Although Groundhog Day just gave us the thumbs up that Spring is just around the corner, a good hearty bowl of soup is still absolutely necessary to warm our hearts and fill our stomachs until the seasons officially change. With Toronto boasting everything from chunky chowders, flavourful broths and hearty one-pot wonders - it’s hard to determine what the best from the rest are to chase the chills away. Luckily, you've got us to help.
Grab your spoons and bib, we've rounded up our top six spots to enjoy a good bowl of soup in the city. And unlike the Soup Nazi's recipes (that may or may not be featured at the impending Seinfield pop-up bar)there's plenty to go around.
After tragically passing away suddenly in 2013, Ravi Kanagarajah’s legend lives on in his soup via his kitchens, RaviSoups. Ravi, who moved from Sri Lanka to Canada in 1991 was often regarded as the 'soup master' of Toronto and viewed his soups as a way to bring people closer together. Now five locations across the downtown core offer up comforting bowls with subtle flavouring and intense combinations including traditional lentil curry soups of Kanagarajah’s homeland to newer fusion dishes like red curry and corn chowder.
Caplansky's
College Street, $4-$6 per bowl
We all need a little tender loving care in the winter time and a nice cuppa Matzoh ball soup will fix you up just right. If you’ve ever had a bowl of Zane Caplansky's, (of Caplansky’s Deli on College Street) version of it - then you know that his is the best in the city. The broth is simple and with homemade plump matzoh balls floating alongside diced celery and carrots. It’s perfectly simple and authentic, as is the rest of the menu of Jewish comfort-foods at the traditional deli.
There are a lot of things to love about Dundas Park Kitchen, a tiny little bake shop and lunch counter just outside of Roncesvalles Village. Everything is made in-house from scratch including their baked goods, pastries, breads, soups and sandwiches. Owners, Melanie Harris and Alex Tso have trained under some of Toronto’s best chefs (Tso under Jamie Kennedy for five years and Harris, the daughter of a pastry chef, credits Claudia Egger as a driving force) and their soups are sought out across the city, evident by their popularity on UBER Eats. It seems their chicken stew really gets people talking while others rave about the tomato. Whatever your fancy, their soup menu changes on a daily basis, according to seasonal offerings.
It was just this year that Oliver and Bonacini's Canoe, the fine-dining restaurant perched on the 54th floor of the TD Centre, celebrated 20 years in service. With that anniversary came a celebration of one of the best soups in the city: the northern woods mushroom soup. A staple at the restaurant since it first open, this comforting bowl has been infused with pine, mushrooms and truffled sheep’s cream and worth the trek up (we suppose the view is pretty ok too)
This has been one of our writer Amanda's best kept secret’s in the city and now we're sharing it with you. Honest Weight - owned and operated by John Bil, who has spent a very respectable 10 years as an oyster farmer in Prince Edward Island, and another managing a salmon farm in New Brunswick - well a bit off the beaten path, so to speak, is well worth the trip for their bowl of chunky chowder. Plump fresh shellfish and thick and juicy chunks of fresh veggies are added to an organic cream and salt and pepper broth. The chowder is so simple, it hurts, but that's half the reason it's so good. If you don’t believe us, try it for yourself.
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This chain has been sprouting up like wildfire all across Toronto and the GTA with their Mediterranean-inspired menu, featuring several fresh, made-to-order options. Their soup offerings vary from location to location with a rotating selection including their vegan Red Lentil, Forest Mushroom or the popular Bone Broth - unique to the downtown core and available to take away as a hot drink.
