Shirley Lum (left) leads a tour of Kensington Market.
Hands up, who has ever been asked for directions to Kensington Market? It’s not only tourists who get lost trying to find this elusive but essential Toronto experience. “Market” is a bit of a misnomer since it’s more like a cozy neighbourhood of cafés, restaurants, bakeries, ethnic food shops, and vintage clothing stores. The variety of goods is phenomenal and the price for everything is right, but where to begin? Luckily, Shirley Lum has spent years eating, browsing, and shopping her way through Kensington Market and is at our service through her tour company, A Taste of the World.
Lum started A Taste of the World in 1993 to show tourists parts of Toronto that are usually overlooked by typical tour operators. Unlike the enormous buses that breeze down King Street as their passengers peek out, Lum gets her clients on their feet, which is the only way to efficiently navigate the best parts of the city.
When Lum first began giving tours, she was largely self-taught with most of her knowledge gleaned from a large collection of food books, workshops, and exploration. Her interest in food and diverse cultures originated in part from her family who emigrated from the Canton region of China. Her maternal grandfather worked as a domestic in Vancouver before learning a bit of English and how to cook, which led him to venture east to Ontario where he became one of several partners at Wong’s Restaurant in Brampton. Growing up in Toronto, Lum enjoyed the mosaic of different foods as well as traditional Cantonese cooking at home.
Since she began touring, Lum has attended culinary classes at George Brown College and is training toward becoming a personal chef. She also recently channelled her vast experience into helping design and teach courses for George Brown's Tour Guide Professional Certificate.
On a bright and cold Saturday morning in mid-December, I took Lum's Kensington Market tour with two friends. The tour combines an overview of the history of the neighbourhood with shopping tips and lots of snacks. We started at the Moonbean Coffee Company where we drank some very welcome and delicious hot chocolate along with an eclectic mix of treats, including baked samosas, dark chocolate rugelach, cranberry walnut loaf, and boreka - a flaky bagel-shaped pastry filled with spinach and feta.
From there we made stops at My Market Bakery for fresh bagels and baccala (codfish) fritters; Emporium Latino to browse their extensive dried goods; Perola Supermarket to learn about Latin groceries; Chilean/Korean-owned El Gordo Fine Foods for both traditional (beef, boiled egg, olive) and fusion (chicken kimchi) empanadas; Jamaican Chinese-owned Patty King for goat curry patties, ginger beer, and black rum cake; and finally Chocolate Addict for dark chocolate chili truffles. It's hard to believe the 3.5 hour guided tour, food, and drink is a mere $43.
With the recession, Lum is seeing a lot of locals on her tours who want to get to know their own city better instead of spending money going abroad. Her Kensington Market tour runs on March 21, 28, and April 11 in addition to many other ones that explore other pedestrian-friendly areas. For a very reasonable price, take advantage of her expertise and get a head start on finding some great food.
Kaori Furue is a Toronto-based blogger who ate Kensington Market. Her adventures big and small (mostly small, and mostly about food) can be found at: I can’t believe I’m back in Toronto.
I once got asked "Where is Kensington Mall?" by 2 teenaged girls who were clearly from suburbia.
We did give them directions to the market after closing our jaws in disbelief. And of course burst out laughing after they were many feet away.
When I ran a shop in Kensington we used to get the exact same question (duh, you're already here). We always gave them directions to Yonge & Bloor.