With so many Dumpling houses in Toronto, you can very easily be disappointed with any that are anywhere below average. Mother's Dumplings are just one of the many, located at Spadina and College, on upper-North side of the usual, situated shops on the busy Spadina and Dundas. The name 'Mother's Dumplings' brings high expectations of love and care with all sorts of juicy deliciousness in each bite. On the menu, you'll find the usual, extensive list of Housemade Dumplings either being Steamed, Boiled or Pan-Fried. As any Chinese 'Mom and Pop' sort of restaurant, they also offer Housemade Noodles, Buns, Soups, Rice dishes, Congee and, of course, Pancakes!

The restaurant seven days a week, 11:30AM until 10PM, and up until 10:30PM on Fridays and Saturdays. There is plenty of seating, we were only to wait a couple of minutes to have set up at table for three on a Friday evening.

EL ALMACEN

1078 Queen St W

Toronto, ON

M6J 1H8, Canada

Cafe - Latin American

$

 Oh boy. It's been a while. It never occured to me... my cravings for this beauty. I only ever had the pleasure of trying this once, at the South American Food Festival in Fairfield. It was certainly unique. It was the first time I ever tried such a concoction, one of my first steps in venturing out of the Asian food I knew a loved. Here, it was were I had my first Empanada, and began to purchase Lebanese treats. 

El Almacen is all about Mate Beverages. It's a beautiful concept, you can read more about it here. Mate, also known as 'Yerba Mate' leaves are finely chopped and ground up to make up a powder. You can be sipping this drink hours on end. With a couple of teaspoons of Yerba Mate, you even it out with your desired amount of sugar all into a Gourd. Using your metal spoon/straw (also a Bomba), you blend it all together and sip away. 

El Almacen, as expected, has a nice set of Empanadas available, in: Beef & Green Olive, Mixed Vegetable, Spinach & Cheese and Ham & Cheese at $3.50 each. They also serve up combos of Soup of the Day - Grilled Sandwiches - Empanadas.

MOE'S DELI & BAR

Trudeau International Airport

Dorval, Quebec

H4Y Canada

Pub Food - Sandwiches

$

Groaning over the 5:30AM ungodly hour wake-up is a group effort. I narrowly snuck in thirty minutes of snooze after falling asleep awaiting my hair to dry, sitting on the over flowing chair of towels in our hotel room. It was still too dark to have my final moments taking in the beautiful view over Miami. Memories of just hours before, sitting down on a step leading up to Bayside, down the road from our B2 Hotel (most positively the worst experience at a hotel, ever, by the way). The beautiful canopy of palm trees towering above us, and hours would pass. The moment was so serene, we needed no substance to keep us at this high. It was at this moment that I decided that this is exactly what I've ever wanted, nights of deep and meaningful conversations, experiencing beyond my imagination.

The two hour stop-over landed us in Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. My first thought was to snatch up a plate of dirty, dirty poutine with the squeakiest of the squeaky cheese curds. After running through two food-stops, we were disappointed when we were finally told that there was no poutine served at this airport. Are you bloody kidding me? Down for eating just about anything, we headed to next first sit-in restaurant we spotted, Moe's Deli & Bar.

We were seated with famous portraits on various chairs parallel to us. The service was lacking, and the speed of the dishes, even more. Thank golly we had a bit of time to kill.

 I couldn't have chosen a more perfect place for a lunch in-between being stuck outside in the chilly depths of Liberty Village. With so many quirky spots in this area, Maizal Quesadilla Cafe is one located in the much more quieter side of Liberty, definitely a place I'd get lost for. 'Maizal' is Spanish for 'plot of corn'. Maizal pride itself in their freshly made and pressed-to-order homemade tortillas. I really liked the look of this whole place, and the one server was delightfully sweet. Their dishes are great for sharing - I definitely see this as a place to catch-up with a old friend.

Taking in the thoughtfullyand colourfully illustrated chalkboard drawings, we sat by clay pots of beautifully toned paper flowers and woven placemats. One of the most irritating but exciting things about dining in Toronto, is that, half the time, I have no idea what the menu is serving up. Being led by the mouth-watering description of each, we made our orders.