A Mid-Winter’s Trip to the Tropics (With Much Change to Spare)
Posted by Renée Suen in fruit and vegetables, greengrocers, shops on December 19, 2007 at 8:13 am
K & K Tropical Fruit
298A Spadina Avenue
416-979-3435
When daylight hours get shorter and the temperature stays below zero, I find myself longing for the warmth of the summer sun that graced us only a mere season ago. Our city might continue its trudge through the dirty snow, but a quick trip to K & K Tropical Fruit can add a splash of colour to cure those winter blahs. Situated just on the northwest corner of the chaotic Dundas and Spadina intersection, this jewel is a much loved haunt of locals and non-locals alike. In fact, no advertisement is needed as their high quality fruits speak for themselves.
The first noticeable thing about K&K is the welcoming sight of its neatly arranged produce. A quick glance at the bountiful tables reveals its second charm: the variety of fruits available! Beside the market staples of apples, oranges and bananas are the many items with origins from South-East Asia or South America. K&K imports exotic fare year-round from Thailand and Vietnam, including piles of those thorn-covered and notoriously pungent durians, plastic mesh wrapped pomelos (the giant cousin of grapefruits), and the bulb-like dragon fruit. These strange looking treats take shelter inside the store during the cold winter months next to shelves overflowing with exquisite cases of mangosteens (aka the king of fruits), bundled up branches of lychees, trays of hairy rambutans, jackfruit and guava. Sometimes featured specials will highlight the orb-like persimmon, a tower of jumbo Fuji apples, luscious and firm white peaches or an excellent selection of ready-to-eat sugar-centric papayas.
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