Greek, Balkan and/or Turkish restaurants, bars, coffee shops, groceries and bakeries in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area [Danforth] [Scarborough] [Ossington]

You should be able to find fasolakia, gigantes, horta, quail/ortikia, at Kalyvia, Mezes, Megas, Soula’s (owned by the Soula who owned Pan), Christina’s and Pantheon. I order and make most of these dishes. :wink:

The Horta are any greens (Hortaculture, it comes from the Greek :joy:) - so Greeks use whatever they have, and cook them. Sometimes it’s a mix. Often dandelion, often spinach,sometimes arugula, mustard greens, beet tops, Swiss chard or purslane, often wild weeds, in Greece there are a dozen others.

The avgolemono dishes are becoming a little more rare. The avgolemono (chicken egg lemon with rice or orzo) soup is available at most full service restaurants. I guess my most recent order of avgolemono soup (Greek penicillin) was at Soula’s. Meat and rice dolmades served hot, with avgolemono are on a few menus, and some restaurants have cabbage rolls with avgolemono occasionally.

For the dishes you mention, I would probably recommend Mezes as your best bet for a places that would do all of these dishes at least fairly well.

Pantheon occasionally has rabbit as a daily special.

I had initially recommended The Palace, which was a restaurant that was still making dishes that are difficult to find, but it has closed permanently.

1 Like

Thanks. I haven’t been to Kalyvia and Megas in years. I’ve never tried Soula’s, Christina’s, or Pantheon. I see Pantheon has smelt, which I’ve enjoyed from times long ago on the Danforth.

I forgot that we have been to Volos a couple of times and have liked it.

1 Like

Yeah palace restaurant was decent and I went there a few times. Their grilled platter was well worth it
Hmm Mamakas moussaka was the best I have had period!
Volos was even more pricey than Mamakas I recall

1 Like

Maybe.

I think it’s the stingy serving sizes at Mamakas that bothered me. The mains might be $40 at Volos, but the portions are generous, like at Milos in Montréal. I know it was at least $100 each the last time we did a girls’ night out at Mamakas.

I haven’t been to either recently, so things might have changed.

1 Like

Back to discussion of Turkish joints. I tried A La Turk, on Yonge St. south of York Mills, for the first time a few weeks ago. A well-laid-out, more stylish Turkish place - at a more stylish price, naturally. Straightforward menu, with a few nice twists. I can’t, for the life of me, recall what we ordered, but it was all quite tasty. Good presentation. Decent service, though I got the impression that most of the staff seemed to have started yesterday. In short, respectable enough at the price (dinner will be $125-$150 a couple, including a drink apiece). But hardly memorable. Good, if you’re in the neighbourhood, as I am, living almost around the corner.

2 Likes

I tried Doner Chi’s beef durum (doner in lavash). I liked the durum/lavash, but the beef doner wasn’t very good. Minimally spiced, dry meat. No significant crispy bits. It was closer to well-done roast beef than doner kebab.

I prefer the Turkish doner or shawarma at Best Istanbul on Augusta in Kensington Market.

Takeout and Delivery in [Toronto]

Pristine Fine Foods / Turkish Mart at 339 Evans Ave in Etobicoke has been offering street food outside some Sundays. I haven’t tried it yet.

1 Like

Yeah agreed Mamakas portions are smaller that’s why I order the Phyllo app that’s very filling. Have been meaning to revisit but they didn’t respond to emails or voicemails! As an odd sized group couldn’t book online.
Ah well switched it to Mythos! Let’s see how it pans out as wasn’t my pick as more of an Instagram and see and be seen kind of a spot on King west to boot :wink:
Will report back when I visit

1 Like

If this is the Myth, where the Brant House was located, should be decent. The 2 guys running it, same
guys who started the Buca empire , briefly ran The Myth on Danforth (other Greeks ran it for 8-10ish years after the 2 guys focused on King W around 2003ish, Louis Cifer is in the old space), Wild Indigo on College, Caché before Brant, Jacobs and all the spin-offs.
I won’t digress further :rofl:

I hope you enjoy your meal!

1 Like

Noticed that Petros82 had opened a patio, so we decided to try it.

The patio is right on the sidewalk, though it had a glass partition that meant you felt a bit separated from the pedestrians. It is not covered so you would be exposed if it rained. Also at one point some kitchen staff came out and smoked some weed right near the patio, which didn’t exactly enhance the meal.

Our server was friendly and appeared stretched thin in terms of the tables she was covering. She didn’t know the menu’s details very thoroughly and also took awhile to get back to us with requests (e.g., refill our water glasses). She also seemed to think that all the dishes we ordered should come all at once, instead of pacing them. She was though very apologetic with every issue.

The food ranged from good to excellent - fresh and well-executed, if on the pricey side.

Cocktails:

  • Santorini Sunrise: cazadores blanco, roots rakomelo, apple cider, reduced fig syrup, dehydrated apples - excellent, lots of fruit with complex bitter nuances
  • Kanela sour: Bearface whiskey, roots kanela, simple syrup, lemon juice, egg whites - especially delicious

The we ordered a bottle of Thrace 2019 Anatolikos Vineyards orange wine - great – starts with extremely floral, maybe gardenia then honeysuckle then fades into smokiness. The skins are still in the bottle. Gradually shifted to more mushroom and peat. Over time the flavour was a mix of floral, mushroom, peat and bitter herbals and the smell was more ripe apple.

  • Daily crudo: branzino, pickles, flowers, toasty chick peas - lovely and very citrusy

  • Octopodi skaras: grilled octopus, braised artichokes, blistered tomatoes, crispy potato coins - lovely smokey octopus, couldn’t really pick out the artichoke though (more of a sauce, although very tasty)

  • Crunchy feta: walnut crusted goat feta, corfu kumquat - light, fluffy cheese with nutty coating and kumquat marmalade


Kale salad: figs, pomegranate, hemp pumpkin seed crumble, lemon green olive oil vinaigrette - pleasant, not remarkable

  • Pringles: crispy, paper thin zucchini, eggplant, kefalograviera cheese, Petros sauce - good but a little heavy on the coating

  • Gigantes: beans, tomato sauce, wilted greens (rapini and chard and other things) - lovely and classic

You can pick out your fresh seafood from a iced display in the main restaurant:

  • Soft shell crab special with avocado cream and chick pea popcorn - nicely fried, with some dollops of orange hot sauce with quite a kick, very very delicious

  • Red snapper whole fish on horta with lemon and a wonderful herb sauce - like chimichurri but almost sweet. They deboned it but served with head and tail on the plate. Pricey though at $115.

Desserts were good, but not amazing:

  • Ek-Mek: layers of katife, custard, infused with honey and topped with Petros 82 signature cream - nice and the better of the two

  • Chocolate torta: Greek yoghurt chocolate tart with pistachio crust with chocolate drizzle - pleasant but despite the yoghurt being not too sweet, it was more like a chocolate mousse tart
3 Likes

This place wasn’t on my radar! Thanks, Dr John. I will check it out!

1 Like

Ok so I made you myth today. I am pleasantly surprised by the good food and service we got today. Portions were decent to very generous for the souvlaki.
The dips were decent, I enjoyed the fritters with the octopus being ok. I tried the souvlaki and had the lobster main. Good stuff.




3 Likes

Cosmos Agora on the north side of Lawrence between Warden and Pharmacy. Just an excellent Greek provisioner. I’ve loved every morsel from the hot table to the butcher counter and all points in between. See something you like, but you feel lazy? They’ll cook it up for you. Hubby and I go every week sometimes many times. Did I mention I LOVE Cosmos Agora?

4 Likes

I ordered Otto’s Berlin Doner veal & lamb Doner Teller on half salad half fries, with garlic sauce, hot sauce and yogurt tonight, and it hit the spot. $14 before tax and tip .

I like the Teller/ plates more than the pitas.

1 Like

My wife has eaten here but I haven’t made it yet. Missed it when we were roaming around Kensington recently as it opens later.

1 Like

Just tried Myth. Following your lead, we skipped the dips and octopus, got the lobster and tried some other things. Service was very good. Our main server was very friendly and helpful. Some of the dishes had some changes that weren’t indicated on the menu and he went back to the kitchen to follow up on our questions. The sommelier helped pick a lovely wine for us (a bottle of Moulasia, a Macedonian white - floral and green apple with some creaminess, shifting into stone fruits a bit later) and then gave us some free tastes of another excellent wine (High Peaks Muscat, Samos - floral and honey, yet very dry) because he figured we might like it.


Lavraki crudo - sea bass ceviche, watermelon, cilantro, fennel, cucumber, dehydrated olive, deep fried capers - very fresh, light, with nice hits of different flavours from the olive bits.


Kalamari sti skara - beluga lentils, cherry tomato, EVOO, grilled lemon - perfectly cooked squid pairing nicely with the lentils.


Beef carpaccio - AAA beef, whipped kefalograviera, citrus salt, watercress, pine nuts - a nice variation with the dollops of cheese.


Lamb Hilopites - slow cooked lamb shoulder, lemon, graviera, pappardelle - wonderful dish, beautifully done pasta and meat that tasted like preserved lemon.


Lobster Yiouvetsi - orzo, lobster chunks, lobster bisque, cherry tomatoes, green onions, ginger, lemon - delicious and rich (get the half portion, it will be enough).


Yogourt mousse, Greek honey, roasted pecan, strawberries - pleasant but not particularly memorable.


Bougatsa: semolina custard, phyloo, chocolate sauce - yummy, if a bit sweet.

3 Likes

I want to visit Pasaj soon. https://pasajtoronto.com/

Also , Galata

http://galatarestaurant.ca/

Urla, an upscale Turkish shop

3 Likes

Thanks to @rstuart for the heads up about this place on College at Euclid. Baklava, coffee, loukum (Turkish delight), kunefe.

Liu Loqum
http://liuloqum.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoDlyz7oDC0

2 Likes

Tried the Mamakas prix fix lunch /brunch good stuff as the portions were regular size for the app and the fish main so bring an appetite





3 Likes

Tried Istanbul fine foods for delivery hmm wasn’t expecting Mustafa level so I guess it’s ok better than a regular grocery store but don’t think I will order again. Sujuck pide and lahmahchun


2 Likes

This place looks good.

1 Like