Yes, I’m a tea snob. But I come by it honestly. My family has been in the tea business for 30 years and as such I’ve had the pleasure of sampling countless hundreds of teas from just about every corner of the planet. Gunpowders from China, wiry leafed black teas from Sri Lanka, organic Fair Trade teas from Guatemala, you name it, it’s been down my gullet. As such, there are a few facts about tracking down the world’s finest teas that I can share:

1. It typically involves at least 40 hours of travel to the word’s most far-flung quarters.
2. It frequently involves the accompaniment of armed guards.
3. It almost always involves at least one near death experience either at the hands of bandits, seated on the scantily-padded seats of a hand-me-down down bus, or as the result of eating something you wish to God you hadn’t.

Continue reading Confessions of a Tea Snob »

Dolce Gelato
697 College Street
416-915-0756
1-3 scoops: 3-5$ (Larger tubs also available)

“Eh! Mi piace mangiare gelato!!” That’s me screaming for ice cream, I think, in Italian. The extent of my Italian language instruction ended around 1995 when I moved across country and away from an Italian Canadian girlfriend, it’s a long story. But after a recent visit to Dolce Gelato in the western reaches of Little Italy, a few words came rushing back, brought on by the very Italian-tasting product they sell in the shop. Unlike many places in Toronto that serve gelato too cold and hard to be properly called gelato, the offering at Dolce is soft and creamy. When I ask why, the answer is that it’s handmade in the shop so it isn’t shipped anywhere in a deep-freezer truck. As a result, at Dolce, you will never see your server come on to ‘er mangia-cake-style in order to scoop out a ball or two. Just like the stuff you’d get in Bari or San Gimignano or any other random Italian town, the gelato at Dolce slides up the side of the scoop like a silk stocking up the leg of an Milanese supermodel. Did I say that out loud?

Continue reading Oh Gelato Mio »

Emporio Latino
243 Augusta Avenue
416-351-9646
Lunch for 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) including drink and tax: $15

Well, I’ve never been to El Salvador. I’d love to go, but thus far it hasn’t been in the cards. Luckily I live in Toronto, about a 15-,minute walk from Kensington Market. A Saturday afternoon visit with my sister who has lived in Latin America for many years, her infant son and my 3-year-old daughter takes us past the fish mongers, punk rockers and butchers to the tiny Latin American shop aptly titled, Emporio Latino. From the street, it looks like a small grocer’s, the entrance piled high with baskets of colourful beans, peppers, tomatillas in green husks, frozen packs of banana leaves, ripe plantains and just about anything else you can imagine. If you venture in beyond the bulk items and South American packaged goods however you’ll find what seems to be, again as someone who has never been, an authentic El Salvadorian street vendor, tucked away in the back of the shop.

Above the cash we find a chalkboard menu with prices for everything hovering around three dollars. Crispy deep fried tacos, enchiladas, fried plantains with a choice of cream or cheese, tamales, burritos and les pieces de resistance, a selection of pupusas - flattish cornmeal pancakes stuffed with a choice of cheese, shredded pork or beans. We order tacos, plantains with cream, pupusas with the works and are handed a tiny slip of paper we’re told to hand to the woman in the back. No problema.

Continue reading Authentico Comida el Salvadoran Style »

Tealish
198 Walnut Avenue
416-203-3301

Tucked away down a side street south of Queen West, on a tiny, two-shop strip cleverly marketed as the “shops of Walnut Avenue” sits one of Toronto’s newest tea destinations, Tealish. With over 200 varieties of loose tea and a rather extensive menu of takeout tea options, the shop is reminiscent of the kind of place you’d get your morning cup in Hamburg or Paris, two locales where much of the world’s finest teas go down. Lucky for me it’s about 3 blocks down the street, so no passport required. At this point, like most of us, I have to admit that my morning meal usually consists of a Starbuck’s concoction. I usually save tea for the afternoon. The other morning however I decided to wrestle myself free of the stranglehold the Seattle behemoth has on my sleepy brain and decided to try one of Tealish’s creations.

I’m glad I did. Where your typical chain gang barista reminds me of a morning radio show host, Michael, co-owner and server at Tealish exudes the laid back charm of the self-employed, a big plus right off the top. After perusing the menu, I decide on something simple, an Earl Grey latte. This proved to be a difficult choice since the board at Tealish, touted as Toronto’s only tea-dedicated drink menu, offers over 130 varieties of tea, everything from semi-fermented oolongs to gunpowders, herbal blends, green and black teas from virtually all corners of the globe, South African Rooibos in a myriad of flavours, decaf, flavoured teas, the list was endless.

Continue reading A Visit with the Earl of Grey at Tealish »