Pedestrian-priority streets between Spadina and Bathurst north of Dundas. Caribbean, Mexican and Portuguese pockets, plus the city's strongest cheese, fish and produce vendors in a four-block grid.
Patois on Dundas West is chef Craig Wong's Jamaican-Chinese fusion kitchen since 2014, fine-dining French training applied to Caribbean home cooking.
Signature: Double Down patty sandwich, Juicy jerk chicken
Order: The Double Down sandwich, jerk chicken between two Jamaican patties.
Tip: JunePlum by Patois next door at 796 Dundas is the patty-and-drink offshoot. Closed Mondays.
Patois on Dundas West is chef Craig Wong's Jamaican-Chinese fusion kitchen since 2014, fine-dining French training applied to Caribbean home cooking.
Signature: Double Down patty sandwich, Juicy jerk chicken
Order: The Double Down sandwich, jerk chicken between two Jamaican patties.
Tip: JunePlum by Patois next door at 796 Dundas is the patty-and-drink offshoot. Closed Mondays.
Soluna in Kensington Market is chef Suzanne Barr's all-day bakery cafe on Augusta since 2022, sourdough focaccia, Caribbean-influenced pastries and Pilot.
Signature drink: Filter coffee, focaccia
Order: A focaccia sandwich at the counter with a cortado.
Tip: Closed Mondays. The pastry counter sells out by 14:00 on weekends.
Blackbird Baking on Baldwin in Kensington is baker Simon Blackwell's sourdough bakery since 2014, 23 varieties of bread including 10 sourdough loaves.
Order: The Kensington white sourdough loaf and a morning bun.
Tip: Murray, the sourdough starter, was the first Canadian inductee to the Puratos International Sourdough Library in Belgium in 2018.
Worth the queue: Kensington white sourdough
Wanda's Pie in the Sky on Augusta in Kensington Market has run the city's reference butter tart counter since 1989, baker Wanda Beaver's pies.
Order: A classic Canadian butter tart, runny in the middle.
Tip: Closed Mondays. The cherry pie is seasonal in summer; the pumpkin pie in October.
Worth the queue: Butter tart
Grey Gardens on Augusta in Kensington Market is restaurateur Jen Agg's seafood and natural wine bar since 2017, a Michelin Bib Gourmand 2022-2025.
Signature pour: Boutique low-intervention producer of the week
Wine focus: Low-intervention international, natural wine
Food: Seafood and vegetables, small plates
Order: Three small plates and a bottle from the natural-wine list.
Tip: Closed Monday. Bar seats walk in; tables on Resy. Sister Cocktail Bar at 923 Dundas West.
Cocktail Bar on Dundas West is Jen Agg's drink room since 2013, the menu split seasonal, bold, citrusy, liquor forward and wild cards, sister to Grey Gardens.
Signature drink: Seasonal cocktail rotation
Food: Snacks from Grey Gardens sister kitchen
Order: Whatever the bar manager David Greig is excited about that night.
Tip: Closed Mondays. Snacks from Grey Gardens kitchen run light. Bar seats walk in; tables on Resy.
Mahjong Bar on Dundas West pours Asian-inspired cocktails behind a Vietnamese sandwich-shop facade since 2016, a speakeasy through the back door.
Signature drink: Asian-inspired cocktails
Food: Vietnamese small plates
Order: A Pandan Highball with the bahn mi sliders.
Tip: Enter through the sandwich shop; the back door opens after 19:00. Reservations on Resy.
Patty King on Baldwin Street is a family-owned Caribbean patty bakery since 1981, supplying Toronto convenience stores and cafeterias citywide.
Try: Jamaican beef patty
Order: A spicy beef patty in coco bread, plus a Ting from the cooler.
Tip: Closed Sundays. The Scarborough location at 39 Progress Avenue is the chain's flagship factory; Kensington is the retail original.
Kensington Market between Spadina and Bathurst is Toronto's reference open-air food district, vendor storefronts along Augusta, Baldwin and Kensington Avenue.
Order: Cheese from Global Cheese, fish from Coral Reef, plus a patty at Patty King on Baldwin.
Tip: Pedestrian Sunday on the last Sunday of every month May-October closes the streets to cars.
Tasty Tours' flagship Kensington tour visits family-run shops past the tourist traps, 7 to 8 tastings across the market's Caribbean, Mexican and Portuguese.
Intrepid Urban Adventures' Kensington and Chinatown tour runs through the neighbourhood's Jewish-to-bohemian evolution, plus Cantonese roast meat and Hong.
Patty King on Baldwin in Kensington Market runs Jamaican beef and chicken patties for $4 since 1981, the family-owned bakery supplying Toronto convenience.
Try: Jamaican beef patty, $4
Order: A spicy beef patty in coco bread, plus a Ting from the cooler.
Tip: Patties $2.50 each, six for $13; the cocoa bread and bun-and-cheese combo doubles as breakfast on the College streetcar.
Mahjong Bar on Dundas West runs Asian-inspired cocktails behind a Vietnamese sandwich-shop facade since 2016, a speakeasy through the back door.
Order: A Pandan Highball with the banh mi sliders.
Tip: Enter through the sandwich shop. The back door opens after 19:00; reservation on Resy.