Toronto restaurants

Dear Diary

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I think we can all agree Toronto needs more pink places. Johanna and I have exhausted the few the city has to offer, and we’re always begging anyone we can get to listen to paint at least a portion of their home/business/office to help our cause.

We’re long time fans of Sweet Jesus and their incredible turquoise colour scheme (a much-needed addition to the doom and gloom of downtown Toronto.) We had been planning to visit their newest location at Yonge and Eglington for months, but somehow the dates kept slipping away, and before we knew it I was in California and the amazing Sweet Jesus soft serve was an entire continent away.

keep reading…

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By the time I got back I had a pretty serious craving for a vegan cone of any sort from the city’s favourite soft serve magicians, and it turns out waiting a couple months had only sweetened the deal – in the same massive building at Yonge and Eglington there was now a La Carnita (our favourite tacos in TO) and Good Fortune, a new PINK cocktail bar.

We’re generally pretty strictly downtown west-side girls, but this perfect trifecta is absolutely worth the trek. Our first course consisted of Sweet Jesus ice cream (I went for a vegan bounty-bar inspired cone and seriously lost my mind!), and for the second course we headed down the steps to the plant-filled pink oasis that is Good Fortune. Though there’s certainly competition, this is my new favourite cocktail bar in the city. There’s a peachy cocktail with a diamond-shaped ice cube that turns the drink pink! There’s a cotton candy cocktail! There are SLUSHIES! In case liquids aren’t your thing, there are also some pretty tasty snacks, AND you can order anything you like from the La Carnita menu upstairs. Yeah, it’s like a pink heaven just north of downtown, and apparently things can even get a little dancy up there on the weekends (in case you’re wondering where to find us…)

Final note: We loved Good Fortune so much that we decided to start a hashtag in an attempt to celebrate all of Toronto’s pink places, and maybe even inspire business owners to create more! Jump onboard and tag your photos too? #PinkPlacesTO!

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Dear DiaryI'll Follow You Anywhere

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When I made the decision to book a one-way ticket to LA with no sense of when I’d stop adventuring and come back, it was so spontaneous and unexpected I didn’t really think all of the details through. When a friend asked me about a going away party a few days after I made the announcement, I was totally blindsided – I needed to say farewell to all of my dearest friends!

With less than a week left I scrambled to put something together, and luckily Planta came to my rescue. A new upscale vegan restaurant in Yorkville, this place is literally to DIE for, and I knew it would be the perfect location to feast with friends. Their incredible team booked us our own massive table tucked away at the back for Sunday brunch, and no lie, it ended up being one of the best meals of my entire life.

Cauliflower tater tots, banana pancakes, nachos, crab cake benedict… the list of wondrous creations sent from the kitchen went on and on. Every single thing, from the tea to the blood orange mimosas was absolutely divine, and by the end of the meal we were confident our server was the nicest man alive. We ate like queens, chatted incessantly, and in the end shed a few tears over goodbye hugs and Christmas gifts.

It was the kind of sendoff that almost convinces you to stay, and ensures you’ll be back.

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A special thanks to Planta for hosting my special day!