🧭 GTA Eats: Sweet, Salty, Spicy – The Filipino Food Renaissance in the GTA

🍛 A Bold Flavour Profile That’s Finally Getting Its Flowers

For years, Filipino cuisine has quietly existed in the kitchens and community halls of the GTA. Today, it’s stepping into the spotlight — and diners can’t get enough.

From adobo to sinigang, lechon to ube everything, Filipino food is having a moment in Toronto and beyond. Filipino chefs and food entrepreneurs are expanding the scene beyond mom-and-pop turo-turo (point-point) spots, bringing this rich, complex cuisine to food halls, pop-ups, and even the Michelin map.

📍 Where to Find Filipino Food in the GTA

In Scarborough’s Little Manila, places like Remely’s and Casa Manila have long been local legends, serving comfort dishes like kare-kare and crispy pata. In Mississauga, Lola’s Foodhaus offers an all-day Filipino brunch featuring garlic fried rice, longganisa, and spam silog.

But the new wave is led by chefs like John Corpuz at Lasa by Lamesa and BB’s in Toronto’s west end — where classic dishes are given bold new presentations, often blending Filipino flavours with contemporary techniques.

🍬 Ube and Halo-Halo Are Instagram Gold

While mains like adobo and lechon remain crowd-pleasers, Filipino desserts are taking the GTA by storm. Vibrant ube (purple yam) pastries, halo-halo (layered shaved ice treats), and bibingka rice cakes are filling up both feeds and stomachs.

At Tala in Queen West, desserts like ube cheesecake and calamansi tarts bring a playful, eye-popping finish to the Filipino food journey.

🗣️ More Than Food — It’s Heritage

Filipino food is more than the sum of its sweet, sour, salty, and savoury notes — it’s a story of resilience, migration, and family.

Community potlucks, kamayan (hands-on feasts), and family-run carinderias have long preserved Filipino culinary heritage in the GTA. Today, that same spirit is fueling a new generation of chefs bringing kultura to the masses.

📍 GTA Eats: Food, Flavour and Culture is your weekly guide to the rich culinary tapestry of the Greater Toronto Area. Published every Saturday in GTA Weekly.
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