So while I was in Toronto in the country of Canada. You know I had to try some of the food there, I am a foodie after all. The first thing was to try Canada’s most famous dish, poutine. You know poutine, french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. The dish got it’s start in Quebec but has spread across the country. We went to two places that only does poutine, and nothing else.
The first place was New York Fries. The place cuts their fries fresh at each location and has several types of gravies and of course the cheese curds. We got the traditional poutine which comes with skin on french fries, vegetarian gravy, and cheese curds. The fries were crunchy, and the gravy was very rich and was tasty with lots of flavor. The cheese curds were small which meant they melted easier under the hot gravy. It was good!
The other place we tried was called Smoke’s Poutinerie. This chain started in Ontario and now has locations across Canada and the United States. This place cuts and cooks their fries fresh at each location, but Smoke’s is known for the wide variety of gravies and toppings you can choose from! We got the traditional poutine but we added bacon! The fries were softer, and the gravy was lighter, but the cheese curds were huge! The bacon on top made the poutine very yummy!
If I had to pick, I thought New York Fries had the best gravy, Smoke’s had the best cheese curds, and the fries were about tied. New York Fries has crunchier fries while Smoke’s Poutinerie had a softer fry. Both had great poutine! You can watch my video below of me enjoying the poutine!
But I did not just have poutine in Canada! We went to a few other places as well. First off, the most famous Canadian chain, Tim Hortons.
There are Tim Hortons everywhere, some within a couple of blocks of each other. They were in subway stations, and you can find their coffee in many places. We went to an Tim Hortons, and got a couple of breakfast items.
First off, Tim Hortons has biscuit sandwiches. But, they are nothing like the biscuit sandwiches we can get here in Alabama. The biscuits were not scratch made, and were frozen then baked. The egg was okay, but the bacon and cheese was good. It was okay.
The hashbrown was also just okay.
Of course we got some donuts. The donuts were really good, the chocolate glazed donut was yummy.
The Canadian maple cream stuffed donut was also yummy. The cream inside the donut was good.
We also got some Timbits. From the chocolate to the birthday cake, they were good too!
We got some fried chicken, and yes more poutine from a chain called Mary Brown’s. They specialize in chicken and their potato wedges. They got their start from Newfoundland and I enjoyed their fried chicken, it was crunchy and juicy. The potato wedges were very crunchy, they were okay.
We got some pizza from a Blue Jays game from a Canadian chain called Pizza Nova. While it was not made at a restaurant and made at a baseball game, I assume it’s the same crust, sauce, cheese, and toppings. It was really good! I would get that again when I go back to Canada.
We also had a burger, and more poutine from Canadian chain South Street Burger. The burger was okay, and the fries and poutine were okay too.
One last place we went was called Mandarin. They are a buffet chain across southern Ontario. At the time they were serving Canadian type dishes for Canada’s 150th anniversary. Things from maple salmon and ribs, shrimp, Tourtière, and even chocolate covered bacon were available to try! There are also plenty of general buffet type dishes as well.
The maple salmon and ribs were good. The shrimp was yummy. The potato skins and Tourtière were okay. And the chocolate covered bacon was like salty chocolate. Overall, Mandarin has a pretty great buffet which includes hot steamed towels before and after your meal!
So, the food in Canada was overall pretty good. Some places I would go back too, and there are other places I need to try when I go up again. But, you can’t beat the food you can get down here in Alabama!
