Kensington Market & Chinatown

There is a corner of Toronto where the whole world seems to have set up a food stall. Kensington Market and Chinatown sit side by side in the west end of the city, and this private food tour goes deep into both with a local expert who knows the vendors and their stories.

Kensington is less a market than a neighbourhood: Victorian rowhouses that long ago gave up on orderliness and became something far more interesting. Its streets are a living map of immigration, from Jewish delis and Caribbean patty shops to Mexican taquerias, Ethiopian injera and Portuguese custard tarts, and your guide makes sure every sample tells a story about the community that made it. Between bites there are vintage shops and shelves of vinyl to linger over, with no obligation to buy.

From there the tour moves into Chinatown, one of the largest in North America, shaped by more than a century of Chinese immigration. Beyond the main drag lie herbalists, bakeries turning out char siu bao and egg tarts, and roast duck hanging in the windows.