A Short Trip to Toronto

After my trip from Thailand, I flew to Toronto to visit two of my best friends, JT and Steve. I stayed in Downtown Toronto with my friends, so I got the pleasure of seeing the beautiful skyscrapers in the morning and at night. For the first day, I walked quite a bit, going around DT and admiring the city despite how busy it was. I could tell Toronto is home to a lot of business owners or just people working in the field in general. There were a lot of people dressed in business attire almost everywhere I went.

One of the first building I visited in Toronto was the Brookfield Place which was an office complex in downtown and famous for its complex-designed ceilings.

Brookfield Place (Toronto)
181 Bay St, Toronto, ON M5J 2T3, Canada

JT and Steve lived near Sugar Beach, which was close to a beautiful park and became very convenient for the both of them to take their dog, Rufus, out for walks. I was very excited when JT told me that we were taking Rufus out for a walk and I came back with these very lovely images.

Sugar Beach
25 Dockside Dr, Toronto, Ontario M5A 0B5, Canada

My first couple of meals in Toronto consisted of mostly ramen… I know I should have tried something different since Toronto is well-known for amazing food (sorry April!) but JT and I are obsessed with ramen, so obviously she brought me to two different places. The first one that I went to was called Sansotei Ramen, which had super pretty ramen and ridiculously delicious broth; the second store was called Kinton Ramen, which had the best chicken karage ever, and it was also JT’s favourite ramen shop.

Sansotei Ramen
179 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8, Canada

Kinton Ramen
51 Baldwin St, Toronto, ON M5T 1L1, Canada

Toronto is also home to one of the most hipster market you’ll ever see, Kensington Market. The market is a walkable bohemian neighbourhood that draws artists and tourists to its indie shops, vintage boutiques and arts spaces. The market is also home to a wide array of specialty grocers, bakeries and cheese shops. JT and I also ended up having lunch at the The Dirty Bird Chicken + Waffles, and we obviously ordered their famous chicken and waffles!

The Dirty Bird Chicken + Waffles
79 Kensington Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2K2, Canada

Near Kensington Market, we also found a restaurant called, Jackpot Chicken Rice, where you can find the Hainanese Chicken. JT and I love this dish because it is pretty much a staple in Thailand. So when we ordered it, we didn’t have high expectations since we tried many different places in Vancouver and nothing seemed to meet our standards. However, Jackpot Chicken Rice became our new favourite place to eat this dish. The best way for me to describe how this dish tastes is for you to head over to this restaurant, if you are in Toronto, and try it for yourself. The restaurant was also super hipster and ran by young adults of different backgrounds and not just Asians.

Jackpot Chicken Rice
318 Spadina Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2E7, Canada

One of the things that I really wanted to do in Toronto was to hop on the helicopter and hover over the city and I made sure this wish came true. We booked our helicopter tour with Toronto Heli Tours. We bought the Heli Tour #1 (15km Route) which allowed up to three passengers (perfect for myself and my two buddies) and costed us around $123.17 CAD per person. I do think it was quite expensive but I’ve heard good reviews about this company and a couple of my friends did their tours through Toronto Heli Tours as well so I trusted them. However, I would definitely recommend future travelers to use Groupon and search up any helicopter tours and see if there are any promotions available. Before my trip to Toronto, I did see a couple of promotions from other companies for a helicopter tour, however, I didn’t purchase it then and it was too late to buy them when I arrived to Toronto.

I had another close friend who lived in Toronto so I got the chance to meet with him again (after 6 years!). He got an apartment located right in the heart of Downtown Toronto and he also lived on the 72nd floor of the building…the view was pretty sweet.

On my final night in Toronto, JT and Steve took me to a sushi restaurant called Saku Toronto, which was a little pricey. It was a fine dining sushi restaurant, but I must admit that it was delicious. The quality for the food was definitely worth its price. After our dinner, we headed to a jazz bar (on my request) called, The Reservoir Lounge, and we enjoyed the rest of our night to live music and sipping on martinis.