The 38 Essential Toronto Restaurants

"Chef Jinda Witthayarak’s restaurants are cherished in Laos and northeastern Thailand, so it’s a gift to have her open her first North American location in Toronto. Her daughter, Khun Jiab Nattanid, runs the day-to-day operations, serving a menu that echoes the family’s Southeast Asian eateries. There’s a section dedicated to som tum (papaya salad) in its vast iterations, including tum Thai puu, which glitters with bits of salted crab, garlic, chile, peanut, green beans, and dried shrimp — combined together with enough heat to burst through your skull. Kor moo yang (grilled pork jowl blessed with a generous fat belt) also leaves a tingling buzz on the lips, thanks to its ample endowment of red chiles. For those who can’t stand the heat, pad woon sen cha-om is a tame yet solid choice: Springy glass noodles are tossed with crumbled egg and garlic, then finished with bitter acacia leaf that’s strewn across the stringy landscape." - Tiffany Leigh