Hanmoto

GO HERE: for one of the best examples of Toronto’s thriving snack bar culture. Executive chef and owner Leemo Han’s short menu of gassed-up Japanese-American small plates is designed for downing well-made, Far East–influenced cocktails like the citric Arisaka Sour: cucumber- and green tea-infused gin with fresh yuzu, soda, and lime bitters. It doesn’t look like much from the outside—look for two lights hanging above a nondescript wall to find the entrance—but it can still be hard to get a table in the tiny, high-ceilinged industrial room.

ORDER THE: Dyno wings, which are something of a local legend: deboned chicken wings that are stuffed with golf-ball-size hunks of pork sausage, deep fried, and served in a Chinese-restaurant take-out box. Not all of the dishes are quite so over-the-top; the hamachi tartare with avocado is a creamy, salty mound of thinly sliced fish in a sweet-chili ponzu sauce.

THE VIBE IS: Izakaya-meets-back-alley-speakeasy, with a Wu-Tang Clan soundtrack.

PRACTICAL STUFF: Open Monday–Saturday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

ALSO WORTH A VISIT: Han's takes on Vietnamese, Pinky's Ca Phe, and Korean food, Oddseoul.