Toronto Food Tour in Kensington Market and Chinatown

A Toronto food tour in Kensington Market and Chinatown? Yes, please. What foodie wouldn’t jump at the chance?  Both Hema and I toured with Local Food Tours before, in Quebec City, and now that they’ve come to Toronto, they offer us a complimentary chance to tour our own city, their way.

Hema and I first met at the Women in Travel Summit in Quebec City, we both have an interest in food, and writing about food and travel (she blogs at nomadic nutritionist).  We’re both members of the Toronto chapters of Wanderful, for women travelers, and industry association Travel Massive.

Before our food tour today, we get together for a photo walk of Kensington Market, as there’s so much to see. 

We meet up at Swedish-themed Fika, a cute coffee house, stop in to one of Hema’s favourite stores, the Caribbean Corner, and I capture a few photos on our walk to Spadina to meet the group for our Beyond Kensington food tour.

We Start our Toronto Food Tour with Steamed Dumplings at Mother’s Dumplings in Chinatown

Our food tour guide, Mike, checks us in outside at Mother’s Dumplings in nearby Chinatown, where the group is loosely gathered.  “We’re going to start here at Mother’s Dumplings,” he says.

In to the restaurant we go, sitting at a long table in the back, next to a skylight.

Introductions

Mike sets up the day: “we’ll walk about 2 kilometers, 1.2 miles roughly.  We do have spots along the way.  Because we can’t just constantly eat, we’re going to be kind of going to spots in a circle with anecdotes or little stories along the way.” While we start in Chinatown, our Toronto food tour will also be in Kensington Market.

He tells us that we should plan to:

• Have a social, fun time,
• Learn a little bit about Toronto’s food and culture, and
• Eat really good food

As everyone settles in for the start of our 3-hour food tour, Mike sets up an icebreaker, so we get to know one another.  He asks everyone to say their name, where they live, and if you called home today, what you would ask them to cook.  It’s a fun way for us to get to know everyone’s favourite comfort food, and the group, who come from Montreal, Houston, South Carolina, Edmonton, Ft. Lauderdale and Toronto obliges with wonderful descriptions of posole, beef and noodles, tamales, doubles, and more mouth-watering dishes.

Northeastern-Style Steamed Dumplings

Just before the dumplings appear, Mike demonstrates which vessels are our tea cup, and which is the dumpling dipping bowl.  Likely important for people who may not be familiar with a Chinese restaurant. 

The dipping sauce is custom made by each participant.  We’re given three components, a black vinegar, (a Chinese version of Balsamic vinegar), which Mike suggests should be added 3-parts vinegar to 1-part soy sauce.  There’s a chili oil to add heat.

We are about to try 2 or 3 different types of steamed Northeastern-style Chinese dumplings, depending on dietary restrictions.  We can try a Shrimp, Egg and Chive, a Winter Melon and Tofu, and/or a Bok Choi, Mushroom and Tofu.  I eat both the Shrimp and Winter Melon dumplings.  The flavours are mild and subtle. 

Making the Dumplings

While we eat, the kitchen is busy, chopping, chopping, chopping behind the screens. I get a tour of the kitchen, where there are bowls and bowls of dumpling fillings.

Three women, standing behind a glass wall are rolling dough and forming dumplings.  They have much to prepare as this is a busy restaurant that serves thousands of dumplings each day.

Adding Culture to Our Food Tour

After this stop, we’re on the go, walking down Spadina.  We take a pause between locations to learn a bit about the neighbourhood we’re in and its history. Mike has us gather on a side street for a quick stop beside “Toronto’s Home of the Blues,” Grossman’s Tavern.  We learn a bit about it, the owner and the neighbourhood. 

These cultural tidbits are one of the things I most enjoy about walking food tours. That and eating the food, of course. Of course.

Dan Tat Tarts at Mashion Bakery

Mashion Bakery, our next stop just down the street, is a Hong Kong style bakery. 

Here we try the Dan Tat, a tea snack.  It’s a little custard tart or egg tart, not quite as sweet as a typical custard tart, and maybe a little more sweet than a typical egg tart.

We cross the street to nibble our egg tarts, talk about Chinese immigration, and the government’s Chinese “head tax.”

Mike tells us about a pole-top statue of a cat on a kitchen chair called “Home Again, Home Again” by David Hlynsky and Shirley Yanover  Down the street, he tells us about a favourite Chinese grocer which maintains a live seafood area.

Dan Dan Noodles at Chinese Traditional Bun

From there we go to the edge of Chinatown to a spot called Chinese Traditional Bun, downstairs in a split retail building, with steps leading upstairs or downstairs. 

Mike tells us, “We’re not going to get buns, we’re going to get noodles.  We’re going to do something called the Dan Dan Yen, and those are Szechuan style noodles, handmade, with a little bit of pork, chili oil, different types of accompaniments.” 

Two women greet us warmly as we walk in the door.  They’ve already set up the Dan Dan noodles on tables for us. 

It’s the Tingly Red Pepper

We find small bowls (often used as rice bowls) at each place setting filled with white noodles, topped with bean sprouts, minced pork, bamboo roots, and black fungus (Chinese mushrooms) mixed in with a pile of spices. 

Mike mentions there is sauce on the bottom which we’re warned should be stirred in and it may be spicy.  The more intrepid spice lovers have more chili sauce they can pile on.

“This is a stereotypical Chengdu dish,” Mike says. It’s spicy, as chili is believed to expunge the dampness.

The sauce is house-made. It’s composed of garlic, ginger, green onion, star anise, and two kinds of peppercorns, red and green, for fragrance, Red peppercorns actually make your mouth tingly (and were banned in New York state). Green peppercorns add a piney, citrusy taste.

The flavours are allowed to marinate together to combine into something way beyond the single ingredients.  They then strain out the spices and add the chili.

I mix it up as best I can without spilling too much over the side.  I taste it. The Dan Dan noodles are spicy and full of delicious flavour so I waver between loving this dish and dying from the spices.  My mouth is tingling from the red peppercorns, and dancing from the ginger, garlic and star anise.

Our Toronto Food Tour Goes to Kensington Market

We then change gears and move into Kensington Market.  “For those of you that may not be familiar with the city,” Chinatown and Kensington Market “basically share a border,” Mike says. 

Immigrants Create the Magic Mix of Kensington Market

Mike gives us an introduction to Kensington, how it was initially owned by the Denison family, the many waves of immigrants who’ve settled this neighbourhood and the influence they’ve had on the different shops and restaurants you can find in Kensington Market. 

We walk down an alleyway and Mike shows us an example of an Azorean home, calling out details which make it both representative and unique.  The tofu factory next door hisses and bangs.

We admire the street art on the walls of the alley as we exit, including a new homage to the Raptor’s NBA championship, which has taken the city by storm.

Global Cheese

Next up is a visit to Global Cheese, which opened in 1970.  Here we get to try two different types of Ontario cheeses and an Italian salami.  Mike tells us, “our state equivalent, called provinces, we’re in Ontario right now, so that’s our province.  And these two cheeses will actually be from our province.  So, you’ll get to taste a little bit of our terroir, and some of the local cheese being produced here.”

Mike takes us past glass cases of cheese (and refrigerators and shelves of so many gourmet treats I’d like to bring home) to the back of the store where a tray with toothpicks is piled with pieces of cheese and sliced Italian salami washed in rose wine.

Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese in Huntsville made the 5 Brothers cow’s milk cheese. It’s a cross between a Gouda and a Swiss Appenzaler, aged on cedar planks.

The Blyth Farm Cheese, in Blyth, makes Honey Bee, a goat’s milk cheese. This is another Gouda style cheese whose sharp flavour is mellowed by the addition of honey mead.

The cheese is popular, and there’s more than one piece per person, so Mike encourages the group to finish all the cheese and salami on the tray. The group obliges. Hey, we’re on a Toronto food tour in Kensington Market, after all.

Golden Patty and The Toronto Patty Wars

From there we got to a spot called Golden Patty, where we taste the jerk chicken spice patty with an accompanying cup of the non-alcoholic house ginger beer. 

The patty is freshly made, still hot and full of loose shredded chicken and gravy inside.  It lives up to its name, but is a milder jerk chicken spice than some jerk sauces I’ve tasted. The ginger beer is sharp with real ginger and the cloudiness of the drink reminds me of apple cider. 

We stand next to Golden Patty in an alcove off the street.  Mike is talking about the Toronto Patty Wars of the 1980’s, in which the government tried to stop the Jamaican restaurants from using the name “beef patties” as it might cause confusion in the public, who might mistake them for hamburgers.  The Jamaican consulate became involved before they reached a resolution.

Fresco’s Fish and Chips

We head down the street for some Fresco’s Fish and Chips, where we’ll be trying Newfoundland cod extra crispy, with fresh cut Ontario Russet potato fries.  The extra crispy coating costs a bit more, and is made with Canadian Miss Vickie’s Salt & Malt Vinegar kettle chips.

Mike tells us, “most people find themselves not hungry after this.”  As we consider the addition of fish and chips to our already full bellies, a few of us laugh, since we’re not sure we can eat any more. We all signed up for a Toronto food tour in Kensington Market. We tell ourselves we can make it, for sure.

The fish is crispy as promised, while the fish inside is moist and perfectly cooked.  The tartar sauce is on the sweet side, where I tend to prefer a more savoury or dill flavour.  The fries, for me, are the star.  They are substantial rectangular blocks of potato which have that firm and soft but not overly mushy consistency which makes them stand up to ketchup and still packs potato flavour.

The King of Kensington, a Church and a Park

We cross the street to pass by the well-designed Bellevue Square Park, where people are enjoying the sunshine, sitting at park tables, skating and biking, swinging on a tire swing. 

Mike takes a moment to give us the history of a building which is now a church, and tell us a bit about Al Waxman, the King of Kensington, who has a statue in the park, and we’re off again.

A Fireman and a Clown Walk Into a Brothel…

We turn a corner and Mike gathers the group in a tight circle in front of a multi-unit building. He points to a tower up the street, visible through the trees. “I stop here because it’s the best place to see the clock tower. That tower is part of a fire station.”

The Fire Station Clock Tower

The No. 8 Hose Station, now known as Toronto Fire Station 315, has a 7-story clock tower which to this day is still used for hanging fire hoses to dry. It’s also a reminder of the change of the Toronto fire services from a volunteer group to one managed by the City of Toronto.

It all starts when a fireman and a clown walk into a brothel…and thus begins Toronto’s Circus Riot of 1855.

Hema, who lives in Toronto, is twisting her head to the side, squinting at Mike, “I’m trying to figure out if you’re making this up or telling the truth.”

Neither of us had heard this story before. And it sounds like a joke.

Mike tells us that the building was gutted by an arsonist in 1972, who set the fire while the firefighters were out fighting a fire. The community banded together and got the support to rebuild the station.

“It’s a true story,” Mike says.

Wrapping up the Toronto Food Tour in Kensington Market

Thank goodness for this walk, and a few pauses along the way, since there’s one more food stop coming up on our Toronto food tour in Kensington Market .  We enter a door, walk through a series of food stalls in one building, most of them Mexican-themed.  We don’t stop until we’ve reached an open area in the back, with a shade tree, a long white wall with black-line drawings and a ledge to sit on.  A man tries to finish a cell phone conversation, sitting on the stoop of a building next to us, as our noisy group settles in.

Churros at Pancho’s

We’re here at Pancho’s Bakery for a Mexican-inspired churro dessert.  Churros are long donut-like desserts which are typically covered in cinnamon sugar. 

At Pancho’s, the churros are vegan and Halal, which makes them accessible to the whole group.  I’m not sure, though, if everyone is going to eat their churro now, since some people are saying they’ll bring it back to the hotel with them. 

Local Food Tours is not kidding when they tell you to come hungry.

Dulce de Leche

Mike gives us a choice of plain churro or dulce de leche-filled churro.  I have to opt for the filled churro, because, dulce de leche!  Dulce de leche, which means sweet made of milk in Spanish, is made with sweetened condensed milk, heated slowly, which caramelizes the sugar in the milk and creates a thick syrup which is almost caramel-flavoured, but a little bit different. 

My mom used to make dulce de leche for us when we were kids, by simmering a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pan of water for many hours.  Then there was the time that we let the water get too low and the can exploded all over our kitchen…

Pancho’s fills the long centre of the churro, which is hollow, with the dulce de leche.  As I eat it, the sweet sauce oozes out of the donut, past the paper wrapper, and down the front of my shirt. 

This is typical for me.  It’s a running joke.  I manage to get something on me at every occasion.  Fortunately, our tour is wrapping up, so I can go home to soak my shirt.

Hema and I leave tips with Mike and head back into Kensington Market, where we’ll take a few more pictures and part ways for the time being, full and happy.

I recommend the Local Food Tours Beyond Kensington food tour to anyone from Toronto or visiting the city, as the food sampling represents a nice cross-section of the city’s diversity, 3 hours doesn’t take up your whole day, it’s a pleasant walk, and you may learn something new about Toronto’s history, too.

Enjoyed July, 2019

Local Food Tours
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