Here at Met Radio, we’re closing out 2025 with a new round of year-end favourites! To cap off the year, our volunteers and staff are sharing their personal top-ten lists, highlighting the music, media, and gems that defined the past twelve months. New lists to explore and enjoy will be dropping on the Met Radio website every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this December!
Many things in my life changed in 2025. I returned to school after six years of full-time work (mostly at Met Radio!) and moved out of my beloved West End apartment of almost a decade. Both of these things happened within a span of six weeks. It’s been a real “starting a new chapter” sort of year.
But amidst the many upheavals, one thing has stayed the same: bitches gotta eat! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner: day after day, one must consume their three squares, lest one wither and perish of hunger. Often, there’s a comfort to the consistency of this routine. Occasionally, I find it unbearably tedious. And every once in a while, it is transcendentally excellent. So, to commemorate the year that was, please join me in celebrating one of life’s truest joys, which is to say, great food. Here are 10 of the best things I ate in 2025.
1. One of my very favourite things to eat is the humble sandwich. This year’s superior specimen came courtesy of Hoagie Boyz in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I split a “Gary Ghostman” (salami, roast turkey, pesto, mayo, mozza, pickles, shreducce, red onion, arugula, balsamic) and a “The Dragon” (“Brisket, Buffalo Muzz, Slaw, Poblano Mayo, Hot Honey, Banana Peps, White onion and enough magic to blast yer ass off!”) and they both rocked. If pressed, I’d give a slight edge to the Gary Ghostman, which is fortunate for you all, as The Dragon was a weekly special and who knows if they’ll ever make it again. Whence ye next find yourself in Winnipeg get thee to a Hoagie Boyz!
2. To continue with the theme of “foods contained in a bun”, the cheeseburger at Dotty’s is truly out-of-this-world good. My hot take on restaurant burgers is that I don’t really like a fancy restaurant burger. I don’t want caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms or “bacon jam”. If I’m going out to eat a burger, I generally want something that costs under ten dollars and is thin and squashable enough to be squished flat like a pancake. THAT BEING SAID! I don’t know how they’ve done it, but Dotty’s has made a burger that is everything I like about a crappy fast food cheeseburger, but 100 times better. Worth every one of the eighteen whole dollars it costs! The shrimp cocktail is also very good, and next time I go, I think I’ll try the cheese and crackers. Dotty’s forever!
3. I recently tried East Chinatown’s Supreme Taste for the first time, and I plan to return often in the coming months. It was positively buzzing on a Sunday night, and my huge bowl of BBQ duck wonton soup cost just $14.95. The BBQ pork and wonton soup was even more of a steal at $12.95, and might be my move the next time I go, because the pork was delicious and I made a big mess trying to eat around the duck bones. Very good, though. Both soups also came with some bok choy, which was a big plus for me as I love a green, and the staff were all really kind. Catch me on Broadview all winter long eating soup.
4. Also on Broadview, just north of the Danforth, you will find Super Nova coffee. Here is the thing about Super Nova: if you go on the weekend, you may find yourself in run club hell. It is not a big coffee shop, but that does not stop anywhere from ten to thirty spandex-clad joggers at a time from trying to squeeze themselves in on Saturdays and Sundays year-round. Here is the other thing about Super Nova: if you can get a pastry fresh out of the oven, it will be so good that it will make the run clubs worth it. My impression is they are known best for their scones – which are good, and you can see them being made fresh in their teeny tiny kitchen area! – but I think the pain au chocolat and almond croissant are where it’s really at. If you want delicious pastry AND a run-club-free experience, maybe just try to go on a weekday.
5. This next recommendation is the annoying kind where you can’t actually go try it yourself, so my apologies in advance. But it can’t be helped – I’ve just got to shout out the pancake breakfast at the Sackville United Church! I was in Sackville for Sappyfest, a weekend-long music festival where hoards of musicians and artists and artist-appreciators descend on the small university town of Sackville, New Brunswick, and accordingly, the United Church was really pulling out all the stops. I am fairly non-denominational but I was deeply charmed and, dare I say, moved by the elderly congregation members wearing rainbow t-shirts while serving up pancakes and gluten-free waffles with local New Brunswick maple syrup and berries. I’m not totally sure what was going on for me that weekend but I must even admit to getting a bit misty-eyed at their wifi password, which was “roomatourtable”. This list item is actually maybe 50% about the pancakes (which were very good) and 50% about my heart being warmed by a church that was being really unabashedly supportive of queer people. Our haters were everywhere in 2025, but they were not at the Sackville United Church pancake breakfast!!!
6. I just googled “Drink of the Summer 2025,” and some of the top hits were as follows: The Naked and Famous, the Creamsicle Cocktail, the Spicy Piña Colada, and the Passion Star Martini. Wrong!!! The drink of the summer 2025 was Sekanjabin, a Persian mint-vinegar drink best enjoyed while gossiping on the leafy back patio at Café Pamenar on a hot August night. It is minty and sweet and a little tangy and totally refreshing and it doesn’t even give you a hangover the next morning.
7. I was lucky to spend three days in Nanaimo in June for the 2025 edition of the National Campus Community Radio Conference. We had a small Met Radio crew there, and in between the many meals of university cafeteria conference food, we had a few chances to go downtown and try some local cuisine. Perhaps you think I am about to recommend a Nanaimo bar??? Dear reader, you would not believe how challenging it was to find a Nanaimo bar in NANAIMO. Instead, we took full advantage of our seaside location and had a really fabulous final day fish lunch at Trollers Fish and Chips, which operates on a boat in the harbour downtown. I got fried salmon, which was maybe sort of a swing, but one that I fully stand by. After lunch, we finally managed to locate the much-sought-after Nanaimo bar, and it was just okay. The fish, though? So good!
8. For many years, I commuted by bike to TMU via Davenport, and every day I would pass this funny little restaurant called Fleur de Sel that was in a house on the corner by the Casa Loma steps in an otherwise very residential area and think, huh. How do they stay open? Well, they didn’t. However, they have recently been replaced by a gorgeous new restaurant called Louf, and I am alerting you of this here now so that it does not meet the same fate! It’s a really beautifully designed Palestinian restaurant with stunning food. We went for brunch, and our favourite dish was the hummus bil lahma, though everything was very good – herby and rich and spiced. It’s a bit of a spendy brunch, so pick a special occasion and go eat well!
9. Tell me why everyone in this city is obsessed with Badiali? Badiali is very good, but Toronto is truly overrun with very good pizza. For example, if you walk north for 25 minutes on Dovercourt, you will arrive at Mac’s Pizza, the home of MY current favourite slice of pizza in the city, which is the lemonhead. It is a white sauce slice that is mostly composed of cheese and lemon in various forms, and it is sooooo good. While you drips are waiting in line at Badiali’s, I will be at Mac’s eating lemon pizza and LOVING IT!
10. One more fancy one to round us out! Should you ever find yourself in Quebec’s eastern townships, I highly recommend a visit to Babar, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the town of Bromont. It’s in an extremely cute yellow house and the vibes are impeccable, all candle-lit and warm lighting. Everything we ate was great, but the standout was maybe the muhammara (one of the top-tier dips). This is a top-ten food (and one drink) list, not a top-ten activity list, but if it were an activity list, I would tell you that the skiing and snowboarding at Bromont is also really top-notch and you should try that too.