Starving Foodie's guide to where to eat around TIFF 2026

Where to eat when you are at the Toronto International Film Festival 2026 (TIFF)

I have tried to write a new list every year.  The past few years, there's been a lot of turnover in the restaurants in the downtown area, so it's tricky to keep up with them.  So many are new, so I have to just list them, and hopefully I will get to some of them over my time around TIFF.

Whether you gotta grab some grub in between rushing to films or if you want to Celebrity spot and have money to blow or just have time to kill between whatever you are doing at TIFF and just need to plunk your butt down and enjoy some amazing food.  I'm most likely the latter.  I'm giving you a variety of choices.  Personally, if I had the budget and time, I would be hanging out in the great service, great food, great vibes, and beautiful spaces, but sometimes you just want a slice of pizza to go.

I did a little bit of roaming around on King Street to see what's new around the 3 main theatres for TIFF, the Royal Alexandra theatre, the Princess of Wales, and Roy Thompson Hall.  Scotiabank Theatre is also not too far from my pics.

I had to extend the reach of restaurants this year because TIFF has a new Festival Market at the Metro Convention Centre and will also have a Red Carpet activation in Yorkville for the General Public.

I will start off the list with what's NEW this year and then I will add some other places nearby that a lot of Tiffers go to.

I listed the closest Tiff venue to the restaurant in case that's helpful.

NEW THIS YEAR

1. Thairoomgrand -303 King St. W.  - It replaced the short-lived Same Same Thai restaurant

I went to their Happy Hour to get a quick bite before going to the TIFF lightbox.  

I had the Spring Rolls, hot right out of the fryer, and really flavourful Chicken Satay. I loved the char and the spices.

2. Bar Romy - 295 Adelaide St. W. - this replaces the former Figo restaurant on the corner.  This is close to Scotiabank and Tiff Lightbox, and the Princess of Wales. This is by the Ink Entertainment group who have lots of bars and restaurants in the city.  They serve Italian food and have a patio. I haven't been yet, but it's at the top of my list of places to check out this year.

3. The Main Exchange - 220 King St. W. - Across from Roy Thompson Hall.  There is a back patio, and this one is new this year.  Good for casual pub eats.

4. Riley's Fish and Steak - 155 Wellington St. W.  - Just behind Roy Thompson Hall 

This one opened this past year.  It's a very high-end restaurant, so if you want to be where the movers and shakers are, then this is probably the place for you.  Or if you have expensive taste in food. This is the second restaurant for the Vancouver-based operation.

I know I took a photo before it opened, but I couldn't find it.   If I splurge during TIFF, I will do an update.

5. Liberty Pizza - 247 Queen St. W. - This one is a bit further away, but if you are craving pizza when you are around Scotiabank and feel like going for a walk or jumping on a streetcar, then check it out.  I haven't been yet.  It's new to this location.

6. HIDDEN GEM! For a quick PIZZA slice tip, go to Quik Mart at Queen and John - 130 John St. They have delicious ready-made pizzas that just need to be warmed up, and they are really good on the way to Scotiabank.

I got this chicken wrap pizza thing.  I really liked it a lot.

7. Blessings in Disguise - 150 John Street - This place was just about to open after TIFF last year.

I still haven't had a chance to get there, but it's right across the street from Scotiabank.  A Bar & Bistro.

8. Everyside - #100 - 120 Adelaide St. W. - They opened last year.  This is also close to Scotiabank Theatre. A restaurant/Bar with a nice variety of food and a Happy Hour, which is always nice.  I don't have photos yet.

9.  Kajiken - 214 Queen St. W. - this one is nice for me.  Its first location in Toronto is around the corner from where I live, so I got to go just after they opened.  It's still in its soft opening at the new Queen Street location, but the lineups are already around the block.  This comes from a Japanese restaurant in California that was Michelin-recommended.  Get the "dry" abura soba noodles.  There are a bunch of different choices, and they add new specials all the time.  Go on a cold day when you want to warm up and fill your belly. Be prepared for a lineup. I think this Queen St. location will stay popular because the Yonge St. one still has the odd lineup.

10.  Japan Taco - 252 Queen St. W.  On John Street entrance.   This tiny place opened this past year.  They were at lots of festivals over the past couple of years.  This is one of my fav things around Queen Street.  Sometimes I will pop over at lunch.  My favourite is the Spicy Salmon.  The crunch on these things is unbelievable, and they are made on the spot and so fresh.  On the way to Scotiabank.

That's the Top 10.

In No Particular order or Category here are a bunch of other options.

Here are some other places you can keep on your radar.  I haven't been yet, so I don't have photos, but this list is for me to remember when I am running around and have to find somewhere to eat.

1. Kabanna Bar - 132 John Street - (Scotiabank)  I can't remember if this is a new one or one I have been to, but it's around the corner from Scotiabank.  It was a Milestone's way back. It's a beautiful space now. Great to go with a group for drinks and a nice dinner.
2. Columbus Cafe - 283 Adelaide St. W. - quick coffee and bites (Scotiabank & Princess of Wales)
3. Florin - 80 Richmond St. W. (Scotiabank) - Fairly new Italian Restaurant.
4. Convivium - 83 Yonge Street- fancy, upscale restaurant, and if you are around Yonge Street on the way to the festival.
5. Dineen Coffee- 200 King St. W.  - coffee and quick bites, opened last year, at St. Andrew Stn.  Limited hours.
6. Esquire Restaurant- 566 Queen St. W.,  a bit further down on Queen.  It just opened; good for your Greek Food Fix. (Scotiabank)
7. Bar Butcher - 31 Bay Street- they call it elevated comfort.  The power deal scene. On the way to a Market Screening.
8. Divino - 46 Blue Jays Way- on the way to Metro Convention Centre - Pizzeria and bar.
9. Gibbons Irish Pub - 26 Duncan St. - kind of easy to figure out this one.  (Royal Alex and Princess of Wales)
10. Hello Nori- 70 York St. and 648 King St. W.- Upscale Sushi and rolls- (Metro Convention Centre)
11. Mizunara- 235 Adelaide St. W. - Contemporary - (Princess of Wales and Tiff Lightbox)
12. Dear Darling- 612 Richmond St. W.- Cocktail bar and kitchen (Scotiabank)
13. Vinny - 480 King St. W.- Variety of menu items (Tiff Lightbox)
14. Hwaro- 332 Yonge Street- Korean BBQ- On the way downtown
15. Petty Cash- 487 Adelaide St. W. - popular bar & kitchen (Scotiabank)
16. Cassius - 624 King. St. W. - Italian with a Patio (Tiff lightbox)
17. Greta Arcade Bar - 590 King St. W.- Global Street food (Tiff Lightbox)
18. Silent H - 461 King St. W.- Modern Mexican - a Drake Fav. (Tiff Lightbox)
19. Abrielle - 355 King St. W. - Mediterranean (in the Sutton Place Hotel) (Tiff Lightbox)
20. Honeys Chinese on King - 600 King St. W, 3rd Floor- Pan Asian - Chinese Fusion- (TIFF Lightbox)

*****A special mention to PAI - 18 Duncan St. - A celebrity and local favourite.  It's always hard to get a table but they have take-out.  The owners Jeff and Nuit Regular are amazing.

There are so many restaurants in Toronto, most of them great, a few ok.  I'm sure I missed a bunch of hidden gems.  It all depends on how far you want to go in the area and your budget and time.   If you stumble upon any amazing places that I didn't list, let me know.   If you search my blog, you can see past lists.  It changes a lot every year.

Let me know if you go to any of these places and if you enjoyed them.

Happy Tiffing!!📽🎞📽🎞📽

All photos are my own.   Follow my Starving Foodie, Film Food Stuff, and Linda Matarasso accounts on Instagram for all the up-to-date things during the Festival.

Tony - A.K.A. Anthony Bourdain

Film by Matt Johnson

Release Date: August 14th

Run Time: 1hr 46min

2026

I may be the wrong person to review this film because I actually met Tony (Anthony Bourdain) at the beginning of his media superstar career.

My friend won tickets to see a Tony pre-screening at Yonge and Eglinton.  So, of course I said yes to going since it's Tony and on my way home from work, even.

I didn't watch the Trailer and only saw snippets of the promo, so I didn't know exactly what to expect.

Ok, so my favourite thing about this screening was the fact that there was what they called a Pre-Reception.  Basically, they handed out 2 oysters to everyone before the movie. The delicious and very fresh oysters were provided by Island Oysters.  Shoutout to them for feeding the audience something instead of popcorn.  My friend wasn't a fan, so he skipped the oysters. 

On to the film.  This film has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  My friend didn't like it much, but I don't think he knows as much about the legend as I do, and I for sure don't know everything.

But here's what I know for sure.  They got some things right, but I felt some things were missing.

Domenic Sessa plays Bourdain in the movie.  He has similarities, but I think the posture threw me off and the glazed eyes most of the time.  This movie was a harsh look at the very beginning of his career when he seemed to lie to everyone about everything, and he did a lot of unkind things.

What the movie got right was the mentorship of a chef-owner (played masterfully by Antonio Banderas), who gave him a break when no one else probably would have.  And the bonds he made with his fellow pirate chefs.  The other great up-and-coming actor is Leo Woodall, who has played so many very different characters.  This one didn't have very many redeeming qualities.

The film is a look at the influence of the people you surround yourself with and how falling in love with someone makes you want to fake being a better person than you are and push yourself to be that better person.

The movie portrays Bourdain as a totally careless, inconsiderate jerk.  Here's where I have conflicting feelings.

I can't even remember the year I met Bourdain, but it was many years ago.  I used to volunteer at Rogers Television as a makeup artist to get some TV credits on my resume.  I worked on 3 shows,  Reel to Real, Auto Talk, and Goldhawk Live, and sometimes another show.  Very different shows with very different guests.  One day I got a call to go into the studio in the morning to do makeup for a pre-tape interview, and the subject was a New York Chef.  That's all they told me.  It was for the show Daytime, which aired at 10 a.m.  Most of the shows I did were prime time.  One thing I learned over time was to try to make the people in the chair feel comfortable.  I did the makeup for Politicians, Automotive industry guys, and film review hosts. And here I am years later, reviewing a film about a guy that I met once briefly and tried to do his makeup while making him feel at ease before his interview.

This was my impression of him long before I ever watched his show. When he first sat down, he seemed reserved — almost reluctant to be there, as though he'd have preferred to be anywhere else, washing dishes included. It was clear that fashion and makeup weren't exactly his world, but that was the job, and he showed up for it.

At the time, I had no idea who he was. But I was a passionate food lover long before I ever became the Starving Foodie — so naturally, I asked him which country had given him the greatest food experience of his travels. Without hesitation, he said Vietnam.

The moment food and travel entered the conversation, something shifted. The reserve melted away. His entire expression changed — a light came into his eyes that hadn't been there before, and the passion just poured out of him. It was impossible to miss and impossible to fake.

Having witnessed that transformation firsthand, I couldn't help but feel its absence in the film. Though I understand why — that kind of raw, unguarded aliveness is nearly impossible to capture on cue.

What gave the film credibility, though, was the cameo appearance by his good friend Eric Ripert from Le Bernadin in New York.  Giving it his stamp of approval.  He knew Tony and was there at the end.  We will never know what really happened at the end of his life and all the secrets and dark thoughts he took with him.  Tony was admired for his wit and his originality and for breaking some of the rules.

As I mentioned when I started this post, this isn't an unbiased review because meeting Tony made it personal to the brief encounter I had with him many years before the pressure of fame and ratings.

I still recommend seeing it, as it starts his journey at 19, when a lot of men are young and dumb, so there's that.  They fail, and then they learn, and eventually they become the people they were supposed to be.

I really miss his shows;  they were different and interesting and timeless.

Baking a Mandarin orange Love Cake with AI help

 Mandarin Orange "Love" cake

I had a whole bunch of mandarin and regular oranges. The oranges weren't very sweet, and the Mandarin oranges were looking worse for wear.  I didn't want to make juice, so I used Co-Pilot to try and get some ideas of what to do with them.

I settled on a Mandarin Orange Love Cake.  But me being me, I had to tweak it.  

I just used all the oranges I had.  I reserved one mandarin orange segment to put on top of the batter before it went into the oven.   I would probably just dip them in chocolate and use them for decoration afterward, now to get max beauty and give it a chocolate orange flavour.  It also didn't use any extracts, so I added a combo of vanilla and almond.  It turned out so light and fluffy.

It only required one bowl and a whisk to mix it up, and no creaming or melting butter because it uses Olive oil.  So other than the measuring utensils, it doesn't need a lot of tools, except a round pan.  I was trying to see if Dollarama had a heart-shaped pan, but they didn't, so I just made it in a spring form pan and added parchment to the bottom after I greased it.

I don't normally write recipes, but this is a new tool to use to find recipes and to maybe tweak recipes, and also, I just copied the recipe into Word and added my tweaks.   So I wouldn't say this is my original recipe, but it's a fast way to build your own digital cookbook for recipes you want to keep and use multiple times.  This one is a keeper for when you need to bring something to a Potluck or other kind of party because it can look simple or you can make it fancy, and it's basically done in about an hour.

Although AI scares me, it's also a great tool for some things, like cooking ideas, and I use it for my blog posts to correct my horrible grammar.  I still write, but it points out things I need to correct, which is super helpful.  I know there will come a time when cooking and writing recipes will all be replaced because with machine learning, the wealth of recipes available from around the Globe will continue to increase.

I would recommend it for the culinary-challenged people who don't know how to cook but like to eat good food and don't know what to do with the food they have.  As an example, if you get a farm share box and get ingredients you never tried before.  Where you used Google before, you can now be specific about what you want and get pretty close to solving your food challenges.

Here is the final recipe and the results:

🍊❤️ Valentine’s Day Mandarin Love Cake

What you need and why it's so good

• Uses 3–5 mandarins
• One bowl
• No mixer
• Naturally moist and fragrant
• Dress it up with a heart‑shaped powdered sugar stencil or a drizzle

⭐ Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup olive oil (or neutral oil)
• Zest of 2 mandarins
• Juice of 3–4 mandarins (about ½ cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
• 1 ½ cups all‑purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt 

⭐ Instructions

1. Prep Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a loaf pan or an 8‑inch round pan.
2. Mix the wet ingredients. Whisk sugar + eggs until smooth. Add oil, mandarin zest, and mandarin juice.
3. Add the dry ingredients. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt until just combined.
4. Bake Pour into the pan and bake 30–40 minutes, until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Valentine’s finish. Let cool. Place a paper heart on top, dust with powdered sugar, then lift the heart away for a cute design or top with chocolate-covered mandarin segments, candied orange peel, or a mandarin orange glaze.

 

    

*Note: This post was made with the assistance of AI, but all text was written by me.