1. Torito
This tapas bar is as stylish and festive as it is simple and unpretentious. Courtesy of Veronica Laudes (former owner of Latitude) and chef Carlos Hernandez, the menu features such savouries as octopus terrine and blood orange salad, best paired with a carafe of sangria. Tip: The ceviche ($8), made with tender white bass, lime, coriander and corn, is the best in town.
276 Augusta Ave., 647-436-5874.

Urban Herbivore
Locals, high on ideals and low on iron, hunch over bowls of tahini-dressed salad. The midday sequel to owner Stephen Gardner’s Fressen, this vegan café serves up massive barbecued tofu sammies and spelt muffins.
64 Oxford St., 416-927-1231.

3. Alchemy Bakery
This carb emporium is aptly named: baker Brian Kirk has the wild-haired genius of a scientist, and he talks about his creations with flame-cheeked excitement. “I’m always thinking of new flavours,” he says of his shortbread cookies (the 20 varieties range from lemon to masala; pomegranate-walnut is the latest). Other notables: Irish soda bread and jerk patties. Tip: Alchemy also makes veggie pizzas ($4.99) that will knock your local pie maker off your speed-dial.
287 Augusta Ave., 416-531-2471.

4. Bungalow
The sprawling vintage shop is stocked with Scandinavian rosewood furniture, chrome light fixtures and the kind of Sienna Miller–approved clothes you’d expect to find on the Lower East Side: pretty slips in shades of scarlet and cropped puff-sleeve military jackets. For men, pastel polo shirts and golf jackets channel prep school dances.
273 Augusta Ave., 416-598-0204.

5. Jumbo Empanadas
Everything here—humitas, corn pies and a killer coriander- and lime-dressed salad—is made on the premises. But it’s owner Irene Morales’s empanadas ($3.99)—perfectly tanned and pillowy—that draw the boisterous lunchtime crowds: profs, high schoolers and Chilean families looking for a taste of home.
245 Augusta Ave., 416-977-0056.

6. Casa Acoreana
Louie Pavao founded this corner spot as a fruit stand 41 years ago; his four sons (Victor, John, Ozzie and Mike) now preside over the café and bulk shop with familial pride. More shack than shop, it serves up the perfect latte (potent and smooth); and with hundreds of different kinds of tea, coffee and spice filling pretty glass jars, the old-fashioned general store pops with colour. A dreamscape for the candy cognoscenti, Acoreana rescues many classics (Tunnock’s Snowballs, Thrills gum) from extinction.
235 Augusta Ave., 416-593-9717.

7. D'Lightful
This button-cute boutique is indeed a trove of girlie delights. Pleasing the patriotic hipperati, owner Diana Kraus grants local designers centre stage: most fetching are waist-cinching leather and suede belts from Brit Boutique and precious baubles from Jill Schwartzentruber, made of amethyst, resin, wood and turquoise.
202 Augusta Ave., 416-593-9095.

8. The Embassy
Contrary to its bureaucratic moniker, this laid-back bar finds Kensingtonians quaffing to cuke-cool indie rock. With exposed brick, red-vinyl booths and mismatched chairs, the decor (and the booze) is slacker-chic: come here for a pint, not a yuzu martini.
223 Augusta Ave., 416-591-1132.