"Street" Food Markets [Toronto]


Photo credit: Andrea Au (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Andrea_Au_Stackt_Market.jpg)

As the weather gets warmer, I’m a sucker for these outdoor food stalls. Like the semi-permanent ones that repurpose shipping containers as stores. I love places that allow owners to test different concepts before they find permanent locations or are rotated out by the landlords. Any stores worth trying at these markets?

Let’s omit food festivals and markets which are time-limited or those you need to pay an entry fee (CNE, ribfests, T&T Asian night market, food truck gatherings, etc…). Hopefully the vendor is there for a longer period so other readers can visit.

The ones I’m aware of are:

I’ll start it off with one that opened recently: Hangout Street (https://www.instagram.com/hangoutstreetgta/) at Parliament & Queen E. It seems not all stores are open yet, at least when I visited. The stores are:

  • TamalMex (Mexican)
  • Shawarma Dose (Middle Eastern)
  • Mansafji (Levantine)
  • Poutine Hub (International fusion)
  • Sanskriti Foods (Indian)
  • Sabores De Casa (Portugese)
  • Gigi’s Love Bites (Breakfast)

I tried mansaf at Mansafji which is the national dish of Jordan. As I’ve never tried this dish before, I’ve no reference. But I enjoyed the difference of this to other other “lamb on rice” dishes from the region. The fermented dried yogurt sauce was tangy and much richer than you’d expect… dare I say fattier. I’ve no clue how they make it. I’ll return for sure.

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I don’t know if this qualifies, but the mini food court at 214 Augusta in Kensington Market is similar in principle. A number of places that started here go on to create their own places subsequently. I have quite enjoyed stuff there.

I haven’t yet tried anything at Hangout St., despite it being close to my neighbourhood.

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Oh yeah, 214 Augusta definitely qualifies. I’ve tried all the current vendors except for the churros store. My favourite there (and the neighbourhood thus far) is Pico De Gallo’s tacos. All the meats there were good but the suadero, tripe, and lengua were outstanding. They’ve opened a location on Ossington too.

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We really like Pico de Gallo, particularly the suadero (really moist beef). The conchinita pibil at Ko’ox Hana is also quite good. We also really like La Chilaca and Birria Catrina.

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Indoors stuff:

Initially I omitted Chef’s Hall (https://www.chefshall.com) York & Richmond because it contained a lot of “outposts” of known restaurants. But I passed by today and not only did they drop the “Assembly” in the name, but some outposts have left (some still remain) and replaced with new vendors.

Opening next month is Waterworks Food Hall (https://waterworksfoodhall.com) Augusta & Richmond. I wonder if will be an outpost kind of deal or geared towards more new vendors.

Looks like Waterworks has mainly outposts:

  • Aburi Sushi
  • Arepa Republic
  • Boxcar Social
  • Civil Works
  • Dave’s Genuine
  • Grape Witches
  • Harry’s Charbroiled
  • Island Oysters
  • Karak
  • Liu Loqum Atelier
  • Musoshin Ramen
  • Otto’s Berlin Doner
  • Pizzeria Popolo
  • Scooped
  • Soi Thaifoon
  • Taco Lupita
  • Vit Beo
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We were at the farmer’s market at Evergreen Brickworks today. We ate much of the following there and had the rest at home:

Happy Pops - tried the peach mango with no sugar - was actually a little bland but still refreshing; the coconut pineapple was mainly coconut and better overall.

Pimenton - a regular for many years, they make a tasty paella with green beans, chorizo, and perfectly cooked chicken.

Ostrichland - Chebureki with ostrich meat and spices - delicious deep-fried turnover; oversteamed but otherwise lovely ostrich pelmeni with sour cream.

Tapioca Toronto - tried the Brazilian pão de queijo - tasty, chewy and salty .

The Pop Stand - had the London Fog with Lavender, which had lovely bitter and floral notes.

Gebeta Ethiopian - tibs (very tasty meat with orange peppers), which came with a little rolled up injera and some rice, and some gomen (mainly cabbage), missir wot and alicha wot (both a little bland), and a green chili garlic sauce.

Alma Bakery - oven baked piroshki (ground beef, tomato paste, parsley, potatoes, spices - light moist bread with a great savoury filling.

Monforte - tarragon coated cheese; “black sheep” (ash covered washed rind) - great as always.

St. John’s Bakery - walnut raisin bread - also great as always.

Almarium Sours - a place specializing in crabapple products that has been at the market for years. We took home some crabapple jelly and pâte de fruits.

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Ostrich meat? We’ll have to give that a try. It’s been ages since we’ve visited.

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I was back at Evergreen on Sunday. A few of the food vendors are there, including Salt & Tobacco, making thin-crust pizzas in a wood-fired oven installed on a retired fire truck. We had tried the bricks and mortar location previously. There they use an electric oven and we thought the pizza was good, but perhaps not a priority to get back to. However their fire truck version of the margherita was excellent, with a loverly charred crust and a tangy sauce of what seemed like just pureed tomatoes.


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Back at Evergreen and sampled a few new things:

Chocosol - classic mocha drink - delicious coffee-spiked melted chocolate drink.

Ostrichland - tried the brisole (ostrich sausage in ostrich egg) with spicy mayo, ketchup and fried onion [picture below] - a great omelette-ish dish. Took home the solyanka soup (ostrich meat, ostrich liver, pork sausage, turkey sausage, potatoes, onions, carrots, tomatoes, pickles, beans, olives, salt, black pepper, red pepper) and ostrich/pumpkin pie. Heated those up today and both were excellent.

Tapioca Local Kitchen - tapioca crepe with porchetta, provolone, fajitas, salsa, greens and extra egg. It took 40 minutes to be made (one guy making each one to order), but it was worth it - fantastic crispy-chewy crepe filled with a delicious mix.

Gozleme - stuffed crepes - grated pumpkin, leek, pickled peppers, cheese - very enjoyable.

Happy Pops - saffron cardamom kulfi - cool, creamy, and perfumed with cardamom.

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I’m guessing the Evergreen cleanup after the flood has finished? No more foul smelling stuff?

Nothing we noticed this past weekend.

Changed hands? When?

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My bad. I made a wrong assumption.

It looks like David Huynh is still the owner.

Vit Beo didn’t change hands.

I made the wrong assumption because the food had slipped and it looked like completely new staff the last 2 times I visited.

I really liked their food around 2019. I noticed something was missing when I had take-out during the summer 2020. I went one more time in 2022, and it wasn’t what I liked.

For modern fast casual Vietnamese, I tend to go to Rustle & Still (which did change hands, that’s when they expanded the selection of banh mi), and Hem Social (Dundas W). I also have liked Ca Phe Rang.

We went to Stackt looking for lunch but unfortunately many places were closed. The only places opened were Fat Bao, Sundays Pasta Lab, and Oi Sushi (not counting coffee / bakeries). Before going, do check the individual vendor hours first because they have different hours. The place was quite dead and many stores not open. We ended up walking to The Well for our lunch.

Some vendors at Hangout Street’s also tend not to open for lunch (even on weekends).

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The hours of the places located in the containers along Dundas near Bathurst have been very inconsistent the past year, too.

I’ve tried ordering from Chef Harwash online at least 5 times, and the order is always canceled right after it’s placed.

I think it’s sometimes because he’s busy. He also probably rather have walk by customers where he wouldn’t have to give Ritual a cut.

At least 2/3 of the containers are closed most of the time that I walk by, even in the summer.

I’ve attempted ordering Marq’s Beef sandwich online as well, and that order was cancelled, too.

Vit Beo left Waterworks recently. The rent there must be high because the vendor food prices there are quite expensive. Maybe they’re relying on business from the condo residents above them.

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Ostrichland - Chebureki with ostrich meat and spices - delicious deep-fried turnover; oversteamed but otherwise lovely ostrich pelmeni with sour cream.

Tried three of their offerings yesterday. Our first time trying ostrich and I would have preferred something with less spices so I can taste more of the ostrich. They used mainly minced meat. From what I can tell from the ostrich meatball underneath the spices was the ostrich was mild but tender and juicy. It does not taste like chicken :laughing: And quite delicious as you said. Next time around I’ll have to buy some meat and cook it simply see if I there’s a distinctive taste.

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