As you explore all that Toronto has to offer visitors, you will certainly work up an appetite. For such an occasion, here are five lunch spots we love right now, each providing a hit-the-spot meal that combines a relaxed midday ambiance with a touch of culinary flair.
Sushi Yugen
In the Financial District, Sushi Yugen has a great Japanese omakase sushi lunch experience Monday through Saturday. Sitting at the main counter, you can try expertly crafted sushi, prepared using traditional Edomae techniques and presented piece by piece for each guest. The rolls, featuring fresh-caught fish and individually toasted nori seaweed, make it an especially worthy choice.
And should you need to walk off the meal, landmarks like the CN Tower and Hockey Hall of Fame are nearby.
BEAR Steak Sandwiches
For a leveled-up beef bite, head on over to BEAR Steak Sandwiches, where longtime friends Ricardo Barrientos and Aki Erenberg have found the mathematically conclusive perfect ratio of steak to soft, tasty Portuguese buns in their beef sandwiches (no actual bears on the menu here).
Medium-rare flank steak with the option of a generous chimichurri spread and, of course, French fries, is the go-to order. Find the original BEAR Steak Sandwiches in Little Italy (550A College Street) near Kensington Market and Chinatown, or its newest location at The Well’s new Wellington Market Food Hall (486 Front Street West) near King West.
Café Boulud Toronto
If you find yourself in Yorkville, globally renowned French chef Daniel Boulud’s Forbes Travel Guide Recommended Café Boulud Toronto at Four Seasons Hotel Toronto hosts a “50 for 50” Power Lunch, a two-course prix fixe menu served in 50 minutes. This refined midday offering will keep you going with dishes such as a skillfully prepared bacon-wrapped pork terrine accompanied by a tangy shallot marmalade and a decadent black truffle omelet. We suggest going the extra mile and opting for the Kaviari Caviar service, complete with expected accoutrements like potato blini and crème fraiche.
Linny’s Luncheonette
The Big Hug Hospitality team behind hot spots like Mimi Chinese in Yorkville and Sunnys Chinese in Kensington Market opened Linny’s last year on the Ossington strip, a nostalgic throwback to an old-school, deli-adjacent steakhouse. If you look past all the glamorous steaks, you will find one of the best items on the menu: the pastrami. Recently, Linny’s Luncheonette debuted next door to serve just that — tenderly smoked pastrami on soft, mustard-spread rye bread with pickles or slaw on the side.
Lunch Lady
The aptly named Lunch Lady rounds out our list of afternoon spots that we can’t get enough of right now. The story of Lunch Lady originates in the ’90s in Saigon, Vietnam, where the late chef Nguyen Thi Thanh made a name for herself as the “Lunch Lady” who sold street food. She even served the late Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations.
After launching the first Canadian location in Vancouver, the second Lunch Lady outpost opened in Toronto this summer on Ossington Avenue focusing on classic Vietnamese dishes with a modern take. Enjoy the daily rotating lunch special (a nod to the original street food cart) of prawn fritters or duck salad with Vietnamese coffee tiramisu for dessert.
