St Lawrence Market: Food Lovers’ Paradise

A one-stop location for buying organic groceries, savoring special preparations, learning how to bake a cake or becoming an expert chef, perfect for hosting a party, getting your couple portfolio shot, meeting friends over a cup of Victorian tea, having a good time with family, great for photography addicts, tasting specialty foods and getting that excellent piece of meat for the upcoming reunion.

Undoubtedly, St Lawrence was named the No. 1 Food Market in the World by National Geographic and that makes it one of the must-see places in Toronto.

Last weekend on a bright sunny day, we were there to explore this world famous market. Parked our car in the back lane and it was just over a minute’s walk from there. From distance, the market already looked impressive, the red brick building had that old world charm and why not, we were in the Old Town of Toronto.

The entrance to the South market is through a section of the Toronto’s original City Hall (1845-1899), as per the information boards. The entrance lobby & the second floor were a part of the 19th century structure and are an integral part of today’s St Lawrence Market. Its great to see so much history associated with this place.

After going through the history section, we stepped into the busy side where customers were striding by the vendors while tasting samples & stopping to buy groceries.

Aroma of fresh foods infused with spices & mixed with the fragrance from the bakery, it was a riot of flavors in the food and meat vendors area.

There were freshly prepared delicious samples to taste, organic farm fruits and veggies, packets of meat and fish, oven-fresh breads, specialty foods like Caviar, unlimited varieties of cheese & cakes – it was an absolute wonderland of food.

Along with that, its also a great place to meet friends & neighbors and spend quality time while shopping and having a hearty lunch.

We had an amazing time, exploring this incredible space and enjoying so many different foods. And not to forget our sumptuous lunch of Hot Chick Crepe and Seafood Crepe from ‘Crepe it Up’. ‘Hot Chick’, as the name suggests was filled with veggies and grilled chicken slices mixed with sauces and herbs, which was incredibly tasty. And the ‘Seafood Crepe’ had cooked crab meat and veggies with sauces and Mayonnaise – it tasted super good.

Not just for shopping and eating, this place also has an impressive market schedule which lists ongoing and upcoming events where you can learn how to bake a ‘Strawberry Shortcake’, master the Knife Skills, pick up the art of Pizza making, work as part of a team to study the technique of Pickling; and many more. Most of these get sold out weeks before, so next time you are heading to the market, check ahead of time to reserve a spot.

We spent quite a while there and clicked beautiful pictures. Would be back there soon, to buy some Caviar maybe or to attend one of the cooking classes (technique of pickling sounds fun).

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Market Info:

Location – 92- 95 Front St East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hours

• Tuesday- Thursday – 8 am to 6 pm
• Friday – 8 am to 7 pm
• Saturday – 5 am to 5 pm
• Sunday & Monday – Closed

For more details : see the website.