Treat your date to a new taste at one of Toronto’s most anticipated new restaurants! No one forgets a first. ;)

“Toronto restaurant openings continue at an untamed pace this spring, promising the imminent arrival of innovative new culinary fusions, regionally specific specialties, and even more street food-inspired fare.

Here are the 10 most anticipated Toronto restaurant openings on our radar this spring.

Lucky Red The new bao shop from Banh Mi Boys plans to offer steamed buns, noodle bowls and Vietnamese desserts. The Spadina shop is slated for a May opening and will offer take-away and quick service dining in an industrial inspired space.

TLP This Elm Street sandwich shop from the same team as the adjacent Barberian’s Steakhouse still has us licking our chops in anticipation. The menu will feature generous helpings of homestyle Canadian comfort foods in A-grade steakhouse style. Think meatloaf, fried baloney and peameal sandwiches.

Patois Hoping to open in April or May, this Dundas West restaurant from French-trained chef Craig Wong will meld his own Jamaican-Chinese heritage and offer a fusion of cuisine described as Caribbean meets Asian soul food. Juicy Jerk chicken done churrasco-style on a rotisserie will play a starring role on the menu which will be served family style, a la traditional Chinese restaurants. The bar menu will experiment with housemade ginger beers and rum punches and the vibe, I’m told, will be a party every night.

Fat Pasha Construction at Anthony Rose’s new restaurant on Dupont is nearing completion, and the dining room is poised to open mid April. On the menu, expect a mash-up of Israeli and European-Jewish foods like hummus topped with roasted brisket or beet root horseradish, plus innovative cocktails like one currently in development that uses Kosher Manischewitz wine.

Los Colibris Due for a late April or early May opening, this restaurant, with a name meaning the hummingbirds, is perched on top of the recently opened El Caballito tequila bar and will offer a more formal dining experience focused on traditional Mexican flavours developed by Executive chef Elia Herrera.

Rasa Now going by just Rasa (they dropped the “Tabula,” pleasing philosophy profs everywhere), this new Harbord Village restaurant is slated to become the flagship location for the Food Dudes food truck and catering company. Taking over the former address of Momo’s, the dining room and patio should make a late spring debut, while a street food style takeout counter will be added in the fall.

Market Street Catch Part of the new restaurant row in St. Lawrence Market, this seafood grill plans to offer four types of tacos, including octopus and seared tuna, plus, lobster, crab and shrimp rolls. Tom Antonarakis (Buster’s Sea Cove) hopes to debut the 30-seat licensed eatery and take-away counter in early April. Oh, and in time for warmer weather, there will be a 14-seat patio too.

Barsa Taberna Also on Market street, this upmarket Spanish eatery is nearly ready to open. Inspired by the vibrant culture of Barcelona, Executive Chef Michael Smith is gearing up to offer tapas and small shared plates rooted in Spanish cuisine but that also embrace global flavours.

Luckee Details about Susur Lee’s new restaurant located inside the Soho Metropolitan Hotel are still scarce but the concept is rumoured to be set to launch in late April. Transformation is underway in the former Senses restaurant courtesy of Brenda Bent and Karen Gable, while the menu of classic Chinese dishes and dim sum is being developed with a nod towards the culinary traditions of Guangzhou, Hunan and Szechuan regions.

Pai Located on Duncan, this new restaurant from Nuit and Jeff Regular (the same duo behind Sabai Sabai and Sukhothai) plans to zero in on home town recipes from the namesake Northern Thai province near the Myanmar border. The restaurant is almost good to go, and it could be only a matter of days or weeks before we’re chowing down.

Honourable Mentions:

• Gwai Lo
• Buca Yorkville
• Colette
• Little Sister
• NODO“

Source: blogTO
Photo: Erin Scott from Yummy Supper at Market Street Catch, 2