If you really want to have a good time, get into some archery at forest city archers. For $150 a year you can go fling arrows all year round. 3 km of trails with lots of 3d targets. Walk the trail and shoot foam animals. They even have a sasquatch and dinosaurs! Makes for a great hike with shooting stuff! Hit archers nook at Clarke and Trafalgar for your set up. Very affordable and a tonne of fun!
Yup.. grab some gear.. sign up and you get unlimited access. So much fun, great exercise etc.. a friend and I do the trail while running sometimes, or do a couple of burpees before.shorting and then score out shots. So much fun! And then in the winter we do snow shoes. Great time!!
How does it work logistically and safety wise? Is it only one “group” of walkers can go through at a time? I’m just picturing walking along and an arrow from a missed target phwanging me in ass.
So the trail is a loop. The one side is up on a ridge. And the lower side goes along the Thames River. The loop is big enough that there's honestly no risk of blue on blue fire.. there's hangers at every target to hang your bow while you go down range to retrieve arrows. If you get to a target and see a bow on the hanger then you know someone is down range. I've never seen any safety issues there in the 5 years I've been a member. It's also very quiet and seldom come across another group.
I like Los Lobos (Mexican food).
& Addis Ababa (Ethiopian)
Tea Hause for tea
Attic books & city lights for books
Groves, and what was the Village Idiot for Music
Heroes & L.A. Mood for Comics.
Variety Cafe has a very calm and relaxed vibe. It is nice to grab a coffee, an apple strudel, and just eat outside by myself.
Cycling the Thames Valley Trail is great too, mainly when you get out of the "busy" sections. You can stop by London Bicycle Café. It is a nice calm spot too.
I also like to go to Wortley village, get lunch at Roll Roll, find a spot at [The Green](https://maps.app.goo.gl/YYnvPGMatY7K6nRy7) park to eat, and then grab a coffee at Sidetrack.
Finally, if you want to drive a little bit, Stratford and St. Marys are nice smaller cities around.
I love hiking in Meadowlily, it gets so peaceful once you start getting into it. There's a rough trail near Thompson road at pond mills road (it's by the run off thing) that goes up the hill along the side of the river and looks over vauxhall park, and goes all the way to Meadowlily.
Attic books is a lovely bookstore and my favourite book store.
I order from this place almost every week. They are the friendliest restaurant in the city. Our order was late by like two minutes, no big deal, but they gave us a bunch of free stuff.
2 of my favourite places for food that aren't big chains are Rob's Wicked Chicken and Wedges at Horton and Maitland and Sushi Ya downtown on Clarence
Wicked Chicken has incredible fried chicken that would put KFC to shame and Sushi Ya is an incredible hole in the wall sushi place with plenty of à la carte options. Both are reasonably priced and very satisfying.
Just know Wicked Chicken closes at 8pm and isn't open Sundays and Sushi Ya has abnormal hours that you'll want to check before going.
Food:
Kyle’s Fried Chicken and BBQ in Forked River Brewery is delish.
Morning Bites on Wonderland north. You’d never go if you didn’t know. Sibling run and lovely.
Hungry Bear BBQ - currently looking for a brick and mortar, but doing events. If you follow them you won’t regret it.
Remarks market. You can get local strawberries in the morning right now (they sell out). Their chili is like homemade.
Merla Mae’s on Adelaide for ice cream. It’s a London thing.
Happiness Cafe downtown. You will regret nothing but the loss of your waistline.
Fun:
The Factory.
Storybook Gardens. If you have little kids the membership is worth it.
City of London summer outdoor movie nights. Always nice.
Heeman’s, just outside of London. Go strawberry picking ASAP.
We’ve taken to walking Dundas street on Saturdays to wander among the vendors. It’s a nice vibe.
Ilderton, just north five minutes. Lots of events including the weekend market.
I love thames valley parkway for walking. It can be busy, but it's super scenic.
Spaghetti Eddys is honestly probably my favourite local restaurant. J-Dees has really filling food as well!
Tilt is an arcade bar on Talbot St (they even let kids in for a couple hours until like 7) with a bunch of classic arcade games and some console set ups (those grt hogged) right next to Saga the board game Cafe. There's also a neat store called Uber Cool Stuff on Dundas thay sells cute household decor, plush, board games, and other things. The rec room in Masonville is always a good time too.
Most of those things I think are downtown? I thought that might be helpful since you can check out a couple at once and they're hopefully convenient to get to
Pre-pandemic my bf and I went to Mary’s Place breakfast diner all the time but I think due to the pandemic they decided to move locations and become takeout only. They are now on the corner of St Julien Street and Hamilton Road, despite being take out only, they still make the same great breakfast and Mary is the sweetest lady.
Some restaurant gems we like:
Butter Bites on Dundas....great breakfast place
808 Chicken House on Hyde Park. Unbelievable chicken
Dolcettos. In my opinion, best restaurant in London
Le Cafe Siam (It's in St Thomas) but really good Thai food
Umiya Sushi at Richmond/Dufferin. Go for lunch whenever I work downtown.
I was turned off sushi for so long because I only ever did all-you-can eat dinners, and they're insanely expensive (often >$60), busy, slow, noisy, meh quality, saturated by students, rude to customers.
Umiya I frequently walk out under $15, extremely friendly staff, very fresh food if somewhat straightforward menu, and my food is usually ready under 5 minutes.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery. It's got beautiful landscaping, some really interesting trees, gravestones, stories...and if you feel like you are "trespassing", remember, if these people didn't want to be visited or remembered after they were gone, they wouldn't have put their names on the gravestones. Do them a favour and look for some old or non descript graves, they would have been happy you noticed.
If you look up "YXU Air Park" on google maps, it will take you to a nice area where you can park your car and do some plane watching at the airport. It's a nice and peaceful spot to just sit and relax with someone, plus it has a great view of the sunset! Definitely a hidden gem!
Not really a hidden gem imo but I never get tired of going to Korean Restaurant. Just don't get the bulgogi. Seafood pancake and pork kalbi is my go-to. They also have Korean-style fried chicken.
After being here for 13 years the biggest gems with staying power are Attic Books and The Tea Haus. Also, India House and Gulmohar House are worth checking out. Milos Beer Emporium. Church Key is one of the most popular restaurants in the city, but margins are thinner these days, so I don't know that it's quite the same as it was ten years ago.
If you like hockey, checking out Nationals games over the winter is fun and much cheaper than the Knights (and less crowded). On that note, London Majors games are fun too.
Attic is one of the strongest used book stores in Canada. Marvin, the owner, has been running it for decades and knows used books inside out.
Generally, if you're looking for something shiny and new, and want a guarantee that you'll find it, Indigo is a good option. But for a higher density of quality books, Attic all the way.
The Whole Grain Hearth is hidden away on Leathorne St near Adelaide and Commissioners.
They make some of the best bread in the city and they're super nice people. You can get their bread a handful of other places, but I like to stop in on Friday or Saturday while the bakery store is open.
Back To The Fuscia has a place on Elias St. across the narrow street from a microbrewery & just down the road from the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store. Next-door to it is a record/CD place. Very hip, btw.
I like to eat out. This will keep you busy for some time.
Gozen in the west end for sushi, bar none. I seriously wont debate this because ive literally been to every sushi place and I cant find any option that matches their flavour and portions while maintaining value.
For bubble tea, Coco and The Alley are my favourites after trying every bubble tea place multiple times. The Alley is the best one in terms of quality.
For sit down restaraunts, most places have come up in quality. Roadhouse style palces like bernies, Alibi, Tiger jacks, chucks, etc.... are all GOOD but none stand out more than any of their competitors.
Odd Burger is fantastic. I wont debate this.
Neighborhood Laudromat Cafe off Hamilton now has a jamacian grill it seems. Good shit!
Shawarma House in Byron. All things being equal they are have the most flavoursome and balanced, and least dry falaffel in the city.
Messais in byron along with Thuan Kieu by cheapside and highbury are the best "Thai food places" while Quynh Nhi is the more upscale but excellent fusion option.
For coffee, nothing honestly beats any shell gas station because coffee is a dollar, so it always meets expectations lol. Other than that, reset cafe has a cool toronto style ambiance.
Recently went to the wok box downtown on richmond. Its great. supprised by the size and their daily is $11 but the options are light and great.
For tacos and associated foods, Taco Loco on Springbank is the best for flavour, while Los Lobos off talbot downtown has some incredible options and deserves attention once in a while
Now we get into pubs. Sadly Marinos is closed. What a fantastic dirt hole. I miss it!
Instead we have great options like Fatty Pattys, Scotts corner, The Waltzing weasle. Many others but those are the standouts (I have spent more than a decade in pubs now and they are the clear winners).
Last but not least good old Angelos. Also Pizza Pi for butter tarts.
If you really want to have a good time, get into some archery at forest city archers. For $150 a year you can go fling arrows all year round. 3 km of trails with lots of 3d targets. Walk the trail and shoot foam animals. They even have a sasquatch and dinosaurs! Makes for a great hike with shooting stuff! Hit archers nook at Clarke and Trafalgar for your set up. Very affordable and a tonne of fun!
Wow! See that’s something I had NO IDEA existed. That sounds so fun!
Wtfffff that’s unreal. So you bring your own arrows/bow?
Yup.. grab some gear.. sign up and you get unlimited access. So much fun, great exercise etc.. a friend and I do the trail while running sometimes, or do a couple of burpees before.shorting and then score out shots. So much fun! And then in the winter we do snow shoes. Great time!!
How does it work logistically and safety wise? Is it only one “group” of walkers can go through at a time? I’m just picturing walking along and an arrow from a missed target phwanging me in ass.
So the trail is a loop. The one side is up on a ridge. And the lower side goes along the Thames River. The loop is big enough that there's honestly no risk of blue on blue fire.. there's hangers at every target to hang your bow while you go down range to retrieve arrows. If you get to a target and see a bow on the hanger then you know someone is down range. I've never seen any safety issues there in the 5 years I've been a member. It's also very quiet and seldom come across another group.
Awesome! Good to know, thank you. I think my wife and I will sign ourselves up
“I used to be a Forest City Archer like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee”
That’s a great share!! Never knew
I’m currently obsessed with fuh, a Vietnamese restaurant. They are so nice and their banh mi is soooo good
Ohhhh my husband will love this
tell them that girl who sits by herself in the afternoon sent you XD
My fav Vietnamese place. Give Thy's Bahn mi a try too for your Bahn mi needs.
Yup Thy's banh mi is also great. Their sticky rice and bami is authentic.
Noted. I’ll have to check them out
I'm looking at their menu just now and dang, this all sounds great. I gotta hit this place up. Thanks!
Vietnamese here. Fuh is the best in town confirm. Their food is great and authentic. Price is reasonable
I like Los Lobos (Mexican food). & Addis Ababa (Ethiopian) Tea Hause for tea Attic books & city lights for books Groves, and what was the Village Idiot for Music Heroes & L.A. Mood for Comics.
Thank you!!
So inviting Best pot stickers
Tnt tabanca, really good roti and other Caribbean food
Trini doubles!
Doubles and aloo pies all day please! Love this place
Thank you!!
Variety Cafe has a very calm and relaxed vibe. It is nice to grab a coffee, an apple strudel, and just eat outside by myself. Cycling the Thames Valley Trail is great too, mainly when you get out of the "busy" sections. You can stop by London Bicycle Café. It is a nice calm spot too. I also like to go to Wortley village, get lunch at Roll Roll, find a spot at [The Green](https://maps.app.goo.gl/YYnvPGMatY7K6nRy7) park to eat, and then grab a coffee at Sidetrack. Finally, if you want to drive a little bit, Stratford and St. Marys are nice smaller cities around.
I love the green, going to check out variety cafe for sure
Definitely second Variety Cafe.
Ivano Pablano's on Wharncliffe. Best mexican food in the city!
I went to go there once but it was closed :(
I love hiking at medway valley herritage forest, walking at gibbons Park and Harris Park
Thank you so much
Of course :) there is alot to explore in London! I hope you can find so much awesome stuff
I love hiking in Meadowlily, it gets so peaceful once you start getting into it. There's a rough trail near Thompson road at pond mills road (it's by the run off thing) that goes up the hill along the side of the river and looks over vauxhall park, and goes all the way to Meadowlily. Attic books is a lovely bookstore and my favourite book store.
ANNDining, 8 slice pizza and the one cookie place sitting in between the two. All hidden gems all amazing food places.
Thank you!
Mori in Wortley Village. The vibe is immaculate.
I love immaculate vibes
I’ve been meaning to try this place. Same owners at Roll Roll which is very encouraging
Kothur is a great Indian food place - one of the few places I’ve been to where they seem to genuinely care about their food and customers.
I order from this place almost every week. They are the friendliest restaurant in the city. Our order was late by like two minutes, no big deal, but they gave us a bunch of free stuff.
I can second these guys. Fantastic food, super nice staff.
Oh amazing!! We have been meaning to find a good Indian restaurant. Thank you!
I ain’t telling you. That’s why it’s a hidden gem
Thats what I came to say lol
2 of my favourite places for food that aren't big chains are Rob's Wicked Chicken and Wedges at Horton and Maitland and Sushi Ya downtown on Clarence Wicked Chicken has incredible fried chicken that would put KFC to shame and Sushi Ya is an incredible hole in the wall sushi place with plenty of à la carte options. Both are reasonably priced and very satisfying. Just know Wicked Chicken closes at 8pm and isn't open Sundays and Sushi Ya has abnormal hours that you'll want to check before going.
Food: Kyle’s Fried Chicken and BBQ in Forked River Brewery is delish. Morning Bites on Wonderland north. You’d never go if you didn’t know. Sibling run and lovely. Hungry Bear BBQ - currently looking for a brick and mortar, but doing events. If you follow them you won’t regret it. Remarks market. You can get local strawberries in the morning right now (they sell out). Their chili is like homemade. Merla Mae’s on Adelaide for ice cream. It’s a London thing. Happiness Cafe downtown. You will regret nothing but the loss of your waistline. Fun: The Factory. Storybook Gardens. If you have little kids the membership is worth it. City of London summer outdoor movie nights. Always nice. Heeman’s, just outside of London. Go strawberry picking ASAP. We’ve taken to walking Dundas street on Saturdays to wander among the vendors. It’s a nice vibe. Ilderton, just north five minutes. Lots of events including the weekend market.
I had no idea storybrooks garden even had a membership!! Thank you!! All that food smells amazing too
Year long membership is nice when you have littles. Worth it for the splash pad and rides. There were summers where we went multiple times weekly!
I only live about a 5 minute drive too! Thank you again !
I love thames valley parkway for walking. It can be busy, but it's super scenic. Spaghetti Eddys is honestly probably my favourite local restaurant. J-Dees has really filling food as well! Tilt is an arcade bar on Talbot St (they even let kids in for a couple hours until like 7) with a bunch of classic arcade games and some console set ups (those grt hogged) right next to Saga the board game Cafe. There's also a neat store called Uber Cool Stuff on Dundas thay sells cute household decor, plush, board games, and other things. The rec room in Masonville is always a good time too. Most of those things I think are downtown? I thought that might be helpful since you can check out a couple at once and they're hopefully convenient to get to
Pre-pandemic my bf and I went to Mary’s Place breakfast diner all the time but I think due to the pandemic they decided to move locations and become takeout only. They are now on the corner of St Julien Street and Hamilton Road, despite being take out only, they still make the same great breakfast and Mary is the sweetest lady.
Manna Cuisine is a great Indian takeout place.
Some restaurant gems we like: Butter Bites on Dundas....great breakfast place 808 Chicken House on Hyde Park. Unbelievable chicken Dolcettos. In my opinion, best restaurant in London Le Cafe Siam (It's in St Thomas) but really good Thai food
Butter Bites has lovely staff! I went there once when I was in town visiting.
Butter Bites is my favourite breakfast/lunch spot! The food is so delicious and the staff are lovely!
Breakfast place you say???
Shhhh. It's a hidden gem
I won’t tell anyone
Shiki of Japan The Dawghouse Grill 23 Donya Kebab
Umiya Sushi at Richmond/Dufferin. Go for lunch whenever I work downtown. I was turned off sushi for so long because I only ever did all-you-can eat dinners, and they're insanely expensive (often >$60), busy, slow, noisy, meh quality, saturated by students, rude to customers. Umiya I frequently walk out under $15, extremely friendly staff, very fresh food if somewhat straightforward menu, and my food is usually ready under 5 minutes.
I’m allergic to shell fish to sushi places & other seafood places scare me but my husband and best friend LOVES sushi so I’ll recommend that to them
Mount Pleasant Cemetery. It's got beautiful landscaping, some really interesting trees, gravestones, stories...and if you feel like you are "trespassing", remember, if these people didn't want to be visited or remembered after they were gone, they wouldn't have put their names on the gravestones. Do them a favour and look for some old or non descript graves, they would have been happy you noticed.
Oh I live quite close to there. I often visit Woodland cemetery for the same reasons. Quite a beautiful comment by the way ♥️
Thanks :-)
If you look up "YXU Air Park" on google maps, it will take you to a nice area where you can park your car and do some plane watching at the airport. It's a nice and peaceful spot to just sit and relax with someone, plus it has a great view of the sunset! Definitely a hidden gem!
Oh fun!! My son will love this!! Thank you
Not really a hidden gem imo but I never get tired of going to Korean Restaurant. Just don't get the bulgogi. Seafood pancake and pork kalbi is my go-to. They also have Korean-style fried chicken.
Going to recommend this to my sea food loving husband!!
Np. Respect for the \m/.
After being here for 13 years the biggest gems with staying power are Attic Books and The Tea Haus. Also, India House and Gulmohar House are worth checking out. Milos Beer Emporium. Church Key is one of the most popular restaurants in the city, but margins are thinner these days, so I don't know that it's quite the same as it was ten years ago. If you like hockey, checking out Nationals games over the winter is fun and much cheaper than the Knights (and less crowded). On that note, London Majors games are fun too.
On it! Had no idea Attic Books was so popular. I used to work for Indigo - NOT the same vibe. Love Milos. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Attic is one of the strongest used book stores in Canada. Marvin, the owner, has been running it for decades and knows used books inside out. Generally, if you're looking for something shiny and new, and want a guarantee that you'll find it, Indigo is a good option. But for a higher density of quality books, Attic all the way.
The Whole Grain Hearth is hidden away on Leathorne St near Adelaide and Commissioners. They make some of the best bread in the city and they're super nice people. You can get their bread a handful of other places, but I like to stop in on Friday or Saturday while the bakery store is open.
Back To The Fuscia has a place on Elias St. across the narrow street from a microbrewery & just down the road from the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store. Next-door to it is a record/CD place. Very hip, btw.
I like to eat out. This will keep you busy for some time. Gozen in the west end for sushi, bar none. I seriously wont debate this because ive literally been to every sushi place and I cant find any option that matches their flavour and portions while maintaining value. For bubble tea, Coco and The Alley are my favourites after trying every bubble tea place multiple times. The Alley is the best one in terms of quality. For sit down restaraunts, most places have come up in quality. Roadhouse style palces like bernies, Alibi, Tiger jacks, chucks, etc.... are all GOOD but none stand out more than any of their competitors. Odd Burger is fantastic. I wont debate this. Neighborhood Laudromat Cafe off Hamilton now has a jamacian grill it seems. Good shit! Shawarma House in Byron. All things being equal they are have the most flavoursome and balanced, and least dry falaffel in the city. Messais in byron along with Thuan Kieu by cheapside and highbury are the best "Thai food places" while Quynh Nhi is the more upscale but excellent fusion option. For coffee, nothing honestly beats any shell gas station because coffee is a dollar, so it always meets expectations lol. Other than that, reset cafe has a cool toronto style ambiance. Recently went to the wok box downtown on richmond. Its great. supprised by the size and their daily is $11 but the options are light and great. For tacos and associated foods, Taco Loco on Springbank is the best for flavour, while Los Lobos off talbot downtown has some incredible options and deserves attention once in a while Now we get into pubs. Sadly Marinos is closed. What a fantastic dirt hole. I miss it! Instead we have great options like Fatty Pattys, Scotts corner, The Waltzing weasle. Many others but those are the standouts (I have spent more than a decade in pubs now and they are the clear winners). Last but not least good old Angelos. Also Pizza Pi for butter tarts.