Berlin, then most of the world, then Chinatown.

My story

I grew up in Berlin, in a city that takes its döner seriously and its restaurant hours less so. I left in my twenties and spent the better part of a decade somewhere else: Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Marrakech, Barcelona, Madrid, New York, Mexico City. Not holidays — I lived in each of them long enough to have a regular order, a favourite counter, and an opinion about which market to use on a Sunday.

I came to Toronto in 2021 for what was meant to be a short stay. Within a month I had eaten hand-pulled noodles in Chinatown, dim sum in Agincourt, chaat on Gerrard, custard tarts on Dundas West, and grilled octopus on the Danforth, and I had started to suspect something that took me another year to say out loud: this city eats better than anywhere I have lived. Not one cuisine done brilliantly, which is what most great food cities offer. Dozens, done seriously, by people cooking for their own communities rather than for a review.

That is a genuinely strange thing to discover about a place nobody warned you about. I have never gotten over it, and I have spent every year since dragging visitors across the city to prove the point.

Why I do this

My first year here I lived in the wrong neighbourhood. Not a bad one — a perfectly nice one, chosen off a map and a rental site, that had nothing to do with how I actually live. I spent that year commuting to the parts of the city I liked and sleeping in a part I did not, which is an expensive and quietly demoralising way to arrive somewhere new.

Nobody had asked me the obvious question: how do you want to spend a Tuesday evening? If someone had, I would have found Chinatown eleven months sooner.

So that is the question I ask people now. I started this practice in 2025, and the work is simple: I listen to how you actually live — what you cook, where you walk, whether you want a car, what you want within five minutes of your front door — and I tell you honestly which parts of this city fit and which do not. Then I take you there and we eat something.

What I am, and what I am not

Let me be precise, because precision matters here. I am not registered under Ontario's Trust in Real Estate Services Act. I do not represent anyone in a property transaction, I do not negotiate on anyone's behalf, and I am not paid on the outcome of any purchase or sale. I am working toward registration; until it is in hand, I am careful about the line and you should hold me to it.

What I do is guidance and education: neighbourhood orientation, city knowledge, and an honest outside read on where you would be happy. When it comes time to transact, you will hire a registered professional, and part of my job is helping you understand what to ask them.

I am new at this, and I would rather say so than dress it up. What I bring is not two decades of local history — it is nine cities of comparison, a genuine obsession with how neighbourhoods feed the people who live in them, and the fresh memory of arriving here with no idea what I was doing.

Where you will find me

• I live in Chinatown, above the noise, and I would not swap it.
• My standing recommendation for anyone new to the city is a Saturday in Agincourt — the food up there is better than most people downtown believe.
• I walk the Danforth and Gerrard constantly, and I bike to Little Portugal more often than is strictly reasonable.
• Ask me for a restaurant recommendation and you will get four, sorted by what you are actually in the mood for.