Visiting Toronto and long for that small town warmth? About an hour west is a quiet college town ripe with unique shops, lively entertainment, and best of all excellent restaurants and cafe’s.

Guelph Gothic Cathedral

Guelph has a good mix of old town charm and new city features. Towering over the town of just over 100,000 inhabitants is a large gothic Catholic Cathedral that is a must see. It’s filled with stories told on stained glass and is open for tours to the public. Just below is the historic town hall, train station, and in the winter, a public ice skating rink. The ice skating rink is free, bring your own skates, and according to the sign food and drink are “not recommended“. I love that Canadians are so nice. Around the corner is the farmers market full of local produce, cheeses, and my favorite, cured meats and sausages.

The downtown streets are lined with boutique shops, book stores, and eateries. No Starbucks or McDonalds here, which is so refreshing. The best croissants outside of Paris can be found at the Artisanale Cafe’ & Bistro, connected to The Bookshelf, a local book store with a small theater.

Down the street and around the corner are even more shops.  Dutch Toko is the perfect shop for imported foods from the Netherlands and pick up a pair of wooden clogs while you’re there.  I love getting the ABC sweet soy which has a thick syrup like consistency and can be used to sweeten any spicy dish like fried rice, curries, and other Indonesian Dutch dishes.  Another excellent find is their Curry Ketchup and Mustard’s.  There is a deli so stock up on authentic dutch cheeses like the red wrapped Gouda.  Aside from the food shops in downtown Guelph you’ll find a lot of unique shops for gifts and clothing.

Guelph is home to two very distinct pubs, one you’ll know about if you follow my blog, Woolwich Arms Pub and the other is the Penny Whistle.  I like both a lot but tend to favor the Wooly for its friendly environment, however the Penny Whistle is the place to go for Curry food.  Here you’ll get some interesting pub fare with a hint of curry in almost every dish.

Guelph Ice Skating

Guelph is more than a place for pub crawls.  There are plenty of established dinning options in and around the downtown area.  Bin 23 is a great date night or take the parents out type of place.  A lot of meat options from beef to duck but also serves up a smoked tofu for the non-meat eaters.  Another option is The Other Brothers where you’ll find mini duck tacos with raspberry and goat cheese, Cabernet braised oxtail, or veal mini-burgers with a side of duck fat french fries (mmmmmm).  Both are excellent options if you only have one night in Guelph.

Another great option is Milestones, which is just outside of downtown but certainly worth a visit, especially for lunch.  I liked the spicy chicken wrap and the spicy Asian chicken bites, enough to share with others as an appetizer.

But wait, there’s more…

Guelph isn’t just pubs and evening grub, it has some fantastic breakfast and brunch options and my ultimate favorite is With the Grain.  I highly recommend getting a loaf or two of their “baked on site” breads (get them sliced there).  These freeze well so take them home and enjoy later, one slice at a time.  The breakfast menu is extensive and heavy on the bakery side of things and you won’t go wrong here.  But you can get a breakfast burrito if you crave such a thing.  My ultimate favorite here is the breakfast parfait made with maple pecan granola.

If you didn’t know by now, you should know that I just love Guelph.  I’ve been a few times and I plan to visit again.  Toronto is a great city but I’ve been to a lot of big cities and they all have similar things.  So if you want to experience something totally different, totally Canadian, and totally worth your time, visit Guelph Ontario Canada, tell them Jimmy Stewart the Hungry Traveler sent you.  Cheers!