Leslieville, Revisited 3 Years Later

Toronto is changing. Growing. Sleepy streets are becoming bustling thoroughfares. Coffee shops, boutiques, and condos are popping up at impressive rates. There's arguments on both sides as to whether this is a good or bad thing (not getting into that here). But one thing we can all agree on – additional foot/car/bus traffic is a big boost to local businesses.

Three years ago, I wrote about my first impressions of Leslieville. It hasn't changed dramatically since then, but it's changed (for the better, in my opinion). It's becoming more noticed. "Cooler". Toronto's hype train isn't just riding in the west end anymore. And I, for one, am thankful that this strip of Queen East is finally getting more traction. 

What brought me to Leslieville this time around was a casual Polish restaurant run by a mother daughter duo called Hastings Snack Bar. So, who better to bring along than my own Polish mother for a sweet little lunch date.

Tickets, the Chef's Menu

You know who's obsessed with food – even more than I am? Barcelona. The entire city is teeming with restaurateurs, famous chefs, and Michelin-starred eateries. But on a backpacker's budget, there was no way I could afford to visit them all, so based on reviews, blogposts, Anthony Bourdain, and the general hype train, I decided on Tickets. 

Of "El Bulli" fortune and fame, Albert and Ferran Adria have opened up this magical tapas-style bar that takes its customers on an incredible taste journey. If you want to take part in this journey, you have to plan ahead – 2 months ahead! 

Reservations on their online website open exactly 2 months in advance, right at midnight. Due to time difference, that meant 6 pm for me. I had multiple browsers open and was frantically refreshing all of them to be able to snag a seat – and I did.

How to Spend A Weekend in Guelph

This past weekend, I spent a couple of nights in Guelph, a city about an hour and a half directly west of Toronto. One of my best friends from high school, Ellen, did her master's here. She's since graduated, found a job, found an apartment, and welcomed me over for a visit.

I've been to Guelph a few times before, but something about this last visit really made me fall in love with it. The cute cafes and vintage stores, the artistic/hippie vibe of the city, the stunning river that runs through its centre, its proximity to nature — all of these things tugged at my heartstrings and made me wonder if I could ever live here myself. Not sure if I'm ready to abandon TO just yet, but it did get me thinking.

Here are some ideas on how to spend a few days in Guelph and fall in love with the city yourself.

Explore Downtown

Guelph's downtown isn't huge, but streets like Wyndham, Norfolk, and MacDonnell have tons of stores that are fun to poke your head into. My favourites were The Bookshelf, On the Verge, Wild Rose, and The Patch. 

Legitimately coming back to Guelph in the fall to do all of my winter wardrobe shopping and buy some unique and cool Christmas gifts in advance. 

Spend Time in Nature

Visiting Elora Gorge was at the top of my bucket list this summer, but as luck would have it, the weekend I was in Guelph, thousands of other people were there too for Elora Riverfest. Ellen and I decided to meet up with one of her friends from undergrad instead, so we drove to Christie Lake, a (somewhat) halfway point between Guelph and Niagara.

After paying a $15 entrance fee to get into the park, both of us were surprised at how peaceful it was and the lack of crowds. There were free picnic tables! Space on the beach for us to set up!  

Such a stunning drive there and back, too. The farmland is green, rolling, picturesque, and looks straight out of a postcard. We (travelers? people in general?) are so excited about going outside our country that we often forget to look at the beauty right where we are too.

Eat Delicious Food Made From Fresh, Local Ingredients

Before moving to Toronto, I spent 9 years of my life growing up in Barrie, a city similar to Guelph in population. Chain restaurants outnumber unique and interesting restaurants 9 to 1. Food options are limited to Kelsey's, The Keg, Montana's, Boston Pizza, Jack Astor's, etc, etc. So I've always looked down on small cities, assuming their food scene was just as bad as Barrie's. 

Thank you, Guelph! Thank you for being nothing like that horrid place I spent my tween and teen years in! 

Ellen suggested we go to Baker Street Station for dinner after our day on the beach, and my goodness, I want to go back and try every single thing on their menu. For an appetizer, Ellen and I shared the beer-battered brie, served with a raspberry compote. I could eat these like candy!

Ellen got the Salmon Poke Bowl (I had a bite and it was deeeelish) while I went with the Donair because I'm all about that naan bread. They also have a very long list of craft beers here, so I would highly, highly recommend you make a reservation if you know you're going to be in Guelph. Or, you know, just make a day out of it and drive out here for those Brie bites. 

Guelph is a lovely, lovely city with a unique pulse of its own. Add it to your bucket list and let it pleasantly surprise you, as it did me. 

Street Food at Taste of the Danforth

Despite the crowds, the lineups, the insane heat — year after year, I still come back to Taste of the Danforth. I just can't resist all that delicious Greek Food at ridiculously cheap prices. 

The Danforth has a long history of being a Greek community, but in recent years, the yearly street festival has featured cuisines from all over the world. My mom ordered a spring roll and said it was her favourite thing!

Not to worry, there was authentic Greek food on every corner, too, with those iconic stacks of meat roasting on spits. 

I have one place and one place only that I eat gyros (Greek version of a burrito) from — Messini's. For only $5, you get a gigantic lamb or pork or chicken gyros stuffed with tzatziki, tomatoes, onions, and if you want, french fries. I usually opt out of the fries because the gyros itself is like an entire's day meal in one. 

From corn to kebabs to gyros to whatever those things up there are, there's an endless amount of food to try on the Danforth. 

Since Mom was still hungry after her spring roll and piece of lamb, I convinced her to get a slice of pizza from Pizzeria Libretto, hands down my favourite pizza in the city. They're certified by Naples for making real Neapolitan pizza, chewy and crispy and fresh. 

For dessert, Mom and I shared loukoumades from Athen's Bakery. They're these delicious fried honey pastries and they're oh so good! 

Zoey was super interested in all the food we were eating, too. She was like a little vacuum strolling down the street with her nose to the pavement eating up any crumbs she could find.

This year, they had peformers dress up as Grecian statues posing in the middle of the street for photos. The line up to get a photo with these faux-Greek-gods was insane!

If you didn't get a chance to go to Taste of the Danforth this year... you can still eat all this delicious food year-round. Messini's and Athens Pastries are long-time staples of the community. The crowds won't be there, the lines won't be there, but you'll still have an amazing meal. Promise.

New Filipino Restaurant in Toronto

"It's not my first time eating Filipino food," I told my waiter when he asked me if I was familiar with the cuisine. It wasn't technically my first time, but it might as well have been. 

I volunteered in the Filipino community for 4 years, and was blessed to eat the food of many Tiya's (aunts) at potlucks and get-togethers. There was always pork, chicken, rice, and noodles, and although it was delicious, it doesn't come anywhere near to how good La Mesa was. 

During Summerlicious, La Mesa had a condensed menu where you could choose an appetizer, a main, and a dessert for a total of $28. For the quality and quantity of the food, the girls and I thought it was a very reasonable price. 

Of  course, we couldn't not order some cocktails. On the right, Anna got the "Lolo Cool J" which had bourbon, ginger, pineapple syrup, and lemon. It was refreshing, crisp, and the ginger flavour wasn't too spicy or overwhelming. On the left, I got the "Tita Baby", which had mango juice, malibu, and baileys. Although I really enjoyed it, I struggled to taste the mango flavour. I wish there had been more, mango because it ended up tasting just like a baileys/malibu mix (which wasn't bad, but where was the mango I was promised?!).

Once I saw "crispy pork belly" on the menu, there was no deliberation on what I should order as an appetizer. Topped with pickled papaya, cucumber, aioli, and mint, it was the perfect combination of juicy and crispy pork along with the refreshing and sweet taste of the toppings. I probably could have eaten 20 of these lettuce wraps. Kaylin and Anna got "Pancit Canton" which were egg noodles doused in a super flavourful and slightly spicy sauce. Also an exceptional choice. 

The chicken adobo piqued all of our interests, so the 4 of us ordered it as our main. Served with a glaze as well as a chimichurri sauce, it was a startling bouquet of flavours. The chimichurri sauce simultaneously tasted foreign and familiar, and I couldn't decided whether I loved or hated the strong parsley taste. On its own, it would have been too much, but paired with everything else on the plate, it worked magic to my taste buds.

Dessert time! Not gonna lie, I was pretty full at this point. I had the banana con yelo, and almost every bite included a taste of delicious caramelized bananas. The server warned us that Filipino desserts are sweeter than normal. Anna had the full experience of the sweetness with her purple yam custard, but we had a hint of it as well in our ice cream. 

Although this photo was technically taken before our dinner, it's representative of exactly how we walked off all those calories - playing Pokemon Go. 

I can't wait to come back to La Mesa when Summerlicious is over and order a bunch of different plates to the table so I can try as much as possible everything. They also have a special Hand to Mouth menu where you can order a set meal for $40 every Sunday evening that's served on banana leaves and eaten without cutlery. Sounds like an experience I'd definitely like to try!

The Local's Beach in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro has tons of beaches. The two most famous ones - Copacabana and Ipanema - are right beside each other, two pale and perfect sides of a V stretching down to the ocean. 

Most tourists will spend their time on Copacabana, made famous by the song of the same name, but our hostel wisely told us that Ipanema is where all the locals hang. So to Ipanema we went, which interestingly, also has a famous song written about it. 

Every Sunday, the city shuts down an entire direction of car lanes so that more people can take advantage of walking on the boardwalk. There's bikers young and old, joggers with glistening bodies, and surprisingly furry and fluffy dogs that somehow survive the heat. Everyone's dressed casual - shorts, flip flops, branded ragged T's. This isn't just the beach uniform - it's the Rio uniform. 

Carioca men were all up and about, playing football and volleyball in the sand while the women lounged in their skimpy butt-baring bikinis and soaked up the sun. The rays was aggressive, and wherever the sun touched you, your skin burned. I can't imagine what it's like during the summer, because we went during winter and it was 30 degrees.

It was the one day during our entire stay that was perfectly sunny and hot. With a cool breeze from the ocean and my feet in the sand, I relaxed and drank cold beer and had zero cares in the world. M spent the day playing around in the insanely massive waves, riding each crest and being pulled along with the tide. 

Of course, all that laying around and swimming around made us hungry, so we left our stuff with our hostel friends and embarked on an adventure along the beach. Before heading to Rio, I watched Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations: Rio episode and diligently wrote down the places that he graced with his presence. Barraca do Uruguay serves delicious, simple sandwiches on white bread, topped with a unique sauce straight from the heavens. M and I ordered all 3 of their options just so we could try, and slowly enjoy, them all. 

After we wrote off the entire day lazing about, we dropped by the "Hippie Fair", which happens every Sunday just outside the General Osorio metro station. This is where M and I got all our souvenirs and gifts, as well as a painting for our apartment. 

The entire middle area is encircled with various painters' artwork, with each stand featuring completely different and unique paintings. I could have taken them all home if I had a) the money and b) a gigantic suitcase to fit it all in. 

Cue the sunset - it's really something you can't miss.  

Carioca's gather at at Pedra do Arpoador, a rocky outpost nestled at the tip between Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. We made it here just in time to grab a cocktail and enjoy the beautiful light show performance in the sky. 

Onto Copacabana. We never actually saw it in the daytime, but it was still a beautiful sight in the dark. We had read to be extra cautious and careful on the beach at night, but we never felt unsafe or in danger. As long as you walk along the boardwalk, which is full of people and brightly lighted, you'll be fine.

All along Copacabana, there was a night market in between the two roads. Here the souvenirs were more kitschy and stereotypical, but I did find some gems at the stall above and got some artwork for my friends. 

Next up on places that Anthony Bourdain has vetted: Galeto Sat's. We ordered their specialty, rotisseried chicken, and caipirinha's. 

Literally an entire plate of chicken was placed before us for only $7 per plate. It was so. good. Juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside, with an aromatic delicious medley of herbs taste.

Beach day was the best day. An excuse to be lazy, to enjoy the insanely gorgeous sights of Rio, and enjoy the different delicious foods.