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Toronto Tastes
In celebration of Canada week, we’ve hit the streets of Toronto to find fun, affordable, fresh restaurants where you can sit, relax and enjoy without falling off your weight-loss track.
To an outsider, the national pastimes of Canada might appear to be hockey, curling and fine beer. But actual Canadians know what Canadians really like to do—eat out. In fact, according to the Toronto Public Health service, the typical Canadian eats away from home about five times a week.
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All that dining out can be difficult when you’re also trying to maintain a healthy eating routine. So in celebration of Canada week, we’ve hit the streets of Toronto to find fun, affordable, fresh restaurants where you can sit, relax and enjoy without falling off your weight-loss track.
This city’s rich ethnic offerings and sophisticated diners make finding restaurants a snap. But if you’re looking to discover more, you can visit www.toronto.ca/health/eatsmart/eatsmart.htm#dining, where the city has prepared a list of what they call Eat Smart! restaurants which the Toronto Public Health service says “meet high standards in nutrition, food safety and nonsmoking.”
Of course, just about any restaurant can work with your eating habits if you make the right choices (take your salad dressing on the side, steam your fish, ask your server to skip the oil). But the places that impressed us most were the ones that made it so easy to eat healthily that you had to really work to make the wrong choices. And don’t forget. The food had to taste amazing.
So here goes!
Good Four You
Just opened this February—to much fanfare—the Financial District’s Four is a conceptual restaurant. The idea is: no dish has more than 650 calories. But even if you’re looking at POINTS® values instead of calories, there are a lot of safe, interesting choices that really let you relax while dining out. Chef Gordon Makie has come up with a menu inspired by international locales like the Mediterranean, India and Japan. So instead of frying, you find steaming, grilling and broiling. You’ll find healthy, basic ingredients too, like olive oil, spelt flour and buckwheat noodles (a certified nutritionist helped develop the menu). So as long as you watch your portion control—for example, have an appetiser and an entrée or an entrée and a dessert—you should be fine. Still, you want to pick dishes that are low-fat and fibre-rich, not just low calorie. Our picks include a starter of grilled calamari with a blood orange chili-basil sauce. Then the ocean trout as a main course, served with side of lentils, sweet peas and Boston lettuce. But the options here run the gamut from a hot-and-sour chicken soup to a bison burger. Make your own choice!
Four: 187 Bay Street, (416) 368-1444, fourtoronto.com
Dinner for two: about $80
Northern Lite
Along with the ever-popular Greek, Indian, Chinese and Japanese areas of Toronto, Little Vietnam, east of the Don Valley, is now a beloved citywide eating destination. The tiny Hanoi 3 Seasons was actually the first accredited North Vietnamese eatery in the city. Today, Chef Hai Luke adds a lot of hot, subtle flavour with a wide range of peppers (whose spice can leave you feeling more satisfied than blander foods). To play things on the safe, delicious side, try starting with cold summer rolls or steamed green-shelled New Zealand mussels, then move on to the vermicelli noodles (plain or with chicken or beef). Another option is any of the pho dishes, which are based in a broth that’s both low fat and very filling. Our favorite of these is the Bun Bo Hue, in which thin strips of beef float in a broth perfumed with coriander, lemongrass, coconut, roasted chilies, fresh mint and sour tamarind. Still in doubt? Ask the chef himself—or his parents who work there too. To the healthy eater, this causal, chic eatery can feel pretty down-home.
Hanoi 3 Seasons: 588 Gerrard St. East, (416) 463-9940
Dinner for two: about $40
Sweet Dreams
Nobody should have to go to dinner and skip dessert. And while fresh fruit may hit the spot most of time, other times you need a little more of sweet-tooth fix. That’s where Soy N’ Joy comes to the rescue, with low-fat, low-calorie, whole soy ice cream. Plus, the soy here is organic and has no-trans fat. But do these frozen, ice cream-like concoctions taste any good? Don’t take our word for it. One Toronto internet foodie raves, “Cool creations! I like the lychee flavor the best.” And there are the other 32 flavors to choose from, including: green tea, pink guava and pistachio bean. But our favorite is the new dark chocolate-mint. Delish!
Soy N’ Joy: 664 Finch Avenue East, (416) 218-0255, soynjoy.net
$2.62 - $3.33 per scoop
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