There are time when I have a craving for something really specific. Here’s a list of restaurants where I satisfy certain food cravings.

a) Craving Chicken Wings? Head to The Wingery. TRUST ME..they have the biggest chicken wings you’ve ever seen. Click here to find a location near you.

b) Craving Chicken? Head to Jackpot Chicken Rice (318 Spadina Ave). Delicious. Delicious. Delicious.

c) Craving Dim Sum? I’m a fan of Dim Sum King (421 Dundas St. W)….carts, a massive space, and it’s cheap ‘n cheerful.

d) Craving Matcha? Head to Tsjuri. You won’t be disappointed.

e) Craving Poke? Check out Cali Love   (367 Queen St. W) News Flash: They are just about to open a second location.

f) Craving something sweet? Cant help you. LOL.

g) Craving something totally different? Head to Junked Food Co. (1256 Dundas st. West)

h) Craving Soup? Mother’s Dumplings (421 Spadina Ave) has you covered. Best use of $5.15.

i)  Craving Pizza? Za Pizzeria.( 402 Bloor St. W) This place is a gem. Please check it out.

j) Craving deep fried pickles? Just go directly to Leslieville Pumps. (929 Queen St East)  Seriously.

i) Craving a salad? Aroma Espresso Bar has numerous salad options to satisfy any craving.

 

 

j) Craving something healthy? Yam Chops (705 College St) has no shortage of options.

K) Craving Pierogis? Have you tried The Saucy Pierogi (1282 Dundas St. W) Handmade pierogis. I swear.

L) Craving to Cook at Home? Head right over to HelloFresh. I’m loving this service (which is now available throughout Canada) Stay tuned for a dedicated blog post about using this service for two weeks.

L) Craving Indian? You MUST go to Ji. (760 St. Clair Ave W). This place has won my heart for Indian Gastropub type of food.

M) Craving Crispy Squid? Head to Jamie’s Italian (Yorkdale Shopping Centre). I loved this dish so much that I ordered another serving.

N) Craving Cheesesteak? Check out Philthy Philly’s. (multiple locations). No other word to describe this other than the word: YUM

I’m sure I missed a lot more categories but I don’t want to bore you. Perhaps one day I will finish off the list (O to Z). LOL

Happy Cravings!!

 

Thanks to twitter, I discovered Paulette’s Original Donuts and Chicken. They were on twitter even before they opened (smart business move).  Last Monday I was following @amypataki and her tweets about the donuts she was trying. I then noticed more tweets from @foodie411 about Paulette’s Original Donuts and Chicken!! Clearly, I had “donuts” on my brain and wanted to go check it out too.

I really wanted to do a tweet up there but knew that there would be a good chance they would sell out if I organized a tweet up at 7 p.m. You see, they start serving the donuts at 8 am and start serving fried chicken at 11:30 am and serve till 7 p.m OR TILL THEY RUN OUT. I wasn’t risking it.

I gathered a few friends to meet there on Friday at 10 a.m. We all happily tried: a Rootbeer donut, a Strawberry Balsamic donut and a Mango Yuzu donut. Every day there are 7 different flavors and each donut will set you back $2.75. I liked the rootbeer donut and the Mango Yuzu donut the best and we all agreed that the donuts were cakey not yeasty. Hope that description makes sense.

The store is really cute with a few bar stools and a ledge by the window. I wonder if the owner would tell me the paint chip number as I adored the shade of blue that was used in the store.

Seeing as I was with a few foodies…we went to explore another nearby restaurant that also opened recently, called Leslieville Pumps. Think of a gas station (which it is) that is totally hip and serving cool food.

The gas station/restaurant is owned by two friendly  brothers and one of them is the chef. So of course we talked FOOD and ordered a few things to try:

a) The Deep Fried Pickles: These are my weakness. Something about the crunchy batter and the sour batter along with the wicked sauce. I was a happy camper.

b) We also ordered the baked beans which were full of flavor. The right type of flavor. Not to sweet, not to smokey….just right.

c) Also spotted a few bars of candy that you don’t see every day: I have never tried them but the White Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup certainly intrigued me. Next time.

They even have a herb garden on the rooftop. How impressive.

What’s also impressive is both of their websites. Worth clicking on their links:

Paulette’s Original Donuts and Chicken 913 Queen St. East (647) 748-1177

Leslieville Pumps 929 Queen St. East (416) 465-1313