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

Since it feels like 40⁰C in Athens in the shade, we lunched on Mezes covered patio today.

My pork souvlaki dinner ($28). I asked our server to hold the rice that usually comes with the dinner, and upgrade my salad to Horiatiki/ Greek Village Salad from their standard Greek salad made with lettuce, tomato and feta.

My friend ordered the chicken souvlaki pita ($15) with extra tzatziki, Horatiki ($8), and some Greek Fries.

This is my favourite covered patio on the Danforth.


My frappe, ordered Medium Sweet with Milk.

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Btw saw this sign go up on my walk recently in Rosedale summer Hill area. This new building is coming up right next to the flagship LCBO. Mamakas Taverna is opening up soon yay! Excited to welcome them to this neighborhood as ossington is still available trek for moi

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Is that a Greek frappe I keep hearing about? Made with instant coffee I understand.

Yes, it is. I think I wrote more about them somewhere. The Greek Nescafé, or other Greek instant, as well as Japanese instant, and other Euro instant, is freeze dried which makes it froth more than Canadian instant coffee, when whisked. I used to save the complimentary instant coffee packets in hotel rooms from visits to Europe and my one visit to Japan, for making frappes at home later.

The Greek instant is sold at Serano Bakery, Select Bakery and any Greek grocery stores. There’s also another brand that isn’t Nestle that works if one avoids Nestle.

If you want to order one, the version at Athens Pastries on Danforth or Vic Park is a little more like the type that I like the most.

You can get it without the milk. I don’t know of any Greek spots in Toronto offering a nut or oat milk Greek frappe. I would think they’re available in Greece.

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Simit -Chi, a new Turkish bakery and tea shop in the Annex. Next to Bulk Barn.
Simit aka Koulouri are cousins to the bagel.

Simit-Chi on IG

Souvlaki Place, just east of Simit-Chi, has good pork souvlaki and good Horiatiki/ Village Salad

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I stopped by Simit-Chi today, and purchased some cookies and baklava for my Dining Companions. Nice people running this place.








The cafe was half full on Saturday at 1130 am. I decided to use my phone’s magic eraser to remove the customers, to give the people who had been in the photo their privacy.

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Tahini walnut cookie sounds fun.

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As pizza pide has returned to form ordering in from them more frequently. They had a promo on lahmahjun that I usually don’t get so ended up having it with the pide. Good stuff. Somewhat lighter and hit the spot on a hot day

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Not sure if Armenia is consistent with this thread, but it was lunchtime and we came across an Armenian restaurant in the North end of the GTA on Victoria Park south of Van Horne called Lavash (Website HERE).

The first thing we noticed was how clean the restaurant felt. Bread is served in sealed plastic bags. I am about as familiar with Armenian food as I am about String Theory in physics but it was overall quite good! We ordered the Cheese Borak plus Filet Mignon Combo for 1 to share which included rice, salad, fattoush, and hummus in addition to the filet mignon. A couple other tables had ordered the Samsak but we were already full. We plan to come back next time for dinner.

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Thank you!

Great to see clearly labelled vegan options. Excited to try Armenian food.

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Absolutely, Armenian fits here.

I have tried the place on Bayview and another near Kipling.

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If you’re in Scarborough and in need of an Armenian lunch, I highly recommend Mamajoun. The owner is perhaps the hardest working man in the takeout restaurant biz.
https://mamajoun.com/

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Tried Turquoise Restaurant downtown today for delivery. Lahmahjun and pide. Hmmm not at par with pizza pide for sure. With promos it’s fine. Besides pizza pide has given like 3 pides when I ordered 2 (I couldn’t figure how else I got 6 corner pieces otherwise maybe it was 7 even :thinking:) these also come with a salad side



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Had a follow up delivery from Turquoise Restaurant downtown. This one was a combo for one and fared much better than the pide. With the exception of the lamb chop (I think I should give up on getting a lamb chop for delivery) all the items were decent. Chicken being not overly cooked as well. Kebabs are ok doner was ok as well. I wouldn’t mind ordering again if there is a promo.

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