So I actually completed this one a while back…but I never got a chance to blog about it.
#1 – Waterfalls Indian Tapas
I went to this restaurant after hearing good things about it from my friend V, who was also my housemate at the time. I needed to find a place for my friend A’s going-away-to-Seattle-to-work-for-Amazon-party. V said that the decor was nice, and the food was decently priced. She was quite right on both counts. I enjoyed the ambiance..it’s a chic atmosphere, and they have a waterfall right when you come in. I ordered the butter chicken with nan and it was soooooo good. I thought the portion size was small, but what I didn’t realize was that nan expands in your stomach:P
Look how happy they look:)
#2 – Negroni
My friend (who was my housemate at the time), brought me to this restaurant to try their paninis. According to Blogto, they have the best paninis! As well, they made top 10 for “Best Cheap Eats” in Toronto.
I ordered one of their popular choices: the Segovia Sausage panini with fontina, slow roasted onions, and sundried tomato pesto. They’re paninis come with salad and olives (blech). Although the panini was quite salty, overall, I enjoyed the combination of the sausage, tomato pesto and cheese flavours.
#3 – Big Fat Burrito
Located literally across the street from where I was staying, Big Fat Burrito is known for, well, their big, fat, burritos. My friend B had been there before and said he enjoyed it. So at his suggestion, we decided to share a steak burrito (halfsies), since we weren’t too hungry at the time. It was definitely a comfortable amount of food for me, but I think B was still hungry afterwards. With a glass bottle of sprite, sitting inside the little burrito hut…it was a fun dining experience. 
#4 – Kensington’s
Known for their coffee and breakfast food, V & I woke up early to visit Kensington’s on a breakfast date the week before our final exams. It was a treat to ourselves before hitting the books.
We had omlettes with sausage, zuchini and other random, sauteed vegetables:) She had coffee, I had tea!
#5 – Mother’s Dumpling’s
Also a favourite on blogto, I visited this dumpling house with my parents when they came to have dinner with me downtown. Claimed to have the BEST dumplings in all of Toronto, I was really interested to see what the critics are raving about. Apparently the restaurant had done so well, it moved from its “hole-in-the-wall” location on Huron Street to Spadina. I really loved watching the workers carefully kneed the dough and prepare the dumplings one-by-one. However, the service was quite slow, and I found that the dumplings were good..but nothing out of the ordinary, and also kinda pricey (well, I guess it’s downtown Chinese food, so I can’t compare it to Scarborough?). The dumplings were not that flavourful, but then I guess it’s a good thing then, because they don’t seem to use a lot of MSG. (Pretty home-made style I guess?) However, I went a second time with a friend, and his siu-long baos were sticking together. We lost a lot of juice, so that wasn’t fun.
Overall, I would go back to Negroni’s for panini’s. Oh, and I also tried out Supermarket, The Grilled Cheese, and Amadeu’s in Kensington market. Wow, I tried out a lot of local places:)
