Food around St. James is pricey, but there are a few good options for under $10
Terry Papas (right) is the second generation to run the Patrician. His in-law Chris Slifkas works as the head chef.
Photo: Dora Liu/The Dialog
According to a staff from the St. James campus food court, St. James’s food court raises up their food prices every year, happening this year with an increase of 4.3 per cent.
For the last two weeks, I spent money on all the lunches at St James trying to figure out what food I could buy for $10 within a five minute walking distance. The results tell us that we still have good food choices, not only in terms of price but in terms of taste and nutritional concerns.
Chef on the Run
The George Brown chef school established the professor and student-run takeaway food booth, with no pre-made foods or even sauces. With professional recipes and fresh, multicultural food made every day; everything recommended.
Prices are around $5 for entrée, $4 for sandwich or pie, $3 for slice of pizza, $2 for soup, $1 for muffin (with no tips or tax).
From Indian curry to hand-made pasta, I have tried over 20 different entrées and side dishes for the past 10 months. Pastas, soups and salads are of high quality, the only drawback being their location which forces them to serve food in steam trays and overhead lamps. This makes the meats and pastas dry or a little bit raw; as chefs don’t want to overcook their food since they are going to have to keep it hot.
However, they have good prices for their quality and I will tolerate that two per cent of unstable performance.
This food is served from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the St. James CHCA building, in Atrium B at 300 Adelaide Street East.
Patrician Grill Good Food
“Serving nothing fancy since 1967,” is its slogan but also the truth. The second generation has run this simple, hearty, local, North American style restaurant.
The home-made burger and cheese burger are recommended and cost $5.95 before tips.
The owner has refused to disclose any ingredients and recipe related information saying, “those are our secrets!” Like blind tasting, the beef patty was juicy, tender, and full of flavour. In fact, the patty was the perfect ratio of lean and fat, mixed with lightly stir-fried diced onions and black pepper. It’s simple, but good enough to make you feel happy.
Furthermore, they’re never lazy with toasting the bun and serving it hot, giving us no season to go to McDonald’s or food courts for burgers any more.
The Patrician Grill’s lunch hour runs until 4 p.m. at 219 King Street East.
An Nam Restaurant
This Vietnamese-run restaurant serves Vietnamese and Thai fusion dishes.
The 17-choice lunch set is recommended for $9.95 before tips. Although the dishes are not completely Vietnamese and Thai, they still taste good.
With a large variety from rice and rice vermicelli to different curries to cashew stir-fry, these 17-choice lunch sets won’t let you down in terms of choices. Every set includes fruit salad or fresh vegetables, soup and spring rolls which provide a balance of nutrients and fibre.
In addition to its quiet and casual-chic atmosphere, it does a good job of creating a laid back, sit-down lunch environment.
Their lunch hour runs until 3 p.m. at 51 Colborne Street.
Sakura Ichiban
This is a Korean-run Japanese restaurant.
Recommended is the Bulgogi bento box, which is a stir-fried beef lunch box starting at $7.95 before tips.
Similar to An Nam Restaurant, Sakura Ichiban is not a 100 per cent Japanese restaurant, but it serves a lunch set with multiple nutrients.
My recommendation is their multi-dish lunch box with seaweed miso soup, avocado and cucumber rolls, sugar preserved roots or potato, green salad, stir-fried beef with mixed vegetables and steamed rice, and finally a third of a fresh orange.
All these ingredients give you fibre, vitamin A, B and C, protein, fat, iron, calcium and carbohydrates at one time. The only concern is it’s high in sugar and sodium content, but for a lunch under $10, it is a good deal.
Lunch is served between noon and 3 p.m. at 142 Adelaide Street East.
Dora Liu was the senior editor of Food and Wine magazine (Beijing Version) and worked as a food and travel journalist for over 10 years in Hong Kong. She is currently a second-year student of the culinary management-nutrition program at George Brown College.
