A trip to Toronto would be incomplete without at stop at St. Lawrence Market. Dating back to 1803, this historical place was named the best food market in the world by National Geographic. Talk about a ringing endorsement.
I met Bruce Bell, local celebrity, historian, and tour guide extraordinaire, at the entrance of the market. Knowledgeable and entertaining, Bruce was named the official historian of the St. Lawrence Market and Hall by the city of Toronto. Obviously, I was in the best of hands.
Always used as a place for the people of Toronto to buy food, St. Lawrence Market has also housed the city council on the second floor and served as a jail in the basement. Destroyed by the great fire in 1849, the market was rebuilt in the style of the great markets of Europe. One look at the soaring ceiling, rafters, and windows and you’ll see the resemblance.
At 10:00 on a Thursday morning, the market was a bit quiet. Bruce explained that Saturday mornings are the busiest, as locals buy their groceries for the week, while visitors are on the tourist trail. Frankly, I enjoyed having the market basically to myself. There were no crowds to push through or lines to wait in, but it wouldn’t be that way for long.
A walk through the ground floor of the market demonstrated the diversity of Toronto. Fruits and vegetables that I’d only seen in Asia, exotic meats, and obscure {at least to me} fish varieties fill the cases of the stalls. Whitehouse Meats offers its customers things like camel sliders and buffalo short ribs, while Domenic’s Fish Market has some of the best-looking seafood around.
As a visitor to Toronto, St. Lawrence Market is the perfect place to grab lunch, but make sure to get there before or after noon. People working in the area clamor to eat at the various cooked food stalls, and the lines can get quite long. Buster’s Sea Cove is one such place. Grilled or fried, Buster’s serves up some delicious-looking seafood. Make sure you bring cash, because they don’t accept credit cards.
Perhaps the most famous stop in the market is Carousel Bakery for its legendary peameal bacon sandwich. Better known in the US as Canadian bacon, this sandwich has attracted chefs Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay and garnered mentions in Food and Wine, Saveur, USA Today, The New York Times, and countless others.
Slices of Canadian bacon are grilled and piled high on a country bun. Locals know to add honey mustard, which is lovely, but I like my food with a little spice. A couple of dashes of the Tabasco sauce I carry in my purse put the sandwich over the top. The salty bacon, combined with the sweetness of the mustard and the spice of the Tabasco, made for the perfect sandwich. It’s easy to see why Carousel Bakery has been in the same location for over 30 years.
When visiting St. Lawrence Market, don’t forget to check out the lower level. It’s filled with a world of options. Additional vendors offer everything from crepes {Crepe It Up Cafe} to Chinese {Yip’s Kitchen} to Greek {Yianni’s Kitchen} to Ukrainian {European Delight}. You could eat lunch here for weeks without duplication. Plus, if you’re with Bruce, he’ll show you were the jail once stood.
When in Toronto a trip to the St. Lawrence Market is a must. You can certainly let your nose lead the way around the building, but experiencing it with Bruce Bell makes the history of the place come alive. For 90 minutes, I learned not just about the market, but also more Toronto and Canadian history that I ever knew. It was definitely time well spent.
I was a guest of Tourism Toronto. In no way was I swayed to write a positive review based on the sub-90s August weather, my interesting conversations with cab drivers, or the friendly exchange rate. As always, opinions are mine. For more information on travel to Toronto, visit http://www.seetorontonow.com/.
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