A Guide To A Place Along The Lines
WHAT
A Place Along The Lines is a multimedia project spanning over four locations. From food, to activities to more food, A Place Along The Lines is a tool to help find some known/unknown places around a subway station near you.
WHERE
The city of Toronto! Every location in this project is sectioned off by the subway line it is located on and is always five to ten minutes away from its closest subway station.
HOW
It’s pretty simple actually. All you really need is a PRESTO card (or Metro card, token, etc…), a little help from Google Maps and preferably an empty stomach.
WHY
Why you ask? To showcase how much there is to discover and experience in our very own city. It’s as easy as hopping onto the subway and walking around to find the next “it” spot.
A couple of years ago Uncle Testu took Toronto by storm with his Japanese Cheesecakes. With line ups along Bay Street lasting almost an hour long it comes to no surprise that Uncle Tetsu would take the love for his cheesecakes and bring it back in a whole new way. This brings us to Uncle Tetsu’s Japanese Angel Maid Cafe.
Located just a two minute walk away from St. Patrick station, Uncle Tetsu’s maid cafe a combination of a takeout and dine-in restaurant for fans of his cheesecake. Right when you walk in you can see workers busy making the cakes that will be served and sold in the cafe upstairs. And upstairs you are able to just quickly order a cake or other desserts like Angel Hat cakes or their Lunar cheesecakes or you can weight to be seated.
Just from waiting to be seating you can see the female workers dressed in maid outfits that are remnant of the styles you can find in anime or manga. Once seats are available a maid will guide you in and the staff as a whole greets you with “Irrashaimase!” (welcome to the shop in Japanese) and seat you at your table. The space inside the cafe is quite quaint. Filled with tables and booths in the back, the space all surrounds the cafe’s main focal point, its stage.
That correct, a stage. At Uncle Tetsu’s maid cafe, on every Tuesday nights the maids put on a showcase where they sing and dance along to J-Pop songs and bring guests on stage to dance along with them and teach the choreography. Working on a ticket entry basis you must reserve a spot ahead or tickets run out quick. But on other days like the Monday I came to visit the stage was barren, allowing me to keep my whole focus on the menu and my food.
The menu here offer much more than just dessert, if you’re looking for something substantial to eat there are options like udon noodles and yakisoba. And true to Japanese maid cafe fashion, Uncle Tetsu’s Angel Cafe also offers Omurice (an omelette wrapped over fried rice) that you can have special messages written on top of with ketchup by one of the maids.
But instead I went for the classic, a slice of the original Uncle Tetsu Japanese cheesecake and a matcha latte. The food and drink come out quickly and it was very pleasant to look at. The cheesecake was adorned beautifully and the matcha latte was topped with an adorable bear art on top with a matching biscuit to go along.
The cheesecake was delicious. It nice and fluffy and truly melts in your mouth. The matcha latte was just as good. The flavours of the green tea really came out and was worth having to ruin the cute latte art on top. All the while the maid staff were always warm to me and made sure to check up if everything was okay.
Overall the meal was really enjoyable. When paying if you’re a student make sure to have your student ID on you so you can get 10% off you meal (only from Mondays to Thursday). In the end the cafe is an interesting place to get a good desert and a small taste of Japanese culture. If you want more information check out their website: http://angelcafetoronto.com
If you’re a self proclaimed omnivore (for self-proclaimed meatatarian) then I know what you’re thinking. Vegan food? GROSS. But not all vegan food is created equal and Hogtown Vegan is sure to prove that with their collection of southern vegan food.
This particular location of Hogtown Vegan is just a three minute walk away from Dufferin Station. Inside holds a dim ambiance with tables and booths and walls decorated with vinyl covers. The staff are friendly and allow you to sit where you want. They shortly come along with some water and a menu.
There’s a stereotype that all vegans eat is pieces of lettuce and make some cardboard but the menu at Hogtown vegan is far from that. While yes, there is an option of salad, there are also options like ‘Unchicken + Waffles’, ‘Phish ’n Chips’ and what I got the Beef and Dumpling Stew. The menu also offers a brunch option should you come in time for that and a few desserts.
When my meal arrived my Beef and Dumpling Stew was compliment with some collard greens and mashed sweet potatoes. Dipping right into the stew I tried a dumpling with a piece of “beef” and I have to say… it tasted like meat. Or the very least the texture of the texturized vegetable protein used to make the fake beef could easily fool a meatatarian if they didn’t know better. As for the flavour of the soup it worked well with the sweet mashed potatoes as it helped balance out the savouriness of the vegetable based gravy with the sweetness of the potato.
Overall, the Hogtown Vegan is a good place for those who are curious about vegan cooking to visit. If you are thinking of being vegan it is definitely a place where you can see just how unlimited you are in eating the good ole guilty pleasures that your meat eating counterparts enjoy.
So head on over to Dufferin Station and check out Hogtown Vegan! For their full menu you can also check out their website: https://www.thehogtownvegan.com/menu/
Created in Montreal in 2014, Squish Candies are starting to infiltrate shopping malls everywhere. Located in the Scarborough Town Centre and just a three minute walk from the Scarborough Town station Squish is a lively little candy shop with a lot of interesting quirks.
First things first, Squish is not what you can expect to find on sale the day after Halloween. Instead, Squish is North America’s first ever artisan style candy store. With claims of using real fruit, spices and herbs, the company has created over 100 flavours for people to try.
The flavours of Squish candies are separated into five categories: Intense, Calm, Fruity, Cocktail and Decadent. And yes, there is actual alcohol in the Cocktail category of candy and gummies.
Going in the shop, can be intimidating as the walls are covered with candy bags from floor to ceiling. But be rest assured, the staff there are friendly and knowledgeable about the products. They will even give you a sample of the candy you are browsing to help make a decision (or at least feed into your sugar tooth).
If there are restrictions to your diet all the candies are labelled to inform you on nutritional information like whether a candy is vegan, fat free or has no artificial flavours.
Overall Squish is a good place if you want to treat you sweet tooth to something more upscale. If you want just how much they have to offer you can visit in-store or on their website: https://www.squishcandies.com/en_ca
Frozen dessert has once again gone through an evolutionary phase. There was once ice cream, then frozen yogurt and now there’s NanaShake.
Nanashake is not your typical frozen dessert place. Yes it looks like ice cream or frozen yogurt but it’s actually, soft served frozen bananas.
Located just a three minute walk away from Sheppard -Yonge station, Nanashake likes to boast about being Toronto’s first dedicated vegan frozen dessert parlour. It offers a variety of soft serve options for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and omnivores a like.
Inside the desert parlour is bright atmosphere with plants, splashes of yellow and wooden accents and features that make you feel as though you are in the tropics yourself. When you enter you are greeted by bright and inviting staff who are ready to help you dive into your premier vegan dessert voyage.
Nanashake holds a selection of soft served frozen dessert in a variety of flavours, popsicles, smoothies, cakes and their very own nana bowl. With just as many toppings to boot. With some much to try don’t feel ne
rvous the staff there will give you small scoops of their flavours to help you figure out what you want. Once you decide the workers begin to make your soft served desert right in front of your eyes. They do so by taking mashed bananas that they have ripened and freezer and pass it through a machine that spews it back out in soft served form. After that you can chose any toppings you want and you are ready to try a vegan dessert.
In terms of taste, the banana is surprisingly not over powering. Depending on what you get you can taste the subtle flavours of whatever else was mixed in. The texture is very much like ice cream or frozen yogurt so there is no fear in thinking it will feel like eating a mushy banana.
All in all, Nanashake was a very interesting and delicious experience. It is a great alternative to it’s frozen air counterparts and it’s healthier too! So if you the chance to go bananas over vegan soft serve desserts a little walk from Sheppard Station will lead you there. For more information about Nanashake you can check out their website: http://www.nanashake.com
