There are many perks to living in Toronto in the summer, and in July, one of them is undoubtedly the delicious opportunity that is Summerlicious. With over 200 restaurants participating across the city from July 4–20, there is a place with a flavour for every palate. The prix fixe menus range from $15–$45, making great food accessible on a student budget..
There is no better time to explore the Toronto food scene and see what it has to offer than during Summerlicious. Chances are some extravagant restaurant that you’ve been eyeing for the past couple of months is offering an affordable option during the festival. Be sure to take risks — to sample cuisine you’ve never had before, or explore a new neighbourhood. Our students’ guide to Summerlicious will help direct your attention to some of the best offerings at this year’s foodie festival.
The best deals
We’re all students on a budget, so normally pricey restaurants that offer a $15 lunch menu are a welcoming treat. Pukka, located at 778 St. Clair Ave West, is an Indian restaurant with a reputation for its delicacies. With butter chicken, vegetable curry, and tamarind chicken, Pukka’s menu includes some classic Indian dishes at a very agreeable price.
South Indian vegetable curry from Pukka. Photo courtesy of Pukka
T|Bar, located in The Eaton Chelsea Hotel at 33 Gerrard St., has one of the city’s hippest, most contemporary menus and atmospheres. Their Slegers Farms Summer Lettuce Saladette is so cool and modern that you honestly can’t be sure what it is from its name. Their gazpacho shooters and specialty martinis are a little more comprehensible, but just as innovative and exciting.
The veggie havens
Calling all vegetable-loving, dairy-eschewing students: these are the restaurants for you. Though no restaurant boasts exclusively vegan option, there are 12 restaurants in the Summerlicious line-up that offer three-course vegan meals. Trevor Kitchen and Bar, in addition to having vegan and vegetarian options, is one of three restaurants to also offer a slew of locally-sourced dishes. Their baby kale salad with ice wine vinaigrette is about as natural and Canadian as it gets.
Grasslands, another restaurant with vegetarian and vegan options, is distinguished for their creative uses of fruits and vegetables. If you’re sick of tofu and chickpeas, this is place for you — their watermelon gazpacho with cucumber relish and their date pudding with maple almond tuile sound good enough to convert even the biggest carnivore.
The date spots
Some frequently visit restaurants during Summerlicious for the food; while others go to fuel their lonely hearts. After all, eating out is one of the most basic date activities. Ciao Wine Bar, located in the heart of Yorkville, has an excellent wine list, and some of the most romantic dishes to pair with it. The only thing fresher than you will be their Salmone Fresco Atlantico. If all goes well, you’ll be ordering a double chocolate espresso tart with two spoons at the end of the evening.
That hip place
If you know about the hottest nightclubs before they open, or live in a neighbourhood so obscure that nobody can pronounce its name, House of Moments is likely right up your alley. The place is Asian fusion in style and decorated as an ornate art gallery. With a perfect combination of off-the-beaten-track food and décor, this restaurant/lounge is as cutting edge as their Iced Black noodle dish.
The splurge
There are some restaurants we may never have the good fortune to enter, but can still admire from afar, allowing our mouths to water from merely perusing their menus, and hoping that a rich socialite will take us under their wing for a meal — or that a visiting relative will. But during Summerlicious, the playing field is leveled, and three course meals at the most elegant restaurants in Toronto become marginally affordable, even for the starving student. Restaurants such as Canoe, a Canadian treasure located atop the TD Bank Tower, have menus so exciting and gourmet, you’ll wonder if you missed the penthouse and shot straight up to heaven. With sweet pea panna cotta, rye brined pork loin, and buttermilk lemongrass flan, Canoe is a must-try this July.
