first timer in toronto

[gutsofgold]

im heading toronto in the morning and im hoping i can get some last minute advice...

i have the entire day practically to shop around and just check stuff out...

im looking for good denim stores, kind of 'different' shopping boutiques, and also cool places to eat that aren't too expensive. im thinking of spending a couple bucks for lunch and dinner wont hurt to drop like $20-30 a person on a meal.

so basically where is all the cool shopping boutiques/record stores/and good eats?

im a teenager so im looking for the more hip areas and if anyone can recommend some cheap sushi taht would be cool too.

[lms]

i'm an american student in toronto who has completed a year here. sadly, i still don't know the place that well.

there's already a million threads on where to find things in toronto -- because shopping in toronto sucks. the kids here go to new york to buy clothing, or other places. try searching the board for advice

anyways, i'll give you a quick list off the top of my head.

for denim try tnt blu and lileo. tnt blu is in yorkville in this weird shopping mall near whole foods, the four seasons hotel, and a rolls royce dealership. lileo is on queen west, further west than the zara and crap. queen st west is supposed to be the city's "arty" area. also, checkout kensington market for vintage stores and maybe an interesting botique or two.

all the urban kids on this board rant and rave about goodfoot and nomad near queen st west somewhere.

check out http://www.blogto.com/bestofindietoronto/results.php for a variety of food suggestions etc...

pick up now magazine and eye magazine for information about events in the city, movies, art, food, clubs, etc...

www.stillepost.ca for indie rock concerts/club events/etc...

you can find a few sushi places in yorkville. try indian food in the city, maybe around queen st. burrito boyz around richmond st (the clubbing district...) is a much hyped burrito place; beware, mexican food is nonexistant in toronto. sandwich box is a good sandwich place located in a food court off queen st west. thai food is availible all over. go to korea town on bloor st west before christie park for good cheap food (get beef. really just go to korea town.)! stay away from chinatown, the food sucks.

www.blogto.com www.torontoist.com www.nowtoronto.com

i hope this helps.

[jackierose]

the most amazing / cheap sushi place in toronto is sushi on bloor .

hope it's not too late , it's incredible .

[gutsofgold]

hey guys, thanks for the quick help.

i actually stopped into that sushi place on bloor right when i got into the city.

i dont eat much of it but for the price we paid it was really good.

we swung by the yorkville area like you said and it was nice...just not what i was really looking for.

i ended up spending a ton of time (and money) in H&M in Eaton and then just getting dinner at some italian place right on Yonge.

next time im in the area im hoping to check out kensington market. it sounds rad.

[ryju]

I've never heard any of my friends in Toronto say they go to NYC to shop... Anyway I know I'm late on this but Bloor St., the Eaton's Centre, Yonge St. north of Dundas, and Queen St. West are all excellent places to shop.

[SENDkylHISPASSWORD]

I've never heard any of my friends in Toronto say they go to NYC to shop... Anyway I know I'm late on this but Bloor St., the Eaton's Centre, Yonge St. north of Dundas, and Queen St. West are all excellent places to shop.

STAY AWAY FROM THE EATONS CENTER

some tips for Toronto though:

The best shop in the city by far is Nomad (nomadhsop.net). They carry the best brands that you may or may not have heard of, the owner calls it "street couture". Margelia, Engineered Garments, Spruce, Wings & Horn, Nom De Guerre, Supreme and the toronto brand Grandiose which is fantastic.

You will probaby be on Queen West and it is at 431 Richmond (@ Spadina, one street south of Queen). There is plenty on Queen West but the firts part is very commercial, and I don't hate it for that but it's stuff for the masses with the occasional decent place. (Caban is good, huge store, mostly furniture carries Levis PRemium, Trovata, Rogan, 5EP etc...) Walk west on Queen for as long as you want way past Spadina and that is the new "cool" area. Lots of greta local and independant boutiques, designers, studiosgalleries, bars, restaurants etc. At around 670 Queen is Czehoski, eat lunch on the patio. A mix of local hipsters and "perfect" 30 year old couples. It is great, I just enjoyed the $37 burger there last night (bison, truffles, gold, fois gras). Make sure to check delphic for Lindeberg, Alife shoes and more.

Any more questions ask. Also what are your tastes? perhaps I can direct you even more specifically.

And a great resource for food and shops is www.torontolife.com

I can also safley say avoid the eaton center unless you want to do the whole lame toruisty thing. Also stay away from that whole area, stylexchange and urbanoutfitters unless you are eurotrash or a suburban pseudo-hipster.

And as stated above check out the Yorkville area (TNT) and enjoy a drink on a patio while watching some seriously vain and beautiful people walk or drive buy in their Ranges and Ferraris.

Also for Toronto see this thread: http://superfuture.com/city/supertalk/showthread.php?p=175741#post175741

here is an excerpt from it I posted about places to eat/drink:

Here are some noteworth bars/lounges/restuarants:

King West

Susur 601 King St. West - Famous chef Susur Lee's restaurant, exotic cusine.

Lee 603 King St. West - Susur Lee's cheaper casual place, still great design and exotic, tapas style cusine.

Brassai 461 St. King West - great traditional bistro, amazing patio, in an old warehouse.

The Spoke Club 600 King St. West - members only club. amazing place, has a dinning room, bar, library, great design, find a member to take you as a guest.

Brant House 522 King St. West - another cool place with a great patio right next to 8 Restolounge (12 Brant St.) and West Lounge (511 King St. West), 3 very trendy "it" spots.

Yorkville

Toni Bolloni's 156 Cumberland St.- great little spot in Yorkville for fantastic itallian cusine, not expensive and not pretentious like the rest of Yorkville, there are always athletes and celebs in there.

Lobby 192 Bloor St. West - cool place, all white, trendy, yound rich jewish kids hang out in the bar but they added a serious kitchen and do great mini kobe burgers

Montreal Bread Co - 100 Bloor St West - address is Bloor but you must get to it from the street behing bloor, see Finacial District for info.

Queen West/Entertainment District

Sandwich Box 238 Queen St. West - $7 lunch, grilled sandwiches: highest quality ingredients pick your bread, spead and 3 ingredients.

Burrito Boyz 120 Peter - freshest ingredients, huge, cheap, great lunch always lined up out the door

Ultra Supper Club 314 Queen St. West - Amazing rooftop patio, great food, beautiful people

Kai 220 Richmond St. West- Asian themed club of the moment, enter in a sketcy back alley, saw Paris Hilton there last week if thats your thing.

The Fifth 225 Richmond St. West- club underneath, take the elevator the fine dinning restarant or go to the great rooftop with cabans and some great easy food and fantastic cocktails

West Queen West/Parkdale

Czehoski 678 Queen St. West - trustfund hipsters and area locals, great design old butcher shop with remnants from the past operation. try the $37 burger, lots of organic, inventive playful cusine

Bar One 924 Queen St. West - Cool place, live jazz, good fresh modern italian, amazing back terrace.

Clafouti 915 Queen St. West - Amazing french bakery, famous croissants, good sandwiches too.

The Social 1100 Queen St. West - Slightly gritty but kind of bridges the gab between the trendyness and girttyness of the area, spillover from the Drake, Mischa Barton hung out there, so did all the hot indie acts (Franz Ferdinand, Broken Social Scene)

Dufflet Pastries 787 Queen St. West - Best pastries, small little bakery, a Toronto staple, order cakes for home or sit at the window and have a key lime tart while you watch the hipsters, cokeheads and modern couples stroll by.

Kensington Market

The Boat 158 Agusta Ave - Kennsington Indie kid hotspot, cool rundown place

Supermarket 258 Agusta - cool trendy spot asian food, mixed crowd all the artsy, punk, skater whatever kensington kids juxtapose with the 905ers and metrosexuals

Finnacial District

Bymark 66 Wellington St. - AMAZING food, cool design, lots of bay street sharks and the women who love them

Ki 181 Bay St.- think LA's "Koi"; see above

MBCo (Montreal Bread Co) 66 Wellington St. - Amazing fresh lunches, great design white marble wood floors. shrimp and lobster quesadillas, ahai tuna nicoise sandwich etc, you get the idea, in the food court of the TD center, the yorkville location is better has an outdoor patio

Other

The Bagel 258 College - Another Indie kid ironic spot, get drunk cheap.

Thats it for now, those are some of my favourite places to hang out or eat, can add more.

[lms]

Don't get me wrong, I like Toronto, but it's pathetic that Nomad is hailed as the city's best boutique, believing that nothing comes close to its grandeur.

[SENDkylHISPASSWORD]

What do you think it tops?

[ryju]

I agree about the Eaton's Centre, and most of Yonge St. being the touristy crap. I think UrbanOutfitters is pretty nice though since the renovation. The last time I was there though the men's selection was slim to none. I'm really enjoying Queen St. west of Spadina though, since I go to Rotate This and Suspect all the time.

[aDj]

STAY AWAY FROM THE EATONS CENTER

King West

Susur 601 King St. West - Famous chef Susur Lee's restaurant, exotic cusine.

Lee 603 King St. West - Susur Lee's cheaper casual place, still great design and exotic, tapas style cusine.

Brassai 461 St. King West - great traditional bistro, amazing patio, in an old warehouse.

The Spoke Club 600 King St. West - members only club. amazing place, has a dinning room, bar, library, great design, find a member to take you as a guest.

Brant House 522 King St. West - another cool place with a great patio right next to 8 Restolounge (12 Brant St.) and West Lounge (511 King St. West), 3 very trendy "it" spots.

Yorkville

Toni Bolloni's 156 Cumberland St.- great little spot in Yorkville for fantastic itallian cusine, not expensive and not pretentious like the rest of Yorkville, there are always athletes and celebs in there.

Lobby 192 Bloor St. West - cool place, all white, trendy, yound rich jewish kids hang out in the bar but they added a serious kitchen and do great mini kobe burgers

Montreal Bread Co - 100 Bloor St West - address is Bloor but you must get to it from the street behing bloor, see Finacial District for info.

Queen West/Entertainment District

Sandwich Box 238 Queen St. West - $7 lunch, grilled sandwiches: highest quality ingredients pick your bread, spead and 3 ingredients.

Burrito Boyz 120 Peter - freshest ingredients, huge, cheap, great lunch always lined up out the door

Ultra Supper Club 314 Queen St. West - Amazing rooftop patio, great food, beautiful people

Kai 220 Richmond St. West- Asian themed club of the moment, enter in a sketcy back alley, saw Paris Hilton there last week if thats your thing.

The Fifth 225 Richmond St. West- club underneath, take the elevator the fine dinning restarant or go to the great rooftop with cabans and some great easy food and fantastic cocktails

West Queen West/Parkdale

Czehoski 678 Queen St. West - trustfund hipsters and area locals, great design old butcher shop with remnants from the past operation. try the $37 burger, lots of organic, inventive playful cusine

Bar One 924 Queen St. West - Cool place, live jazz, good fresh modern italian, amazing back terrace.

Clafouti 915 Queen St. West - Amazing french bakery, famous croissants, good sandwiches too.

The Social 1100 Queen St. West - Slightly gritty but kind of bridges the gab between the trendyness and girttyness of the area, spillover from the Drake, Mischa Barton hung out there, so did all the hot indie acts (Franz Ferdinand, Broken Social Scene)

Dufflet Pastries 787 Queen St. West - Best pastries, small little bakery, a Toronto staple, order cakes for home or sit at the window and have a key lime tart while you watch the hipsters, cokeheads and modern couples stroll by.

Kensington Market

The Boat 158 Agusta Ave - Kennsington Indie kid hotspot, cool rundown place

Supermarket 258 Agusta - cool trendy spot asian food, mixed crowd all the artsy, punk, skater whatever kensington kids juxtapose with the 905ers and metrosexuals

Finnacial District

Bymark 66 Wellington St. - AMAZING food, cool design, lots of bay street sharks and the women who love them

Ki 181 Bay St.- think LA's "Koi"; see above

MBCo (Montreal Bread Co) 66 Wellington St. - Amazing fresh lunches, great design white marble wood floors. shrimp and lobster quesadillas, ahai tuna nicoise sandwich etc, you get the idea, in the food court of the TD center, the yorkville location is better has an outdoor patio

Other

The Bagel 258 College - Another Indie kid ironic spot, get drunk cheap.

Thats it for now, those are some of my favourite places to hang out or eat, can add more.

More then half of these spots are expensive. He/she only wants to spend $20-$30 a person for dinner and you list Susur???

[SENDkylHISPASSWORD]

I mentionedx it was anexcerpt from another post... many of those will be good for under 30 bones though

[Guest Fade to Black]

Not much to say other than what was already mentioned...all i have to add is Susur is highly overrated (the time I was there the supposed 'chef's tasting menu' which was supposed to be a sample of his signature fusion cuisine, offered what is a pretty cheap and basic chinese dish of fatty pork with preserved vegetable as one of the main dishes; i thought that was pretty insulting to serve that to non-Chinese who might think that is something innovative), and if you want good Chinese food you have to go up north to Richmond Hill and Markham.

[sr20det]

anyone catch susur's reaction on iron chef? classic! haha