Thanks to a wildly eccentric Parisian neighbour, I got to spend many a childhood Christmas sporting shimmery paper hats while gorging on Galette des Rois under the table of a canary yellow kitchen.

An honorary Gaul, I still look forward to epiphany. Every year my family hides a fève in the cake and we wait to see who will claim the royal title.  

Herewith, the best galettes in town:

Petite Thuet, ($18), various locations, www.petitethuet.com

Rahier Patisserie, (from $17.30), 1586 Bayview Ave., Toronto, 416-482-0917,  www.rahierpatisserie.com

Jules Café Patisserie, (from $19), 617 Mount Pleasant Rd., 416-481-1666, Toronto, www.julescafe.ca

Patachou, ($25), 1120 Yonge St., Toronto, 416-927-1105

Patisserie Sebastien, (from $20), 3306 Yonge St., Toronto, 416-544-0333.

—Athena Tsavliris

Aside from the wafting smells of Tikka Masala, there’s never been any reason to linger at the corner of Coxwell and Gerrard.

Winds of change are blowing with the opening of Lazy Daisy’s café, an oasis of farm-fresh food and Te Aro Roasted coffee served in pretty hand-kilned crockery.

Farm girl Dawn Chapman’s charming new space has all the coziness of a hayloft with apple box shelving and harvest tables created from reclaimed barn wood. From free-range eggs and drug-free meats, we love that all ingredients on the menu are straight from the fields. We spotted locals mooing over Hunger Parfait with quinoa and wildflower honey ($6.95) and Comfort & Spice sandwiches with gooey melted cheese and curried apple chutney ($5.25).

Hi-ho, the derry-o. —Marianne Wisenthal

Lazy Daisy’s Cafe, 1515 Gerrard St. E., Toronto, 647-278-3966, www.facebook.com

After years in the doldrums more of us are seeing the beauty of beets.

Inspired by this beautiful recipe video by Tiger in a Jar, I baked the perfect cake that even committed beet-haters gobbled up with gusto.

It’s a terribly easy recipe to follow only you’ll need to improvise on cooking time and temperature in accordance to your oven. I used a rather posh Mast Bothers fleur de sel chocolate but any semi-sweet variety will do.

The cake’s got two sticks of butter in it, so it’s not as righteous as beet cake sounds. Next time, I’ll send it over the edge with a decadent chocolate icing.
—Athena Tsavliris

www.tigerinajar.blogspot.com

A little sea salt, some ground pepper, and that's it—the extent of our imagination when it comes to seasonings.

Now, Ruby Watchco chef Lynn Crawford is here to save us from a lifetime of gustatory blandness with a village-style market stocked with all the ingredients she keeps in her own pantry. The shelves at Ruby Eats are lined with olive tapenade, brandied cherries ($7.99), candied olives and flavored salts from lemon to espelette ($4.99). We’ll fill our basket with seasonal veg like golden beets ($8/lb), Niagara eggplants and heirloom apples, all sourced within 100 km. Oh, and then some artisanal Canadian cheese, please.

Wondering what to do with truffle paste? Chefs on hand will crack open a jar for an informal demo using Crawford’s favorite Le Creuset pots and Victorinox knives.

Looks like we’ll need a larger larder. —Marianne Wisenthal

Ruby Eats, 742 Queen St. E., Toronto, 416-901-3355, www.rubyeats.com

Finally, an Ossington spot as full of fish as every other west-end restaurant is of meat.

Call it nose-to-fin eating. Fishbar, newly opened by William Tavares (Le Gourmand, Salt), has every kind of (mostly) sustainable fish in the sea, from wee smelts ($6) to whole grilled sardines ($7) to tuna loin ($13). Even the drinks are fishy; why isn't every Caesar a shrimp Caesar? Wine list is decent; oysters are musky and fresh.

Dishes are best enjoyed tapas-style, with friends. My favourite? A tangy trout rillette with more crostini on demand. Servers are still getting their sea legs, but food-wise, Fishbar is swimming. —SNP

217 Ossington Ave., Toronto, 647-340-0227, www.fishbar.ca

Here's where you can tell people—nicely—to shove their incessant Twitpics of stuff they're eating.

Dishlicker, a new amateur food-porn site, collects money shots from cool meal-eaters around the world. Contributors so far include fashion girls, band guys, chefs and a Manhattan tour guide. They're snap-and-chewing wild boar ragu from Carluccio's in Cardiff, whitebait sushi from Tsurutontan in Tokyo, a margarita from Mario's Pizza in Sydney. Where's Canada? Soon to be repped by DJ Rory Them Finest and Justin Peroff, the Broken Social Scene drummer and sweetheart. If you see a familiar slice of Terroni on the site, it's his. —SNP

http://dishlicker.com

Granola has come a long way since its sandal-wearing, long-haired, pot-puffing days. Just look at some of today’s brands.

Over in Quebec, twin sisters Geneviève and Valérie Gagnon are making-over granola one rolled oat at a time. La Fourmi Bionique uses imaginative recipes, fresh, modern packaging and catchy text to boot.

Most people pair their granola with yogurt or milk, but this stuff is so good, we’re noshing handfuls straight from the bag. Try the granola bars  (caramelized apple and pecans) and snack packs (berries, almonds and dark chocolate), too.

So good, you’ll want to hug a tree. —AT

Now sold at most independent grocery stores across the GTA, www.lafourmibionique.com

There's no use crying over spilled cereal—unless it spills in your Prada.

Grab a pack of eco-friendly Wean Cubes ($25/4 pack) and you'll never have sweet pea puree at the bottom of your purse again. Designed for food storage, the containers are made of durable glass with an airtight silicone-sealed lid.

Safe and portable, these little wonders have measuring lines to monitor food intake, don't leach yucky toxins into food and can handle all the temps it takes to prepare baby food, from storing to freezing to serving.

Now if only there was a way to get spit up off your favourite Isabel Marant top.

At www.babybot.com

Um, have you been outside lately? What this city needs is a warm bowl of soup.

With an eclectic menu of vegan and vegetarian soups, Katherine Hall’s hearty range of comfort soups has bowled us over.

Packed with slurpy goodness, our favourite has to be the Moroccan stew. The combination of sweetness and spice makes us feel like souperwoman.

For stockists visit www.hallskitchen.ca

Nothing satisfies a mid-afternoon sugar plunge like a gooey, chewy, sugary cookie. Herewith, our picks for the city’s champion cookies.

Herbivore’s vegan cookie is loaded enough to feed a family of four—a frontrunner for gold.

Crisp-edged but soft in the center, with a superb salty-sweet contrast, Sweet Flour’s oatmeal chocolate chip grabs silver while the bronze goes to Le Gourmand’s sweet milk chocolate mega-cookie.

Special mentions go to the pistachio, chocolate chunk at the Harbord Bakery and the super soft ginger snap from Wanda’s Pie in the Sky. Soft, gooey and delicious, The Drake Café whips up some great cookies and the confections at Dark Horse are strong contenders too.

Look, it’s not the healthiest snack, but hey, that’s just how the cookie crumbles.