SEASON’S EATINGS

Go beyond gift cards with these take-home restaurant treats

Star restaurant critic Amy Pataki rounds up the city’s best gourmet gifts for all the foodies on your list,

If you haven’t already done so, there’s still time to order a tourtière from Au Pied du Cochon.

The Montreal restaurant delivers its justifiably famous Christmas meat pie and other goodies to Toronto Dec. 15 and 16. Orders close Dec. 13.

Toronto restaurants also sell tasty gifts for food lovers. Sweet or savoury, the following make good stocking stuffers or hostess presents.

Panettone from Sud Forno

Supermarket panettones don’t hold a Christmas candle to the sumptuously eggy version by Sud Forno, the bakery offshoot of Terroni. The classic is shot through with orange zest and candied fruit, while chocolate gets a boost from bittersweet morsels and hazelnuts. Both are handsomely packaged ($35 each). Get it in store or online.

Sud Forno, 132 Yonge St. and 716 Queen St. W., sudforno.com.

Montgomery’s Restaurant condiments

“Time” is an ingredient on chef Guy Rawlings’s fermented condiments: smoked mustard ($12), jalapeno hot sauce ($14) and apple cider vinegar ($6).

Also at Montgomery’s Restaurant are tallow and repurposed wax candles ($12). Montgomery’s Restaurant, 996 Queen St. W., 647-748-4416, montgomerysrestaurant.com. Souk Tabule’s tea and pantry items The new Souk Tabule in the West Don Lands offers nearby condominium residents more than takeout Middle Eastern food. Diners can also pick up such pantry staples as slender Lebanese pickles ($5.95) or Saudi Arabian honey ($13 for 500 grams), as well as the house blend Souk ginger-cinnamon tea ($8). 494 Front St. E., 416-583-5914, souktabule.com/souk-market. Mattachioni’s peperoncini and bread essentials For the bread maker in your circle: Free sourdough starter from dough meister David Mattachioni plus a bag of high-gluten bakers’ flour from P&H Milling Group ($3.99 a kilo). Pair it with the new novel Sourdough or, if the recipient prefers chili, a jar of Mattachioni’s crushed red pepper paste ($8.99). Mattachioni, 1617 Dupont St., 416-519-1010, mattachioni.com White Lily Diner hot sauce Eating at Riverside’s White Lily Diner is a no-brainer. So is taking home a bottle of hot sauce ($7), an everyday essential chef Ben Denham makes from Norfolk County espelette, Portugal, morita and chipotle peppers. “It’s not novelty spicy or overly complex,” he says. “Not sure you can have a diner without (hot sauce). Having our own brand on the table made more sense than the alternatives.” White Lily Diner, 678 Queen St. E., 416-901-7800, whitelilydiner.ca. apataki@thestar.ca, @amypataki

RICK MADONIK PHOTOS/TORONTO STAR Supermarket panettone could never compare to Sud Forno’s sumptuously eggy version.

Fermented jalapeno hot sauce, tallow candle, smoked mustard and spent apple cider vinegar from Montgomery’s.

Pick up a gift for both lovers of bread making and chili-eating at Mattachioni.

Riverside’s White Lily Diner hot sauce is an essential.

RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR Many Toronto restaurants offer tasty gift options for food lovers. The new Souk Tabule in the West Don Lands sells pantry staples such as slender Lebanese pickles, Saudi Arabian honey and house blend Souk ginger-cinnamon tea.