Exploring Downtown Toronto’s Harbor Front, Vietnamese Lunch near Chinatown, Afternoon Tea with a College Classmate, Slap-Up Dinner at Moxie’s in Vaughn

Monday, September 9, 2024

Downtown Toronto, Canada

Exploring Downtown Toronto’s Harbor Front, Vietnamese Lunch near Chinatown, Afternoon Tea with a College Classmate, Slap-Up Dinner at Moxie’s in Vaughn

Considering we were on our second-last day in Canada with nothing until the evening on our itinerary, I suggested to Llew that we spend the day in the city. He was more than happy to comply and, after breakfast, we set out on our own to discover parts of the city with which we were unfamiliar. I used Lonely Planet and Google to figure out the places to which we should head and, accordingly, we made our plans.

Taking Public Transport to the City:

Of course, getting to the city from Woodbridge, where we are located, is a challenge in itself as it is very far away—it’s not just the distance, but the time it takes to get to the city as well as the expense that is daunting. It involves taking an Uber to the Subway station. This is a good 20 minutes’ away by car. Then, there is the long subway ride as the subway station is, in fact, the very last stop on the line. And, once we get off the Subway in the city, we still have to walk or take a bus to wherever we wish to go. Thankfully, we were not required to go through this commute daily—or it would be very off-putting

, we called for the Uber and made our way to the subway stop and then figured out where and how to buy our tickets and board our train, The thing about subway systems is that they are basically the same all over the world. So, if you have used a subway service in one country, you are more than familiar with the drill. It did not take us long to find our platform and our train and we were on our way. However, once we got off the subway station, we discovered that the place to which we were headed (Kensington Street Market)—was, in fact, too far to walk to. We’d actually have to take a bus to get there! So, we asked around and found out that there was a bus outside the subway station that we could take. We rode on it for about ten minutes and, finally, finally, we were at our destination! Yes, indeed, it was a huge production!

Exploring Kensington Street Market:

Kensington Market is hopping and heaving, it appears, at the weekends. Basically, ‘Market’ is a bit of a misnomer—it is more of an area or a locality. It comprises of a couple of side streets (off Spadina), that is filled with interesting stores that appeal to very young and very hip, tastes. There are vintage clothing boutiques, music stores, one-of-a-kind craftsy designer shops selling jewelry and home décor (ceramics, paintings, etc.) and a few restaurants and bars which, I imagine, would be great fun to frequent in the dark. However, on a Monday morning, the place was as dead as a dodo! There was absolutely no one there and I mean no one. It was after 11.00 am when we arrived there, but most of the shops were only just opening and so many of the eateries were still closed. We soon realized that we had made a mistake heading to this place as there was absolutely nothing of any interest to us.

Heading to the Harbor Front:

On the other hand, we did want to salvage our day—especially as we had spent half the day getting to the city! So, on an impulse, I suggested to Llew that we go to the Harbor Front—as this was also featured as one of the attractions of the city. Llew thought it made sense.

So, off we went, on another bus going downtown, in the direction of the Harbor. We rode all down the length of Spadina which is the heart of Chinatown. It gave me the idea that we ought to come back to this part of the city later for lunch. The conductor on the bus was very helpful and told us exactly where to get off.

Once we were at the Harbor Front, on a very cloudy, highly overcast day, when there was a pleasant nip in the air (and we were suitably attired, so not uncomfortable at all), we found ourselves surrounded by skyscrapers, while a few blocks ahead of us, we could already see the water and the many craft in the harbor.

The Promenade was great to walk along at a time when there was hardly another soul out there. We passed by the varied watercraft and even saw a seaplane take off. Boats, yachts, etc, of varied style and size bobbed or were buoyed in the water. As we reached the end of the promenade, we realized that, on the other side, were beautiful perennial gardens that had clearly demarcated walking paths through them. Of course, then we had to go through them and explore the gardens. I was delighted for there were all sorts of recognizable autumnal flowers and plants that I do not see in India—black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower, butterfly bush, Autumn Joy Sedum, Joe Pye weed, the last of the day-lillies, lots of astilbe and plenty of hosta of varied shade and leaf size and even the last roses of summer. On reading a sign put up at the park, I discovered that the entire garden had been designed around the six movements of a sonata by J.S. Bach. It was quite innovative indeed and very creatively conceived with paths that curved tightly like a nautilus shell or offered places to pause under shady trees which sported strategically-placed benches. It was definitely the most delightful part of our day.

When we had covered the entire pavement garden, we crossed the main road and spying a Walgreens, decided to go in there for a quick browse We were there for about fifteen minutes before Llew told me that he felt hungry and wanted to go out in search of lunch. I suggested we get on the same bus and alight near our subway station and find a place there for Vietnamese food as I felt a great desire to eat a steaming bowl of Pho.

Lunch In Chinatown:

As it turned out, we found a bus that would take us back to our subway stop and not too far from it, we actually found a Vietnamese eatery that was called Vietnamese Happy Noodle! A quick look at the menu proclaimed that it sold Pho! I was very excited indeed. Llew and I settled down to study the menu and, I found to my even greater delight, that there was pho and another one of my favorite things in the world to eat—Singaporean Curried Laksa. So, of course, I had to order that too. Llew and I then split the two bowls between the two of us. I have to say that although we were both very hungry and had done a lot of walking and had built up an appetite, the bowls were so gigantic that we could barely manage to eat half of each bowl. Naturally, we requested the rest packed up for us to be carried away in doggie bags! And with those treasures under our arms, we walked back to the subway station and made the reverse journey home.

We were supposed to reach home by 4.00 pm as my friend Delilah and her husband were expected to come and see us. And we did indeed reach my 4.00 pm.

Afternoon Tea with Delilah and Francisco:

Not even half an hour after we reached Woodbridge, Delilah and Frisco appeared at our door and were all set to take us out for Afternoon Tea. Delilah’s daughter had identified a really nice coffee shop where we could sit quietly and catch up. It turned out to be a Turkish place called Cappadocia Coffee Shop and indeed, it was the perfect choice of place. For one thing, it was empty, for another, we could chat and sit for as long as we liked without feeling the pressure of having to leave soon and thirdly, we had the very attentive care of a female waitress who took our order. In the end, in addition to tea and coffee, we chose to share a Middle Eastern dessert called Kunafa, which is also one of my favorite things to eat. While Llew is familiar with it, the other two had never heard of it but were willing to try it. And that was what we did. We ordered kunafa and then shared it. Everyone knows that it is a very rich dessert with varying textures and flavors. Made with very fine strands like vermicelli which is almost fried, a flat pancake is sandwiched with molten mozzarella cheese. The whole thing is then soaked in a syrup flavored with orange blossom honey and sprinkled with toasted pistachio nuts. If it sounds super-rich, it’s because that’s what it is. Fortunately, everyone enjoyed it very much and as we chatted about everything under the sun, we had a really lovely two hours together.

Delilah and Francisco then dropped us back to Woodbridge where we had another evening’s plan ahead of us. We were taking our hostess Sylvia, her son Ryan and his wife Sharon, for dinner as a way of saying Thank you to her for her hospitality to us and to Ryan and Sharon chauffeuring us all over the place throughout the length of our stay in Woodbridge. But first, as we had a little time ahead of us before dinner, we switched on the TV to find out that the Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be on tomorrow. As we did not wish to miss it, we also listened to what the talking heads had to say about tomorrow’s show.

at Moxie’s with Close Friends:

We told our guests to choose the place at which they would like to eat as we are not familiar with the local possibilities. Sylvia initially thought about Earl’s, a fine dining place in Vaughn known for its steaks. However, when we entered, we were told that there was a wait of at least 40 minutes. Now that was much too long for us to wait for our dinner and so we had to think of another place. Fortunately, Moxie’s was in the same complex. And so, that was where we went. Moxie’s is also a fine dining place but much less crowded and quiet enough for us to have a lovely quiet meal together.

The meal was just lovely except for one small glitch. We started off with drinks for the table and then ordered. We had ⁠Sweet Potato Fries by way of an appetizer and then ordered our Mains: Tuna Poke Bowl (Sharon), ⁠Sirloin Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Vegetables (Llew and Sylvia), ⁠Soup (Boston Clam Chowder), Salad (Mixed Strawberry Salad) with baguette (Me) and ⁠Steak Frites (with chimichurri sauce for Ryan. For dessert, we dug our spoons into a White Chocolate Brownie with vanilla ice-cream topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Sooooo Goooood! The glitch came in the form of fried quinoa sprinkled over my strawberry salad which was really hard (although it was meant to be crisp) and felt like tiny pebbles in my mouth. They did a real number on my teeth and, of course, I could not eat my salad. My soup, however, was very good and I was very grateful at the opportunity to eat New England Clam Chowder which is also one of my favorite things to eat. So, food-wise, you can see that I really enjoyed a number of my favorite items—and all on one single day! How lucky can one gal get?

All that was left for us, after a fun meal, was to get back home and go straight to bed. We thanked Ryan and Sharon for all their help in driving us all over the place and then we went down to the basement to bed.

Until tomorrow…cheerio.