Toronto – March 2026 ; A love letter

I really do love you, Toronto. Its something I struggled to admit to myself, let alone family and friends when asked about my feelings toward the city. See, my folks grew up during the time of Toronto Dahhh-ling and have expressly forbade wandering into the centre of the Canadian Universe.

While every city has its own energy, the energy of Toronto has remained an enigma. And that enigma was my pull during my very first trip there. Now, having been there a few times I still can’t put my finger on it, but I keep coming back for more.

This time was no exception. The reason for going was, well a change of pace and a six foot man screamsinging to me at the top of his well-trained lungs. Shout out to Noah Sebastian. Absolute beast of a vocalist, and deserves all of the love and respect for his art.

However just because the reasoning for the trip didn’t revolve around food, doesn’t mean that the food shouldn’t be a highlight to this adventure.

The two experiences that truly stood out were ; Cumbraes and Nobu. Two very different experiences, and two that I feel like truly speak to what I value in food.

Cumbraes isn’t a restaurant, though. Cumbraes is a butcher shop located in the small town of Dundas, ON. Serving Hamilton, and Toronto. They can tell their story a lot better than I can, so do check it out here https://dundas.cumbraes.com/pages/our-story

See, I had opted to stay at a little place called The High Acre. This gem of a retreat is a renovated home dating back to the late 1800s. They took the time to meticulously recreate the charm of the original house in a 4 room adults only self-guided self-care retreat. Dreamed up of by a Mother and Son duo, this 1 acre property boasts one of the most relaxing experiences I’ve had the privilege in indulging in. At the High Acre, the suite I was in had a full kitchen. This meant I could have a little bit of fun with local ingredients and have fun I did! I was also put onto Cumbraes by the staff at the High Acre as they recommend it as one of the premier sources for local food.

From the moment you walk into this little butcher shop, one thing is evident. Every inch of sellable space in that spot is packed with local goodies. From heat and eat side dishes, butters, small desserts and preserves to the most beautiful looking displays full of locally, humanely raised meat. Its quite the sight to take in, but take it in you must if you’re going to get any sort of meal on the table. After bumbling around, the list was set with :

Dry aged New York Strip Steak
Locally raised Chicken Breast (boneless, skinless)
Mac and Cheese
Roasted garlic and shallot butter (for the steaks, and for the occasional shmear on the house provided croissant at High Acre)

An honourable shout out to Metro, the local grocer who was able to supply the sides and drinks!

For dinner on night #1 ; Steak and cucumber salad. The steak was done as all good steaks should be done.

-Taken out of the refrigerator as not to shock the meat
-Salted liberally, and let to sit
-Put into a screaming hot pan to develop a crust (and the crust was absolutely CRUSTING in the best of ways)
-Basted with Cumbraes roasted garlic and shallot butter to finish
-Rest for 7 mins
-Savour

Flavour – 10/10
Crust- 1000/10
Meat quality – Out of this world. Well done to the Ontario Beef farmer who grew them.

I don’t often have the capacity to inhale an entire new york strip, but between eating and breathing it was impossible not to.

The chicken was done the next night, after an unexpected trip to the Niagara Falls. It was soaked in buttermilk and herbs in the fridge for about 8 hours, then it was oven roasted and based with more Cumbraes butter.

With the chicken was the ready to eat (after heating, of course) mac and cheese. It was better than expected and went really well with the steamed and salted snow peas. While this wasn’t elaborately done, it allowed the chicken to truly come through. And again, my kudos and thanks to the Ontario farmers who were part of the lives of these animals. The care of which was evident in every step of working with their produce.

Now Nobu needs its own post. As photos from each trip get reviewed, I’ll try to include galleries under each corresponding post. Some will be phone grabs and some may be from my Nikon Z7 so quality will be a mixed bag, but still all the same for context and viewing pleasure.

Thanks for reading this far if you have ; and if you have I really hope I’ve inspired you to at least eat something local! If you’re lucky enough to live near a farmer’s market – What are you waiting for!?

Cheers,