Greater Toronto Area Top 10 of 2025 [Greater Toronto Area]

Regional Dining Discussions Ontario
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Please add your top 10!

Toronto Top 10 of 2023

Greater Toronto Area Top 10 from 2022

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We dined at a lot of repeats in Toronto this year. For restaurants we tried the first time in 2025, here are our top 4… unfortunately none of the other first visits warrant inclusion in our top list.

  1. Arbequina
  2. Dopamina (under So Sakata)
  3. Takja BBQ
  4. Fat Rabbit
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I am going to combine my favourite coffee shops, restaurants and bakeries into one list. I don’t dine out as much as I used to.

  1. Coco’s Coffee Shop on College : their coffees, their cakes by the slice, their bundt cakes, their breakfast sandwich. Their lease is up Jan 31, 2026. I am a regular and I’m biased
  2. Viaggio on Dundas W
  3. Dough Bake Shop on Danforth
  4. Fika on Kensington Ave, for the cardamom latte, sunshine bun, Kannelbullar
  5. Chiado on College First visit in a long time and I think I’ll head back before the end of the year.
  6. Union on Ossington another one I’m loyal to. I love their brunch.
  7. Le Conci on Gerrard . the coffees, the pastries, the crocques.
  8. Kiss My Pan on College St: another one I visit fairly often. I like all the mains
  9. Thai Nyyom on Bloor W: the best Thai for right now
  10. Tutto Panino on Sorauren. another one I’ll revisit before Dec 31.
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Most of my meals were repeated visits to perennial favorites like So Good, Ritzy Palace, The One, George, Pearl Morrisette….etc
However, I did come across a few new discoveries which were worth return visits:
Ibushi - Authentic Sushi Omakase by disciple of Kaji san. Great value for the quality of food offered.
Luna - High end setting, offering Cantonese/Shanghainese cuisine meticulously prepared. A must try!
Carmelina - Straight forward way of preparing traditional Italian fare. Delicious unpretentious food!
3A Noodles - Serving authentic Hong Kong style Wonton noodles and more. Can rub shoulders with current favorite - ‘ Very Good Congee and Noodles, Markham ‘.
OX-Club - Surprisingly good HK style Dim Sum with early bird specials extended to 3:00 pm!

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  1. Afro’s - an alternative to Descendant, with lots of interesting toppings.
  2. Affinity Fish - sublime omakase, featuring many local freshwater fish
  3. Ricky + Olivia - a nice neighbourhood place
  4. Wynona - still our favourite restaurant within a 10-minute walk
  5. Richmond Station - very consistent over the years
  6. Dopamina - was great with So Sakata; haven’t been back since he left
  7. George - also very consistent over the years
  8. Lake Inez Mystery Patio - our favourite fun food evening
  9. DaiLo - went back recently and had a really good time; will try to eventually post about it
  10. Ibushi - also an excellent omakase experience, as noted by Charles

We have reservations upcoming at The Pine and Naagan; if they’re really good, I’ll add them to next year’s list.

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Oh!! You WILL enjoy The Pine!! ……very interesting take on some Chinese classics! Have fun!
BTW, drive safe afterwards though, kind of dark around that area!…..great for star gazing! :winking_face_with_tongue:

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Below my 2025 list
Ranking by ‘highest score’ with tie-breaker by greatest number of visits

  1. Enigma
  2. aKin
  3. FK Restaurant
  4. Lucie
  5. DaNico
  6. Actinolite
  7. Scaramouche
  8. Joni (Park Hyatt)
  9. Lake Inez Secret Patio
  10. Pukka
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First time to see an Italian resto make your top 10! (I know you have the aversion to tomatoes!)

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I hadn’t realized that no Italian places had previously made my list - not intentional as some have made my ‘Top 10 World’ list in the past.
While I avoid tomatoes - that affects mostly Southern Italian places - and I certainly visited at least a half dozen Italian places in Toronto (not counting pizza places where I do enjoy some ‘white’ pizzas a few times a year). But none of the others made my top list this year.

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Here are my Top 10 for Ontario at the end of 2025 (in alphabetical order):

Edulis: one of the few restaurants that keep getting better over the years

Langdon Hall: refined and elegant rivaling any Michelin stars in town

Mystery Patio at Lake Inez: fun experience combining a stand up comedy show with good food

Naagan: indigenous cuisine elevated to fine dining

No.8: Asia influenced cuisine with finesse and precision

Pearl Morissette: good representation of the bounties of Ontario

Shoushin: proper Edomae sushi

Ten: vegetable focused with creative dishes

The Pine: modern reinterpretation of Chinese cuisines

Tiny Market Co Pasta Night: hand made pasta tasting menu

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2026 Goals or Resolutions, or Dishes you want to make, or master?
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Nice list. I want to try Tiny Market. That’s on my list of Goals for 2026.

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