Woods Restaurant on Colborne St, Toronto

Dear Readers, on Thursday we visited a restaurant that we’d never been to before – Woods on Colborne Street. We were intrigued because it specialises in Canadian produce, and of course buying Canadian feels important at the moment, what with the tariffs and all. I’d asked for a quiet table, and so we were in the corner with a great view of everyone else, plus a ‘tree’ covered in ‘blossom’. The decor was an intriguing mix of kitsch and industrial, with a touch of pure eccentricity.

Bug Woman plus fibre-glass antelope heads.

It’s the only place I’ve ever been where they have a knife menu..

…and pre-dessert there’s a maple syrup tasting. It’s surprising what a difference there is in flavour between the first ‘tapping’ of the syrup, which is pale yellow and delicate, to the last tapping, which is almost molasses-rich.

Maple syrup tasting at Woods

The restaurant has lots of little private spaces, and the longer you sit there, the more you see. And the food was great – heirloom beetroot for me as a starter, doughnuts for dessert. Service was great and unlike many Toronto restaurants we could actually hear ourselves speak, though that might not be the case when it’s busier at the weekend. Still, all things considered this was something of a find, and it’s great to go somewhere with real personality, that can still deliver the goods when it comes to feeding people.