a can. Similarly charming and delightful are small chunks of grilled octopus. Raval is open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Go for breakfast. Grant’s fresh flaky dulce de leche doughnuts are the sexiest carbs in town. Pintxos like morcilla sausage topped with a fried quail egg make bacon ‘n’ eggs seem antique. Be Catalan!

Patois happens when Chinese Jamaican food meets Toronto in a flash of fun. Kimchi potstickers pierogi style are tender little dumplings with beautifully caramelized onions, bacon and kimchi flavoured sour cream with scallions on top. Yum! Same deal with miniature Jamaican patties, properly flaky and jazzed with bacon, melted Swiss cheese and sriracha. When chef jerks lobster, we fall upon our knees. Seasoned with jerk butter, fried hot and fast, it’s nouvelle finger-lickin’. As is Jamaican oxtail ramen lo mein. Superbly tender chunks of braised oxtail keep company with coconut plantain rice, bacon, bok choy and chicharron in deep gingery brown sauce. Everything about Patois is what we love about Toronto: An ethnically hybrid cuisine in hipster garb.

Why do Forest Hill gourmands fill Mama Rosa’s resto every night? They can afford to go elsewhere but they love the robust southern Italiana. Consistency is a big deal. It’s always good there. An Italian grandmother is worth her weight in gold, gastronomically. Those of us not lucky enough to have one go to 7 Numbers where Mama Rosa cooks six nights a week in the open kitchen at the front. And greets you. And offers to clean the stain off your shirt. Her southern Italian cooking is bright and strong, loaded with flavour. Mama Rosa’s meatballs are big, tender and bathed in her dazzling trademark tomato sauce. Her linguini with rapini come in great garlicky tomato sauce. Orecchiette are splendid with cured ricotta. She cooks both sardines and calamari perfectly. Walk in the door and get “Ciao bella,” and a kiss. What could be better?

From kalbi beef ribs to calamari with kimchi, the Mex/Korean member of the Cabana mini-chain (six restos) is a sweet funky room, its food superbly entertaining — and appropriately located in Koreatown. K-Mex slaw is a splendor of Korean cabbage with avocado and fresh cheese in delicate ginger sesame dressing. They do dynamite ceviche and great charcoal smoked chipotle flavoured wings with dots of blue cheese. Fab fusion is chicken kampungki, divinely ungreasy light rice flour batter-fried with wasabi mayo and salsa made from chipotle, sesame and gochujang (spicy fermented Korean sauce of soybeans, chile and rice). Short rib tacos are luscious with ancho, guajillo and mole. And for dessert, always, the Cabana trademark tres leches cake with satiny cream on top.

It’s matured into a haven of porcine pleasures They only fire up the smoker Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, so ribs are on offer from 5 p.m. on those days. They sell out around 6:30, so call at 5, show up at 5:30 and take out dinner, cause it’s no fun eating at the hectic counter. The ribs are the best in town. Smoked all day over hickory and apple wood, they’re vaguely sweet and super-succulent with a light mahogany crust, big and meaty, with no goopy sauce. Fabulous fried chicken is great grease. Pulled pork sammy is coleslaw with barely smoked pork, moist and sweet. The fries are sweet and fresh, but the trad flat-top burger, once divine, is sometimes overcooked.

PCC 2.0 is much more fun than its Dupont Street original. It’s bigger, more comfy and more fun, a carefully curated retro American roadhouse with hot pink neon, highway signs and big metal sombreros doubling as lights over the bar. What a great taqueria — and they take reservations! Octo-tacos are tender octopus tossed with super spicy slightly smoky coriander, roasted corn, red cabbage, guacamole and a load of chilies in a soft corn tortilla. Short rib brisket stars in a taco with pan fried tortilla for crunch. Chiles rellenos are the classic — crisp batter-fried peppers stuffed with a river of melted cheese, black beans and queso fresco. Skip the tres leches cake. It’s gotten big and blah.

Anthony Rose, the King of Dupont, gives us a sweet little French bistro. Too bad no res. Worth lining up for. We love tartine of pissaladiere: Crusty Thuet bread topped with caramelized onions, black olives, chevre cream and anchovies. Or melt-in-the-mouth foie gras torchon with griddled sliced brioche. Chef Trista Sheen’s salt cod croquettes are deep-fried but ungreasy with a heart of moist cod. Her steelhead trout crudo is pretty pink trout marinated in oil and lemon. She does a fab bouillabaisse with crisp-fried whitefish in great broth. Duck confit is crisp on the outside, unctuous on the inside, perfectly partnered with chile-spiked white beans and wilted escarole. But my heart belongs to the beef bourgignon, in all its wine-soaked splendor. Close your eyes and you could be in Paris.

Great look, maritime without kitsch, with arched walls and ceiling and porthole lights from the old Captain John’s ship resto. Love the swordfish crudo with shiso leaf for fragrance, Trinidad peppers for heat, pickled sea asparagus for sour, soy for umami and a crown of crispy chicken skin for sexy. And the Cape Breton sweet baby shrimp served on sourdough with anchovy brown butter sauce. And duck confit with Kewpie mayo, chilies, scallions, toasted peanuts and mint, and served on a gossamer crispy coconut cream crepe. There’s creamy black risotto of squid ink built on braised cured meat with chopped calamari. For dessert do the tart of caramelized apple with almond crumble atop crème anglaise, in the tenderest possible crust.

Still grand, but now that Toronto is taqueria-town it’s no longer way out in front. We still adore the complexity of the tacos, all of them adorned with variations on the theme of robust guacamole, marinated onions, fresh cheese, crema, chipotle, citrus mayo and coriander. Crisp cauliflower are the deep fryer’s ungreasy gift to veg. Octopus el diablo is sweet and hot, cooked sous vide and then grilled with tomato crema and garlic chips. Tuna poke is a great combo of barely seared tuna with tiny beet cubes topped with shreds of deep-fried beet and potato. Kale salad gets funky with a topping of chile-kissed toasted shredded pumpkin seeds. But they’re doing a lot of takeout, which dilutes the attention. Coconut cream dessert arrives in a plastic cup and sometimes they forget the cream and shredded coconut on top.

A sandwich shop doesn’t get to be a Rosedale institution by doing anything less than great work. The Camel’s brisket sandwich is the sparks that fly when Bubby meets Texas BBQ. The meat has been roasted so long and slow that it melts in your mouth; its tomato-based sauce is just sweet enough to make you smile, and they pile it on a soft Portuguese kaiser bun. The pulled BBQ pork sandwich is a tad hotter and sweeter, balanced on molasses and cider vinegar, although still restrained, and it too is juicy/moist. Even the veggie sandwich pops with giant flavours. A sandwich shop that can make arugula, roasted tomato, red pepper and eggplant exciting is my kinda fun. Ask for house-made BBQ sauce on the meats, and piquant chipotle mayo on the veg. Takeout is best, but there are seats in a sunny window overlooking a small park.

Deceptively simple, the best banh mi in town is a carnival of flavours: Unfatty pork belly with a touch of crisp on it is inflected with five-spice powder and sandwiched with cucumber, coriander and lightly pickled sweet/hot carrot and daikon shreds. Best is on bao — the Vietnamese moist steamed bun. But on baguette — the edible reminder of Vietnam’s French period — is also très delicieux. They also do a great beef short rib Sammy and spicy meatball. As for kimchi fries, these are to Korean food what poutine is to Canadian cuisine. Sweet perfect frites are mixed with fab pulled pork, green onions and mayo, with enough kimchi on top for excitement.

Porchetta 2.0 is even more wonderful than its parent. Here too there is chef/owner Nick auf der Mauer’s signature sublime warm sliced roast pork sandwich on Thuet French bread. This is pork with a pedigree. He takes great farmhouse pork, marinates it in sage, rosemary, lemon and garlic and then wraps it in prosciutto and pork belly and roasts it long and slow, so the sweet and savoury of the duet of sweet/salty porcine wraps can penetrate the flesh. He layers pork crackling, grainy house-made mustard and adds vinegary hot sauce to the meat, it’s heaven on a bun. The new menu addition at the King shop is superb ultra-crunchy fried chicken sandwich. The second shop also has a few tables with stools for eating in. Do not neglect the supernal rapini with chiles and garlic or the super-fresh frites.

I thought Spadina was mostly finished for Chinese food and have been overjoyed to fall in love with Taste of China, whose fresh seafood (much of it live) is the biggest Sino-thrill south of Highway 7. In summertime they bring in live B.C. spot prawns whose sweetness is divine. They braise small fresh clams with Chinese radish, clam broth and toasted golden garlic over rice vermicelli. Their giant Vancouver crab is perfectly deep-fried and jazzed with chili and pork. Fresh razor clams come in perfectly balanced black bean sauce. Salt and pepper egg tofu is both feather-light and crisp. Don’t even look at the menu: Sit near the front in my favourite server’s station and let her call the shots.

A spinoff from Barque, the ne plus ultra of Toronto BBQ joints. Prepared food shop by day, hipster bar ’n’ snacky resto by night, BBB is as delectable as Barque. There’s sweet cold-smoked venison tartare topped with a flurry of grated fresh horseradish, with a half-cooked lightly pickled egg, sweet oozing yolk slightly vinegared for contrast. Wild boar terrine is studded with pistachio nuts and wrapped in bacon. There is depth and complexity in the menu. It veers fabulously easy with Fujian spring noodle salad, a triumph of Thai basil, hoi sen and black sesame seeds on al dente egg noodles. This is sophisticated food, with lovely dcor to match. The smoker is out back, it’s the west end, epicenter of Toronto hipsters.

Tapas are the new normal and Spanish food is all over town, but few do it as well as Carmen. Fried artichokes with aïoli are ungreasy, cute ‘n’ sweet. Shishito peppers (small chiles with small heat) are slightly blistered and sit pretty on chile-kissed tomato sauce. Pintxo de pulpo is #1: Crusty toast painted with tomato sauce under fab octopus with confit potato and moist chorizo. But before you start inhaling tapas, order paella cause it takes 45 minutes to get to the table. Worth the wait. My fave is paella del Carmen: Impossible tasty rice rich with sauted onions under perfectly (barely) cooked big shrimps, mussels and clams with chicken and chorizo. For fresh scent, raw basil leaves and snow pea shells. The service is charming and so is the room.

With ersatz retro diners popping up all over town, what a delectable relief to eat in a real diner. With honest passionate food. Anthony Rose’s mother-ship is tiny, always packed, and it takes reservations! Loud rock music, cramped plastic banquettes, writing on the wall, a great burger with sweet fresh fries and aioli…. He marinates chicken in buttermilk for tenderness, southern fries it and puts it on a challah bun with sweetened bacon and house-made sweet pickle relish. His grilled romaine with grilled squash and cheesy grilled bread is Caesar deliciously re-born. The ever-scrumptious peanut butter chocolate milkshake… And it’s not all junk food: Perfectly fresh pickerel gets a quick saut and a lift from smashed potatoes ‘n’ mushrooms. So yes, home base has survived the expansion of the Anthony Rose brand.

Cory Vitiello’s second Flock took over the space where his THR was floundering, and what a splendid new lease on life for the corner of Harbord and Robert. The signature rotisserie chicken is moist and tender, its skin irresistible. Fried chicken is super-crisp, its go-with flaky cheddar biscuit and red cabbage slaw both alluring. The fixings show enormous thought. Rapini with broccoli has a chili garlic kick. Roasted yellow beets and Brussels sprouts have the kiss of acid from schmaltz vinaigrette and crisp-fried onions on top. Mac and cheese is uber-creamy. Salads are funky and encyclopedic. Save room for coconut crust key lime pie and brownie sundae zinged with salted caramel. Flock is fast food redefined. It’s cheap but oddly swanky, as if to give the middle finger to normal fast food. From leather banquettes to marble tables and a great patio, it’s batting way above its station.

A hipster haven on Dundas West, Mr. F. is a sweetly decorated room, flattering retro amber lighting and nicely spaced tables, with unusually pleasant music levels for a spot so cool. Same deal with the service, which is kindly. The menu is ambitious and often meets it goals, thanks to chef Fan Zhang who learned his chops from Nick Liu at Niagara Street Caf. Best are the brown butter gnocchi, big fat and soft, with popcorn puree, black pepper and rosemary. Welcome to hipster heaven, with taste buds.

The four best pizzerias in town share the same menu. Marvellous charred blistered crusts issue forth at great speed from the 900° wood-burning ovens that were built for them by a third generation pizza oven maker in Naples. The houses that pizza built are noisy and often frantic, but the crust is always crisp and the toppings impeccable. Yes, you can ask for double (fresh Ontario) mozzarella on your pizza margherita, which is the regulars’ favourite, thanks to rich tomato sauce and fresh basil under the barely melted mozzarella. Pizza with white anchovies, tomato, buffalo mozzarella, chili and roasted garlic give the taste buds a buzzy wake-up call. Also fab are pizzas with Ontario prosciutto, garlic, tomato, oregano and barely wilted arugula. Skip the gourmet pretensions like duck confit on pizza. And skip dessert. Save the carbs for the pizza pies. Danforth, University and King take reservations; Ossington doesn’t.

Great Korean-influenced Japanese bar food brought to us from by Leemo Han of Oddseoul. It’s a slightly upmarket garage grunge bar that takes no reservations and has no phone and no sign, but we love the food: Moto eggs sit pretty on a charred rectangular wooden tray over small stones in a round plate. And they’re fab: Devilled eggs very jazzed with chillies, salmon eggs, crisp tiny rice balls, soy and shreds of chicken skin. Hamachi tartare is what happened when Japanese food got its Korean mojo on — yellowtail jumped up with chili, ponzu, shiso and avocado. The nice big portion of uni (sea urchin) comes with crisp nori leaves, wasabi and sushi rice, for make-your-own sushi rolls — with savoury little bites of crisped chicken skin. Dyno wings are over-size chicken wings stuffed with pork dumpling meat and then thick batter, deep fried and served in a takeout box. A little sweet, a little greasy and a lot of forbidden fruit fun.

Down an alley, no words on the sign. How cool can you get? Jonathan Poon formerly of Chantecler gives us a casual bar with super-yummy food. Coyly snazzy small items come on melamine with brown paper towel for napkins. Maybe the best fried chicken in town. Skip spicy Thai salad — too mouth-burning. But don’t miss the marvellous rough-chopped Asian spiced steak tartare with raw green beans, lime and fried shallots on tostadas. Or the silly-sounding but wonderful shrimp sandwich on toasted Wonder-bread with shaved iceberg and mayo: A fat loaf of diced shrimp and pork makes this retro sammy super-great. No res, small room, go early or line up.

Son of Grand Electric is a rockin’ out barbecue hut, an ode to bourbon and rock, to smoke and fat. And being the scion of Grand Electric chef/co-owner Colin Tooke, it’s great. Do not skip the Clydesdale (bourbon with grapefruit, agave and lime). Or the crack rolls (well named) — warm dinner rolls with butter that sat under the smoker and got smoky sweet. Also eat the slightly smoky ribs topped with just enough hot sweet Thai sauce. And the crazy crisp fried chicken. And the smoked baked beans. And the sesame seed-topped coleslaw. And the fab custardy banana cream pie. That’s the good news. Good news: They take resos now and will text you when tables are ready. Bad news: Picnic table seating, music too loud to talk.

Fall head over heels in love with a form of pizza that has as much crust as topping. Detroit-style pizza is the anti-thin crust, a crispy crunchy caramelized mozzarella-inflected crust that will have you begging for more. The toppings are as much fun as the crust. House favourite Truff-Ghi is ooey gooey cheeses, garlic that’s been roasted long and slow for sweetness, onion marmalade, cremini mushrooms and smoky bacon. OrThe Good Old Days, with marinated roasted red peppers, house-made fennel sausage, red sauce, basil aïoli, parsley and grana padano. Almost as much fun as their house desserts, which change weekly. Pray for lemon thyme posset, super-creamy lemon mousse topped with crumbled ginger snaps. The best ending to a carnival of carbs.

In addition to the raucous izakaya experience and beautiful but comfy decor, Ryoji offers more than a dozen types of ramen, each with a unique house-made broth of great complexity. The traditional “shio” broth (made with chicken and pork) packs more flavours than either me or my bubby could into a clear liquid. “Tonkotsu” (pork bone) broth is richer, almost creamy and slightly sweet. Spicy miso is a thicker, ruby, umami concoction with a bit of a kick. Even their veggie broth has remarkable taste. The noodles are thin, eggy, and cooked to a perfect, chewy texture. Most of the ramen toppings are standard — too-fatty pork belly, meh rubbery fish cakes; but a couple that leave their mark are the falling-off-the-bone ribs and the gooey-yolked marinated soft boiled eggs. Skip the apps and sides and stick to the ramen, and if you have to get just one make it the special tonkotsu.

Still the best pho in town. No longer a dive, Golden Turtle is now an attractive room, all floral and pastels. They still serve the best pho in town, built on supernal stock. Classic rare beef pho has big thin slices of tender rare beef atop fat rice noodles, its beef broth made complex with star anise. Chicken pho is sweet strong broth with big pieces of moist chicken and rice noodles. Seafood pho is that marvellous chicken stock with thin egg noodles, barely wilted leaf lettuce and seafood. They garnish it with superbly fragrant Thai basil and Thai parsley, bean sprouts, lime, chilies and just-fried browned onion shreds, to great effect. Popular now is the banh xeo: Vietnamese-style crepes with shrimp and pork, bean sprouts and green onions. There are pho parlours all over town, but none come close to Golden Turtle.

Despite the unfortunate pun in the resto’s name, Pho King is indeed a fabulous addition to North Toronto, a neighbourhood where the pho is sadly lacking. Pho King is pleasant looking for a pho parlour; the main event is terrific. My two faves are basic chicken pho with wonderful fragrant rich chicken broth, tender white meat and the usual proper garnish of Thai basil with lime and bean sprouts. And northern beef pho — loaded with beef, its beef broth a complex combo. For which they simmer beef bones for eight hours before adding star anise, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, clove and coriander. For dessert do the classic and strangely delicious strong sweetened Vietnamese coffee — with condensed milk.

What does a plain looking little noodle shop just off Highway 7 have to recommend it? Nothing but the big fat juiciest shrimp wontons in the GTA. They come with a big pile of eggy al dente vermicelli in superb rich pork broth. But the wontons are the star of this show. They’re huge, stuffed with big chunks of sweet-tasting shrimp, and their wrappers are divinely thin and tender without being mushy. My second favourite is their signature noodle. This is a couple of the aforementioned fabulous shrimp wontons with tender white fish balls and a pile of thin-sliced rare beef on top of the noodles. You’re not going for the atmosphere.

Asian Legend has risen from being only of dim sum interest to serving exciting northern Chinese food. Pork and shrimp wontons in spicy creamy peanut sauce are a great app. Hot and sour soup is peppery and fresh. Giant BC crab comes fried crispy in the best black bean sauce in town, made sweet and interesting with sweet peppers, celery, onion and ginger. Good enough to eat the shell! Everybody does snow pea shoots; here they’re more sophisticated, thanks to a soupy sauce built on crab. House special noodles are fat and redolent of five-spice, with pork and cabbage. They smoke and fry duck for crisp and complex. Noodles come with julienne of cucumber to cool the elaborate spicy peanut sauce.

It’s a ramen-centric world; so many ramen shops to choose from, so many opportunities to line up for a meal-in-a-bowl in noisy chaos. Kinton’s many virtues begin with its pork gyoza, fried crisp, redolent of ginger and garlic. But the gyoza are mere foreplay to the main event: Under $12 for long-stewed pork bone stock with great fixins. The noodles are al dente, the egg inflected with the taste of the stock, its yolk soft, the pork juicy. Those who eschew pork meat will favour the delicate vegetable ramen with carrot, corn, fresh al dente asparagus and scads of green onion. The room is charming, its walls covered in crosscut wood, its entertainment the frequent shouts of chefs in rapid motion in the open kitchen. Go at off hours or be prepared to line up.

Chiuchow is a city in the Cantonese province Guangdong, which means its food is lightly sauced and they tend to let ingredients speak for themselves. One often finds garlic and vinegar as a light sauce for poultry in Chiu Chow cooking, and at Chiu Chow Boy they do superbly tender duck like that, with subtle five-spice flavouring in its flesh. The long green garlic chives that we see in Chinese markets appear with sweet chewy Chinese sausage and Chinese summer squash as garnish for noodles. XO (the famous sauce of Hong Kong, made from long cooking-down of dried shrimps and scallops with chili, Chinese ham, garlic and onion in oil) appears as benediction for stir-fried turnip, rendering it an astonishment of delight. Any cook who can do that to turnip has my vote.

Subtle upgrades have taken New Sky up a notch — actual white tablecloths, porcelain statuettes in illuminated niches, and service now a more measured minuet than is normal on Spadina. I never order from the printed menu, but instead look to the specials on the whiteboards. The quaintly named steaming Vancouver crab with seafood fried rice in a steaming cage is Dungeness steamed crab with rice under it. The rice has been flavoured by the crab, the crab is superbly tender and sweet. They fry minced pork with green beans, ginger shards and some heat from XO sauce to great effect, and do al dente Chinese greens with the tang of oyster sauce. Their lobster with ginger and green onion is perfectly cooked, sweet and succulent. Very clean flavours here.

Toronto becs fins gotta know that when you put Rocco Agostino (Pizzeria Libretto) in charge with Nick auf der Mauer (Porchetta & Co) collaborating, sparks will fly. Yummy sparks. A3, named for an unfinished highway into Naples, is casual southern Italiana personified, a downmarket snack bar with a big fat hot pizza oven turning out glorious pies. My fave is white pizza with mushrooms and mozzarella, bchamel, caramelized onions, garlic and thyme. They only do six pizzas and a credible kale Caesar, keepin’ it simple. Also great is maialino with tomato, mozzarella, spicy pork sausage, pepperoni and crunchy fried ciccioli (pressed cakes of fatty pork, divine). They also fry pizza and other assorted goodies. Best is fritto misto, crisp-fried zucchini, mozzarella, cheesy rice balls, shrimp, squid and cod. For dipping in three sauces —aïoli, jumped-up salsa verde with mint, and marinara. Add white subway tiles, red bricks and high-top tables, mix with the pork king and the pizza king, and delight.

Dim sum so fresh you watch the dumpling being made behind a glass wall. Their trademark Shanghai-style soup dumplings (xiao long bao) are little steamed pockets of joy — put the whole thing in your mouth at once so you don’t loose any of the delicious broth that escapes when you bite through the delicate wrapper. My favourite are the plain pork ones — juicy, slightly pink meat simply accented with coriander — it’s almost a shame to mask any of their great flavor by dipping them in the ginger-spiked soy. They do other dim sum equally well. Pan-fried pork pockets are like scallion pancakes taken to the next level. Shanghai wontons come in a bath of spicy sauce (actually more flavour than spice) that will have you shamelessly slurping from the bowl. If you have room, finish your meal with the sweet black sesame dumplings.

QMP is the little pizzeria that could. They‘ve stayed fairly true to the pizza mission — and ramped their expansion, adding trendy pizzerias in Baby Point and Dundas West to their original Leslieville location. We still love the QMP crust cause it’s the anti-cracker, with the big mouth-feel of a trad pizzeria in Naples. Same for the toppings, of which our current fave is Gio Oldschool, with fior di latte fresh cheese, prosciutto, cherry tomatoes and arugula on a thin smear of lovely San Marzano tomato sauce. But the snazzy apps drive up the price of pizza dinner and are not so much fun, so stay with pizza. No need for watery octopus carpaccio or too-spicy sausage on polenta.

India lives in Mimico, in a charmingly modern bistro with barnboard and Edison lights, and a kitchen influenced by stars in the Indian firmament: Curry chef Sujoy Saha came from the Indian Rice Factory and the tandoor guy, Mandy Jawle, cut his teeth at the Michelin-starred Junoon in NYC. Jawle’s hara mirch chicken tikka is divine: Marinated overnight with green chilies, mint and coriander, it is hot and jazzy and totally tender. Saha’s dals are dazzling, his eggplant a complex curry with coconut, ginger, sesame and tamarind. Their co-production of whole tandoori sea bream scented with carom seed and with curry sauce is as delicate as it gets. For dessert there is unusually restrained rasmalai — Indian’s answer to cottage cheese (but SO much better!) in cooked down milk cream with almonds. Tich’s sole weakness is less than stellar service, thanks to being too popular.

Thailand is one of my fave travel destinations because I, like most armies, march on my belly. Nowhere else in the world do I have such confidence — or joy — in cheap street food. Hence my pleasure at Nana, young sib of Khao San Road but casual and edgier. Nana mimics Thai street stalls, with the same cheesy blue plastic plates, red plastic stools, a cobblestone floor (!!)… and great food. Spice levels are not adjustable, so if you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen. Tom yum soup is a spicy symphony of tomato, lemongrass and lime. Laab (built on either oyster mushrooms or fried chicken) is trad Thai street salad spiked with shallots, chilies, mint, palm sugar and toasted rice. But my heart belongs to khao soi, northern Thailand’s meal-in-a-bowl: Coconut chicken soup overflowing with bean sprouts, onions, fried chicken and egg noodles, topped with crispy fried noodles. Yum!

The County has been riding high on a sea of whiskey pours, bourbon-based county cocktails, pork —and the high standards of owner Carlo Catallo, who has taken The County towards expansion, with spin-offs opening. Has this cost the cool southern diner some taste buds? Methinks. The formerly fab lightly smoked pork belly Chinese style on cute little steamed buns is good but has lost some garnish pizzazz. Ditto the fried chicken — still crispy but not as erotically so as in yesteryear. We love the slightly smoky guajillo and ancho chile-braised long ribs. But the competition in meat-mad Hogtown is so stiff. The farmhouse rustic dcor is still great, with a wonderful huge map of Toronto circa 1876. They’ve expanded from their bourbon obsession to include great rum pours; the cooking these days? Strictly mid pack.

Inexpensive uptown izakaya is a dream come true. Fin is a dark wood retreat from the workday, classically izakaya with the shouted greetings from behind the counter, the TVs tuned to sports and the huge menu of cheap Japanese food. And hurrah, it is mostly very well executed. We love the table-top cooked sukiyaki with super thinly sliced beef, tofu and bok choy in sweetened soy. They grill whole sea bass perfectly for less than half what other restos charge; and their clams with shrimp steamed in sake is pretty good too. And they do a kick-ass tempura udon meal-in-a-bowl. Too bad it’s only at lunchtime.

The best Peking duck in Toronto is (of course) in the 905. Dayali, the first Canadian outpost of a Beijing chain, doesn’t take reservations (except for groups). The 30 minute lineup starts weekdays at 6 p.m. and weekends at 6:30. Why? Perchance ’cause they expand the trad crisp course into two courses: Accompanied by a steamer for pancakes with scallions, cuke, hoisin, sugar and five-spice chili salt, first comes crazy-crisp duck skin, to be dipped in sugar or salt. Then duck skin (also crisp) with meat, for the pancake treatment. And finally duck bone soup with tofu and bok choy: Very simple, very pure, very fab. Add country-style veg — cloud ear fungus, carrot and Chinese green shreds — and that’s a great dinner for four. P.S. No credit cards, only debit.

Surprising that such dazzling tastes come from a very beige room with no character or personality to speak of. But wait: You can see the cooks stretching noodles in the open kitchen at the back. This is interesting. Cause the noodles are indeed magic. Rice or wheat, fat or thin, in soup or on the plate, these noodles are great and so are the flavours with them. House signature The Magic is crystal clear chicken broth jumped up with star anise, cloves and a little heat. To make it a meal-in-a-bowl there are classic thin wheat noodles, sweet pickled daikon batons, coriander, green onion, moist chicken, lamb and beef and an overlooked fried egg. Fab! Pork belly is broad rice noodles and fat red cooked pork belly chunks in dark deep broth spiked with star anise. Other fave: Beijing Bang: Pungent fab sauce, a marriage of minced pork and soy, on rice noodles with edamame, bean sprouts, carrot and celery shreds. It’s a great formula.

Toronto finally has an ambitious Filipino restaurant. About time we’re eating lumpia and pancit and leche flan. Chef Daniel Cancino builds strong flavours. Lumpia is house-corned beef in crunchy spring rolls with sweet/tart banana ketchup. Pancit Canton is an edible aspect of the Philippines’ Chinese history: Eggy noodles stir-fried with snow peas, pickled beech mushrooms, pea shoot and chiles. Tuna kinilaw is Filipino ceviche strongly spiked with kalamansi lime, atop coconut-inflected guacamole. We love the chicken adobo, vinegary and glazed dark. Goes great with wondrously garlicky fried rice. All this in a gracious room, with helpful attentive service.

Hordes of hungover hipsters line up every weekend to get their protein pick-me-up and the hair of the dog. Like many downtown spots, the Federal is cramped and crowded, and you may have to ask twice to get your coffee, but their menu is inspired and their cooking a step above what you’d get for the same price elsewhere. French toast with foie gras is the perfect cure for Sunday morning: The toast is moist and eggy, topped with seared foie. Drizzled with maple syrup, the result is a sweet–salty masterpiece. Using green onion-infused oil for frying jazzes up the egg dishes and potato rosti, as does the delish homemade ketchup that co-owner Zach Slootsky pirated from his stint at Aunties and Uncles. Omelets are stuffed with carefully caramelized veg, and the mushroom tarragon sauce they use instead of hollandaise is packed with earthy flavor. Cuban Sammy is tender roast pork; great burgers are made with coarse ground chuck and brisket and smothered in their secret sauce and ballpark mustard (there’s a time and place for everything). Comfort food refined.