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Good to know. I have not ridden GO yet but very likely will the next time I visit GTA if I am straight shooting to or from either my uncle or my aunt's house, both of whom live in the York Region. Finding parking at a TTC park and ride lot can be a drag on weekdays. Transit agencies need to properly instruct the public how to pay their fares, especially with these new tap card or virtual payment methods. I'd hate to miss a tap and be accused of fare evasion. Oh whatever happened to the simple days when you just dropped a handful of change into a farebox to ride the bus or hand the train conductor a handful of banknotes for a ticket? None of this confusing smart card technology.
Bumping this for 2024 and more towards the summer. I'm especially interested in Toronto or Canada-specific specialties for food.
GTA has some of the best Cantonese Chinese food in North America for sure. I think Toronto even beats Vancouver in this regard. Even the local chain Congee Queen is very authentic and prices are reasonable. One does not have to go to Dundas and Spadina (Chinatown) anymore. Great Chinese food can be found all over the GTA nowadays, in the York Region and esp. Markham and Richmond Hill, in Mississauga, and in Scarborough. Heck, in the York Region, some major shopping centres even have chain Asian owned pastry shops, something you'd traditionally find in Hong Kong but not previously in Toronto.
GTA has some of the best Cantonese Chinese food in North America for sure. I think Toronto even beats Vancouver in this regard. Even the local chain Congee Queen is very authentic and prices are reasonable. One does not have to go to Dundas and Spadina (Chinatown) anymore. Great Chinese food can be found all over the GTA nowadays, in the York Region and esp. Markham and Richmond Hill, in Mississauga, and in Scarborough. Heck, in the York Region, some major shopping centres even have chain Asian owned pastry shops, something you'd traditionally find in Hong Kong but not previously in Toronto.
Have you ever been to queens nyc? How do you feel the Chinese offerings there compared to Toronto? How do you feel about the Chinatown there compared to Toronto in general?
Have you ever been to queens nyc? How do you feel the Chinese offerings there compared to Toronto? How do you feel about the Chinatown there compared to Toronto in general?
Yes I have been to Queens, many times actually. Queens has two major Chinatowns, a mammoth of one in Flushing at the end of the #7 Train and a smaller but still significant one in Elmhurst off the R Train. Brooklyn has several Chinatowns too on 8th Avenue in Sunset Park and around Avenue U in Bensonhurst. Then of course there's the original Chinatown in Manhattan around Canal Street, slowly fading but still significant. NYC is a bit different in that during the development of Chinatown, most of the Chinese that moved there including the Cantonese, the Fukienese (Hokkien), the Shandongnese, etc. came directly from Mainland China with a smaller contingency from Taiwan. While Toronto of course also absorbed many Mainland Chinese immigrants (and more so in recent years), there had for many years been a strong Hong Kong influence. Canada being a member of the British Commonwealth, it was easier for Hong Kong residents to emigrate to Canada and Australia than the United States during the years preceding 1997. The result was businesses, services, and schools catering to Hong Kong born Cantonese Chinese. During those years, one can notice most people speaking in standard Cantonese with a pure accent as opposed to NYC where the speaker back then more likely will speak in a heavy Toisanese accent (Toisan is a region in south-central Guangdong (Canton) Province where many early Chinese emigrants to North America came from. I liken Toisan to Galway or Cork, Ireland because so many people had left there. The Toisanese were instrumental in building our railroads, the Union Pacific, the Canadian Pacific, and so on.) Nowadays of course one is likely to hear Mandarin and Hokkien speakers just as much if not more so than standard Cantonese. Not many Chinese here in North America speak the Toisan dialect anymore, especially among the young folks. But if you were to compare Chinatowns, I'd say that Manhattan's original Chinatown is most similar to Dundas and Spadina - relies heavily on tourist business, Elmhurst in Queens is more like Chinatown East (Dundas and Broadview in the Riverdale section of Toronto) - smaller and quieter, and Edison, New Jersey quite similar to Mississauga and Markham. I do not think Toronto or anywhere else has anything that resembles present day Flushing, that place really looks like a piece of China physically brought over here to North America.
Speaking of New Jersey, just as it is a bad idea to overlook the Peel Region when visiting the GTA by car, do not ignore Northern NJ when visiting the Tri-State Metro Area. I venture there every so often and whoa! every time I stop there I swear the place is becoming more and more diverse. Some good authentic Asian Indian, Filipino, Korean, and Chinese food can be found in Northern NJ in places such as Edison, Iselin, Jersey City, Bergenfield and Fort Lee (which is fast becoming a new Koreatown!). Just as Mississauga and Markham are rivaling Toronto, Northern NJ is rivaling NYC itself.
Interesting breakdown, thank you for sharing that.
I often hear/read people comparing Toronto to Queens, but like you said the Chinatown there in flushing is massive! It really is impressive. The Chinese enclaves of Toronto in areas like Scraborough and Markham remind me a bit more of what I have seen on the west coast in California. Very suburban, lots of strip malls etc. I watched a video of the old malls in chinatown downtown Toronto. Sadly they looked pretty empty, some businesses had signs in the window saying "moved to Pacfic mall". I hope the older Chinatowns in Toronto manage to stay alive and vibrant.
Interesting breakdown, thank you for sharing that.
I often hear/read people comparing Toronto to Queens, but like you said the Chinatown there in flushing is massive! It really is impressive. The Chinese enclaves of Toronto in areas like Scraborough and Markham remind me a bit more of what I have seen on the west coast in California. Very suburban, lots of strip malls etc. I watched a video of the old malls in chinatown downtown Toronto. Sadly they looked pretty empty, some businesses had signs in the window saying "moved to Pacfic mall". I hope the older Chinatowns in Toronto manage to stay alive and vibrant.
I really hope so too. The old Chinatown at Dundas at Spadina is close to U of T so it will still survive in some form, probably relying on student and tourist patronage. Sadly many Chinese no longer live there but have moved on to the York and Peel Regions and seldom come back to visit. For many, it was no choice because Toronto has gotten so expensive to live in lately. Even more vulnerable is Chinatown East which I really fear will disappear one day in the not so distant future. At least old Chinatown gets media exposure and has proximity to museums and a major university, Chinatown East has neither. I cannot think of any major city in North America with a traditional Chinatown that is not under pressure unfortunately.
GTA has some of the best Cantonese Chinese food in North America for sure. I think Toronto even beats Vancouver in this regard. Even the local chain Congee Queen is very authentic and prices are reasonable. One does not have to go to Dundas and Spadina (Chinatown) anymore. Great Chinese food can be found all over the GTA nowadays, in the York Region and esp. Markham and Richmond Hill, in Mississauga, and in Scarborough. Heck, in the York Region, some major shopping centres even have chain Asian owned pastry shops, something you'd traditionally find in Hong Kong but not previously in Toronto.
Do you have any personal stand out favorites? I'll be coming from NYC and of Chinese heritage so I'm pretty familiar with what NYC and the Tri-State Area have. I think Canto in NYC is good though not great. I'd be especially curious as to anything you think is not available in good quality in NYC. Thanks in advance!
Do you have any personal stand out favorites? I'll be coming from NYC and of Chinese heritage so I'm pretty familiar with what NYC and the Tri-State Area have. I think Canto in NYC is good though not great. I'd be especially curious as to anything you think is not available in good quality in NYC. Thanks in advance!
The aforementioned Congee Queen is one of my standouts. Sure, it is a local chain but it is surprisingly authentic and prices are decent as well. I went to the one on Lawrence Avenue East, not far from the Toronto Botanical Gardens. They don't just serve excellent congee (jouk) but have a variety of other dishes such as roast pork rice and wonton noodle soup. Beyond that, Chi's Congee and Noodle House in Golden Square Centre, Missisauga, Emerald on Hurontario Avenue, Missisauga, and Mr. Congee on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill were a few others I had been to in recent years, all decent. Don't just take my word though, the GTA is so full great Cantonese Chinese restaurants that you ought to have some fun just to explore and find out rather than simply taking someone's word. And yes I know what you mean about the contrast with NYC. Toronto's Cantonese cuisine has a noticeable Hong Kong influence to it, something New York (or Boston and Philly for that matter) does not have. If you by chance have a large group, say 8 or more people, it is not a bad idea to order Alaskan king crab, geoduck, Peking duck, or some other delicacy fit for large groups if available. Sure it may cost you a small fortune but it is a special experience Torontonian Chinese would likely recommend anyways.
Besides restaurants, do check out the Chinese and Asian supermarkets, in particular the T&T supermarket chain (now a subsidiary of Loblaws), which are all very clean, orderly, and laden with fresh groceries and oriental products. T&T definitely gives our 99 Ranch, GW, Good Fortune, Hong Kong, and Kamman chains a run for their money. (Actually, there's another chain up in the GTA called OceanFresh which to me is a lot more like 99 Ranch, more of a pan-Asian supermarket. Oh yeah, H-Mart made it up there too.)
The aforementioned Congee Queen is one of my standouts. Sure, it is a local chain but it is surprisingly authentic and prices are decent as well. I went to the one on Lawrence Avenue East, not far from the Toronto Botanical Gardens. They don't just serve excellent congee (jouk) but have a variety of other dishes such as roast pork rice and wonton noodle soup. Beyond that, Chi's Congee and Noodle House in Golden Square Centre, Missisauga, Emerald on Hurontario Avenue, Missisauga, and Mr. Congee on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill were a few others I had been to in recent years, all decent. Don't just take my word though, the GTA is so full great Cantonese Chinese restaurants that you ought to have some fun just to explore and find out rather than simply taking someone's word. And yes I know what you mean about the contrast with NYC. Toronto's Cantonese cuisine has a noticeable Hong Kong influence to it, something New York (or Boston and Philly for that matter) does not have. If you by chance have a large group, say 8 or more people, it is not a bad idea to order Alaskan king crab, geoduck, Peking duck, or some other delicacy fit for large groups if available. Sure it may cost you a small fortune but it is a special experience Torontonian Chinese would likely recommend anyways.
Besides restaurants, do check out the Chinese and Asian supermarkets, in particular the T&T supermarket chain (now a subsidiary of Loblaws), which are all very clean, orderly, and laden with fresh groceries and oriental products. T&T definitely gives our 99 Ranch, GW, Good Fortune, Hong Kong, and Kamman chains a run for their money. (Actually, there's another chain up in the GTA called OceanFresh which to me is a lot more like 99 Ranch, more of a pan-Asian supermarket. Oh yeah, H-Mart made it up there too.)
Thank you! I couldn't rep you again as I'd already done that recently.
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