Toronto, Ontario

Unique ambiance; it's a coffee shop by day and a cocktail bar by night, with a pretty great sound system.

Great ambience, food, drinks, probably the best of all three in the downtown east area. Lots of small bites to share and 3-4 different options for fries.

Hole-in-the-wall Indian food, with a good selection of vegetarian options. I'm Indian and it's probably the only Indian restaurant I know of that I can recommend in Toronto.

Best cocktails in the city, worth visiting just to try the "claire de lune". Lots of other hits on the menu as well. Interior is a bit of a dark (but lively) escape from Queen Street.

Lively casual bar with live music (every night) and a great atmosphere. Open late on weekends (~4:00) with a rotating selection of weird and delicious infusions.

It's mostly "just fine" but the pumpkin dumplings - when they're on the menu - are to die for. Check the menu online, and call ahead to see if they're serving them.

It's called a "coffee bar," but the coffee is horrible. It still makes it onto the list because it's huge, has great natural light and plenty of outlets, making it a great spot to work from.

10 seat restaurant with a 10-course tasting menus. Can also get food a-la-carte (no menu, as available) in the front room, making tasting-menu-level dishes much more casual.