The Best Hole-in-the-wall in Toronto

Authenticity is hiding just a few blocks away, if you know where to look.

It's a fact that some of the best food out there goes unawarded. Your family's favourite dinner spot may have a 2-star rating on yelp. You may know of a Masterchef worthy tapas bar that just struggles with their exterior presentation. At the end of the day, the restaurants with the fanciest plating and highest prices always get the high ratings.

Personally, I love hidden gems. While my family was traveling through Italy, we always made sure to avoid the restaurants suggested by hotels and google searches, and always sought out the places where the locals ate. And it was always so much better than the tourist traps.

A few months ago, my mom and I had some errands to run in Etobicoke. It was mid-afternoon and we were both starting to get a little bit hangry, which, in our case, can be a bit scary. While looking for a place to grab a snack, we stumbled upon this little pasta shop tucked away off of the main roads. What we found was that this place did not serve ready-to-eat pasta, but that it was a tiny (seriously, it was really small), family-owned pasta factory. And it was like walking into Italian heaven. It's just about the freshest pasta you can get without having to make it from scratch. They have a plentiful selection of ravioli, tortellini, agnolotti, gnocchi, noodles, and the list goes on. In addition to the plethora of pastas, they also have house made pasta sauces and a selection of Italian cookies, crackers and treats. Did I mention they cater?

Their mushroom ravioli is our favourite, bursting with a wonderfully unique rustic umami flavour. We wound up going home with half a kilo of squash agnolotti, half a kilo of cheese and spinach tortellini, a pound of potato gnocchi and a bag of dried porcini mushrooms. Needless to say, our freezer was pretty full.

Where to find them:

66 Newcastle St, Etobicoke, ON M8Y 1A4

(416) 259-2902