Toronto’s best new cheap eats

Dear reader,

Let’s switch gears for a sec and talk about money. Just over a dozen years ago, I was making around half of what I make now (this is not a humble brag—I am still nowhere close to being a wealthy person), but I clearly recall having a lot more disposable income. I was earning less, but I don’t remember worrying about groceries, and I didn’t think twice about going out for dinner and drinks. It hardly makes sense, right? The thing is, back then the all-inclusive monthly rent for my High Park apartment was $800—an amount that seems almost make-believe these days. (That same unit is now going for a little over $2,000, and while it was cute, it was a studio in an attic, and if you kept the bathroom door open, you could open the fridge while sitting on the toilet.)

The price of everything—rent, groceries, dining out—is skyrocketing, so we figured it was a good time to round up the city’s best cheap eats. In 2017, we ran a package that listed 100 items for $10 or less, and it wasn’t difficult to find that many. This year, it was a challenge to drum up 20 new offerings. And by using the word cheap, we’re in no way implying that these dishes are common, poorly made or undeserving of higher price tags—these are some of my absolute favourite things to eat. When I’m feeling low or ravenous, it’s not a set menu of precious small plates that will satisfy. It’s dishes from this list: pizza, shawarma, burgers, dumplings, noodles, tacos and sandwiches of all stripes. It’s food that fills and comforts; food that (for the time being) also happens to be affordable.

It’s been almost seven years—and one global pandemic—since our last feature on Toronto’s best, most affordable bites. A lot of things have changed in the interim, chief among them how hard it has become to find a meal (or anything, really) for $10—but it’s not impossible. We scoured the city’s new takeout spots and discovered 20 delicious ways to fill up for less. We also rounded up our all-time favourite budget-friendly bites and asked Toronto’s top chefs where they eat well on the cheap.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have Blue Bovine, a swanky new steak-and-sushi house inside Union Station from the team behind DaNico, BlueBlood and Michelin-starred Don Alfonso 1890. The commuter hub has come a long way since its Cinnabon and Mmmuffins days.

Speaking of steak, we visited the home kitchen of Peter Sanagan, the man who put bespoke butchery on Toronto’s culinary map. Inside his fridge you’ll find locally made hot sauce; homemade ragu; and a whole uncooked chicken, almost radiant with Sanagan’s signature house spice rub.

In the latest issue: how two faux-Inuit sisters cashed in on a life of deception. Plus, the city’s best cheap eats, a suburban holy war between religion and real estate, a bittersweet memoir about ditching Toronto, and more. Still not receiving Toronto Life at home? Subscribe today.