In Toronto, Filipino restaurants are some of the most underrated spots. While other cuisines like sushi restaurants and taco places have become widely popular in the city, Filipino food still remains relatively under the radar when it comes to mainstream dining. But with a population of almost 300,000 Filipinos living in the city, you can expect to find some excellent Filipino restaurants in Toronto — if you know where to look.
We’ve rounded up our favourite Filipino restaurants from hole-in-the-wall takeout joints to the Michelin-Guide recommended BB’s that ranks among Toronto’s best restaurants. At each one, find a variety of dishes from the Philippines’ diverse cuisine.
Marinated and cooked in sauce, adobo is a flavour-packed way of making meat, seafood or vegetables. It’s often considered the unofficial dish of the Philippines. Lechon kawali (crispy fried pork belly) is another Filipino classic you’ll want to sink your teeth into. When friends or family come along, the kamayan feast is our all-time favourite. The heaping platter of meat and seafood is served on banana leaves and eaten with hands for a full-on sensory experience that's meant to be shared. For breakfast, tapsilog is a plate usually consisting of beef, garlic rice and a fried egg. Don’t skip on the lumpia, Filipino spring rolls usually made with pork or beef inside, or the halo-halo, a delicious dessert cup that might be mixed with crushed ice, milk, flan and fruits.
Try these classic dishes and more at Toronto’s best Filipino restaurants.
11 of the best Filipino restaurants in Toronto
1. BB’s
5 Brock Ave.
Awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand this year, BB’s slings exceptional Filipino cuisine at a reasonable price point. Settle into a pink banquette in the playfully cute sea-foam green diner for brunch hits like crispy adobo chicken and BB’s silog, a breakfast plate with garlic fried rice, eggs and house-made longanisa (sausage). For dinner, chow down on pork sinigang swimming in a savoury broth. Pair it all with their short and sweet list of house cocktails or classic serves.
2. Tinuno
Multiple Locations
Sure, the Filipino appetizers and tinunosilog (part of their all-day breakfast) are tasty, but that’s not why we go here. Tinuno’s famous kamayan — a communal Filipino meal served on banana leaves and eaten with bare hands — offers incredible value ($25 per person). Bring your hungriest friends to the Downtown or North York location and feast on pork belly, squid, mussels and more.
3. Casa Manila
Multiple Locations
No matter your mood, Casa Manila has you covered. Tapsilog, made with cured beef, garlic-fried rice and a fried egg, breathes new life into brunch. Still hungry? Dig into tender pork adobo with quail’s egg, hearty soups made with tamarind, or shareable snacks like lumpia (spring rolls) and crispy chicharons dusted with sea salt.
4. Islas Filipino BBQ and Bar
1690 Queen St. W.
This Queen West spot, whose name pays homage to the Philippine's 7,641 islands, is a love letter to the Southeast Asian archipelago. In addition to classics like inasal; a chargrilled chicken dish; and escabeche, made by marinating fish in vinegar, Islas Filipino has fun with playful menu items like their Ube Double Smash Burger.
5. Tala
31 Howard St.
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Opening a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic is no small feat, but Tala had delivery and takeout as their main focus from the get-go. We fell in love with their kamayan meal kits, a feast of Filipino flavours served in a pizza box and meant to be eaten with the hands. Unfortunately, Tala was booted out of its home before they were able to serve dine-in, but you can still order their kamayan feasts, appetizers and breakfast dishes as they operate out of sister location, Tinuno.
6. Kanto by Tita Flips
Multiple locations
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Tita Flips started in the 1980s as a family business in the Philippines, before migrating to Toronto and diversifying into catering with Mercado and street eats with Kanto. The shipping container takeout spot at Market 707 on Dundas is the OG, but the newer outpost in the Junction offers more space to sit at a picnic table under string lights and tuck into pillowy bao buns, crispy chicken and lechon (tender pork belly with crispy skin). The sisig fries are like a Filipino poutine, topped with pork belly slices, chicharon, garlic flakes and mayo garlic aioli. On Sundays, all-you-can-eat brunch lets you sample all of the Filipino flavours on offer.
7. Batibot
1483 Queen St. W.
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Grab brunch, lunch or an early dinner from this takeout counter in Parkdale that serves Filipino favourites out of steaming chafing dishes. Combo meals let you pair noodles or rice with proteins like beef stew and lechon kawali (deep fried pork belly). Don’t skip the Filipino-style spring rolls with pork.
8. Jer's Filicanasian Restaurant
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Jer's Filicanasian Restaurant opens early Monday to Saturday (and a little later on Sunday) so you can start your day with a breakfast of Filipino hits like tapsilog — beef, garlic rice and a sunny-side-up egg. Breakfast is served all day at this North York takeout spot with a few tables and shelves lined with snacks. But their flavourful chicken and pork barbecue is just as irresistible. A long list of Filipino desserts like halo-halo will keep you coming back for more.
9. Lami by Mama Linda’s
1125 Gerrard St. E.
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Inside Leslieville's Mess Hall, a women-owned collective of small businesses and a kitchen co-working space, you'll find Lami by Mama Linda's. The takeout counter and pantry serves globally-inspired, homemade comfort food, with Filipino fare as their specialty. Grab a seat and tuck into adobo made with Ontario chicken marinated overnight, braised until tender and finished off with coconut milk. Here, the Maranao-style beef rendang is more fragrant than other iterations, and empanadas come stuffed with adobo chicken.
10. B's Sizzling Kitchen
430 Horner Ave.
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B’s Sizzling Kitchen's enormous menu encompasses a wide range of Filipino flavours, from simmering oxtail stews and fried egg and rice breakfasts to veggie-and-mango K-boxes served without utensils. But the cebu lechon (golden-brown, roasted boneless pork belly) is the real star of the show. Pig is all over the menu here, and not as the adorable cartoon mascot. For some added crunch, B’s deep-fries their succulent pork and pairs it with tomatoes, onion, lemon and green mango; for deeper flavours and extra juiciness, it’s simmered in a rich, spicy pig blood gravy.
11. Wilson's Haus of Lechon
365 Wilson Ave.
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In 1998, Wilson Martinito and his siblings ran a popular lechon restaurant in Cebu, Philippines. When Martinito decided to move to Canada, he brought his restaurant with him and opened Wilson’s Haus of Lechon in 2017, in North York. Wilson’s serves the same succulent, mouth-watering Filipino barbecue that Martinito was slinging back in Cebu. Crowds flock here for the lechon baboy, or roasted suckling pig, cooked on a spit. It’s stuffed with lemongrass, peppercorn and green onions, with a marvelously crispy skin. Don’t miss the chorizo de cebu; pork links are tied to a skewer and burst open with rich, fatty juices when you sink your teeth in. For a refreshing pop of brightness before the pending meat sweats, order the Marlin fish ceviche, marinated in lime and vinegar.
