Starving Foodie's Favourite Things List

I thought it might be fun to do an Oprah style list of my favourite things in Toronto and more.

You can use it as a guide to your Christmas shopping or something new to try or you can even use it if you want to get me a gift I will love.   I hope that some of these things become your favourite things too.

Top 10 List of Starving Foodie Favourite Things:


1.  Teas

• Kusmi Tea - Detox
• Numi Tea - Gunpowder Green
• Teavana - Oprah Chai

2.  Coffee Shops

• Starbucks - Love Peppermint Mochas and Cool Lime Refreshers
• Aroma Espresso Bar - Ice Lemon Mint Aromas and great Hot Chocolate

3.  Sweet Treats

• Squish Candy - Grapefruit and Blood Orange flavour and Strawberry Rhubarb
• Hong Kong Waffles - I love snapping off bubbles of waffles
• Portland Variety Chocolate Chip cookies.  They are they best cookies I have ever had in Toronto

4.  Housewares stores - I love looking for things at Homesense and stores like that where I can find interesting gadgets and tableware and things I can use to style my photos at home and for entertaining.

• Winners
• Homesense
• Kitchen Stuff Plus
• The Bay

5.  Restaurants

• Hawthorne Food and Drink - Because they use local vendors and train people that need help to get jobs in the industry while trying to produce as little waste as possible.

• Pearl Diver - Great seafood and awesome desserts too and they have a special private room for Chef special nights to help George Brown College chefs mentor with established chefs.

6.  Things - Movies
I love going to see movies so a Cineplex Gift Card or tickets for a TIFF film would be great.
I love documentaries so a pass to Hot Docs Film Festival even better.

7.  Gelato
I like the Gelato from Gelato in Yorkville and I like La Paloma but it's far for me now without wheels.

8.   Cheese

If I lived near the Cheese Boutique I would probably be there all the time.  I love cheese.  I like triple cream cheeses like this and smoked cheddar for mac and cheese and goat cheese for pastas and appetizers and Cheddar cheese for so many things.

9.    Poke
I love the classic Tuna Poke - Favourite places include:

• Big Tuna Poke on Bloor Street.
• Cali Love on King St. West.
• North Poke on Baldwin

10.   Places

The Drake Devonshire Inn - For it's amazing view and relaxing vibes and it's eclectic decor.

** This is not a sponsored post.  All of the choices are my own.

Hawaiian Poke comes North

 The new trend hitting Toronto is Poke Bowls.  They are popping up everywhere.  The latest Poke spot is NORTH POKE in Kensington Market.  I was invited to sample some of their authentic Hawaiian Poke Bowls.  I entered the tiny shop on Baldwin and was greeted by the owner also named Linda, who wanted to create an true Poke shop and more of a fish market place.  They receive their fish daily and prepare everything fresh and in limited quantities.  Fresh Tuna is very expensive so it makes sense to order only enough for the day to keep the costs down and the fish fresh.

North Poke owner Linda

 It's a tiny shop so a small group of bloggers and foodies were invited to try 3 different poke bowls and Musubi which is a Spam Sushi type of thing.

We sampled 3 poke bowls:

1. The Big Wave - Albacore Tuna, charred Jalapeno citrus dressing, black garlic, shallots and mayo.

2.  Hawaii Classic - Ahi Tuna, shoyu dressing, cucumber, onions, nori, toasted sesame, fried shallots, avocado, macadamia nuts, house aoili, green onions and seaweed salad.

3.  Waimea -  Salmon, togarashi aoili, avocado, edamame, pickled onion, seaweed salad and fried shallots.

I think this is also the order of my preference.  The Big Wave was light and creamy and a nice balance of flavours.

The great thing about North Poke is that it comes in 3 sizes.  A snack size, the regular size and the large size.  The prices range from just over $5 to about $15.

This is a great fast fresh lunch on the run.  Grab a bowl and go.  It's the perfect fast food.  They do all the chopping and assembling and you just eat and go.

The shop is tiny but very cute with little kitchy touches like ukelele's on the wall and Hawaiian inspired art.  This shop fits perfectly in the Kensington market area with diverse original foods that have a lot of whimsy in the spaces.  It's the cutest Poke shop that I have seen so far.

Check it out at:

North Poke
179 Baldwin Street,
Toronto, ON
info@northpoke.com
Twitter @NorthPokeTO
Instagram @NorthPoke