Living It Up Toronto- Part 3

Decided to combine the last two days of the trip into one post as there were only 3 stops in the two days. We doubled down on the City Pass and hit up some tourist stops: Casa Loma and the Ontario Science Center.  In between the two spots decided to check another place off the list:  

Kanga Aussie Meat Pies 

Meat pies are pretty much the only thing I know about Australian cuisine. Although I "a shrimp on the barbie" might be a thing or just racism. I'm not quite sure. #ThanksCrocodileDundee. I don't know that I've ever had the desire to visit Australia but I'll gladly try their cuisine. 

Karen went with the Kiwi Classic meat pie. Just looking at what's in it screams Karen: beef filling with chunks of white cheddar cheese. Apparently its the favorite of New Zealanders per their website. Maybe Karen is a Kiwi at heart? They had an option to make it a meal- so she got garlic mash potatoes and sausage roll. She highly enjoyed it with the sausage roll being the star of the show.

Kiwi Classic Meat Pie w/ garlic mash potatoes, and sausage roll

I ended up going with the Mate's Masala pie which got my attention ingredient wise: Indian chick pea curry, eggplant, and sweet potato. Per the menu its said it was "spicy" but I didn't think it was spicy at all. The fries were freshly cut/made there which were also excellent. The spinach + feta roll was great as well. I have no idea if Australian folks made our food but kudos to the chefs/bakers as it was fantastic.

Mate's Masala Pie w/ fries and spinach + feta roll

So somewhere (possibly our hotel) there was a stand with tourist brochures and places of interest. One of the pamphlets she picked up was a tour for butter tarts. Apparently butter tarts are national treasures for Canadians. I was unaware of this fact but figured it was our duty to try it out. Unfortunately all the tour spots were a couple hours away so after a quick google search ended up finding Tartistry as it was on the way back to our hotel.

We arrived at Tartistry and wouldn't you know it- they were closed. Damnation...so turn to head back to the car and the door opens up. The owner is there and says she happens to be baking for a big event they had coming up for the end of the week and if we wanted to get some tarts she'd be more than happy to accommodate us. That was cool as hell. She also gave us a run down on the history of butter tarts and per the sample it was confirmed they are all the rage.  We ended up getting a half dozen butter tarts: plain, coconut, lemon curd, pecan, maple walnut, and smore.

Butter Tarts

These butter tarts were FANTASTIC. Kudos to you Canada and the inventor of butter tarts. Karen was talking about trying to make them at home. I fully support this as I'm terrible at baking. I don't think I have the discipline and appreciation of exact measurements needed for baking. She's the top baker in this household.

Last day in Canada saw us hitting up the Royal Ontario Museum. That was super cool as a nerdy history major here. Definitely put that on top of the list for tourist spots within in Toronto. Wanted to hit up one more spot on my bucket list for food: Schnitzel Queen.

Karen is the one who introduced me to schnitzel (not code for something). Knowing that in my research prior to leaving I found Schnitzel Queen ranked highly for both ratings and cheap eats. This was definitely a great choice. Karen ended up going with the pork Bayern schnitzel which came topped with cheese and sauerkraut.

Bayern Schnitzel

Bayern Schnitzel side view

I went with the pork Cordon Blue schnitzel with came with ham, onions and cheese.  These sandwiches were so huge that no side items were needed. I had thought about a side prior to ordering but glad I decided not to get one. We ended up eating half of the sandwich and saving the other half for the plane ride home. I really enjoyed both of them- Karen of course liked mine better so she got to eat the other half on the plan ride home.

Cordon Blue Schnitzel

Cordon Blue Schnitzel side view

Fair warning- Schnitzel is cash only for international travelers as they only take Canadian debit cards for electronic payment options. Since it was the last day I only had U.S. dollars on me. I handed the owner $20 to which he replied "I'm not good with math so this seems good enough." That was very cool of him as I think the total more than that.  So memo to self- make sure to have enough Canadian money next time for another meal at Schnitzel Queen.

Toronto was definitely a foodie/fat kid's dream when it comes to food. I would say food wise it was the one of the highlights/reason to visit Toronto. Definitely want to go back and hit up more places to eat and who knows go on a butter tart tour.

#Foodie4Life,
Reef