- 16 hours ago
Locals Welcome - Season 1 Episode 10 -
I'll Be the Judge of This Food Court
I'll Be the Judge of This Food Court
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00:00But these casual gathering spots are often more than meets the eye.
00:05Because as the city changes, so do they.
00:08Sometimes in surprising ways.
00:11Like becoming a performance space.
00:15Food courts are where we share culture.
00:20I'm Suresh Das.
00:22I've spent my career writing about the local favorites
00:24that made Canada's food scene truly unique.
00:27I believe every bite tells a story.
00:30Now, I want to share those stories with you.
00:40This is Asian Court.
00:42This is kind of where I grew up.
00:43This is one of the oldest Chinese neighborhoods in Toronto.
00:46We're talking immigration waves that go back probably 45 years at this point.
00:52Now, one of the most important food courts in Asian Court, in my opinion,
00:56is the Dynasty Center Food Court.
00:59For many of us, humble food courts like the one I'm headed to can be just a pit stop on our commute.
01:04But they are often worthy destinations in and of themselves.
01:08Today, I'm venturing beyond the standard fast food offerings to see how many food courts are the beating heart of Toronto's food scene
01:16and a reflection of the city's ever evolving communities and cultures.
01:19Dynasty Center, it's one of those if you know you know type of places.
01:23You don't stumble upon it.
01:25Home to maybe five food stalls and one of them is great fountain fast food.
01:29I'm heading there to meet Anna Peng.
01:31She's the daughter of the family that owns the restaurant.
01:33I've been here before, but the menu is so big, I've only tried a fraction of it.
01:48Hi, Anna.
01:49Hi.
01:50How are you?
01:51Good.
01:52Yourself?
01:53Good.
01:54I'm ready for lunch.
01:55Can you actually join me?
01:56Of course.
01:57Yeah, I'd love to.
01:58Can I start with some milk tea today?
01:59Milk tea?
02:00We have a nice bubble tea.
02:01I would love that.
02:02Yes, please.
02:03Pork belly.
02:04And pork belly on rice?
02:05Yes, please.
02:06Anything else?
02:07Garlic fried chicken on fried rice.
02:09Okay.
02:10Let's do that.
02:11Awesome.
02:12Here's your bubble tea.
02:14I'll see you in a minute.
02:16Yes.
02:17For decades, the Dynasty Center Food Court has been a gathering spot for the Scarborough Chinese
02:20community and a living institution for the food cultures brought here.
02:28Hey.
02:29This is amazing.
02:30I've been coming here for many years, but this is my first time actually having a meal with
02:33you, sitting down with you.
02:34Yeah.
02:35So, okay, what do we have here?
02:36The braised pork belly with preserved vegetables on steamed rice.
02:39One of my favorite dishes to have here.
02:40Yeah.
02:41Get some of the mustard greens.
02:42The mustard greens really cut, like, the fat from pork belly.
02:45Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:49Oh.
02:50Mmm.
02:51It has a luxuriousness to it.
02:52It's a comfort meal.
02:53It's a comfort meal.
02:54It's a comfort meal.
02:55And it's so, like, humble-looking.
02:56This must be, like, one of the top dishes here.
02:57Top, top.
02:58Mmm.
02:59There are so many food courts in Toronto, right?
03:01Oh, yeah.
03:02This particular place, Dynasty Center, is pretty unique.
03:05Well, for a lot of our customers, they kind of miss this chaotic energy that they have
03:10back in Asia.
03:11Right, right.
03:12Yeah.
03:13You can feel that in this room, actually.
03:14In Chinese, there's this word called, like, yi lao, which means it's just, like, really
03:17warm in the room.
03:18Like, it's caused by, like, a lot of people around, a lot of energy flowing.
03:22Right.
03:23That rhythm is important.
03:24It's part of the experience.
03:25Yeah.
03:26The classic Hong Kong diner food is the other big reason why customers keep coming back.
03:31In the 1950s and 60s, these diners became a staple in Hong Kong.
03:36They're known for their big and affordable menus that feature items like Anna's Mom's milk tea.
03:42And Western-inspired dishes using Cantonese techniques, like our dad's many wok cook specialties.
03:49I gotta try some of this garlic fried chicken, because I'm really curious about the sauce.
03:55Mmm.
03:56Wow.
03:57I've never had a sauce quite like that before.
04:02Like, I'm tasting, like, some sort of, like, herbalness to it, some sort of spice quality
04:07to it.
04:08Mm-hmm.
04:09It's the black pepper, definitely.
04:10And then the earthiness is kind of coming from the bay leaves that we use.
04:13Ah, that's what it is.
04:14That is outstanding.
04:15That might be a new favorite for me, actually.
04:17Did your parents always want to open a restaurant?
04:19What is their journey?
04:20Around 2008, they got into a fish and chips spot in Pickering, and they ran that for a
04:24year for around seven to eight years.
04:26But along the way, I think my mom kind of felt, like, detached from her Chinese identity.
04:30So that brought them to kind of finding a great fountain.
04:34We have to talk about the reality of the pandemic, but the pandemic really had a massive impact.
04:39100%.
04:40And this whole entire space was just blank.
04:41It was empty, right?
04:42That was very scary for both my parents.
04:45Then when you saw that your parents were going through this challenging time, what did you do?
04:49Tell me.
04:50As first-generation immigrants.
04:52After graduating, the expectation is for the kids to find a comfortable job.
04:57But you say, no, I want to be in the restaurant with you.
05:01No, I want to sort it out in the food court with you guys.
05:04Yeah, so they were just like, are you crazy?
05:06Yeah, yeah.
05:07The reason why I'm here is to give my thanks back to my parents for sacrificing, like, so much of their life to come here, raise me and my brother.
05:16I can't do that if I'm working an office job.
05:19Huh, wow, yeah.
05:20Right?
05:21So even I'm getting a little bit emotional about it right now.
05:25But...
05:26They went through a lot to get to this point.
05:29Sorry.
05:30Wow.
05:31To help her parents and the struggling business, Anna turned to social media.
05:36Hello, Great Fountain friends.
05:38We are back eating again in the car.
05:41She came up with a simple and playful way to draw in customers.
05:44This is definitely something you should try.
05:47Like...
05:48She began to eat her way through Great Fountain's 200 plus items.
05:51Number T44 on the menu.
05:53One at a time, all while sitting in the front seat of our car.
05:56So far, I haven't dropped anything on myself.
05:59As a food writer, trying to, like, tell the stories of places when everything else was shut down, I would eat in the car a lot too.
06:05Yeah.
06:06And I was really impressed.
06:07My customers were actually eating in the car, which gave me the idea of, like, I should eat in my car too.
06:12Oh my gosh.
06:13Okay.
06:15Goodbye.
06:16Anna's disarming personality and clever social media work quickly got a lot of attention.
06:21And before long, business picked up again.
06:23You've done a tremendous job to say, like, come and visit us in this very unique space.
06:28With, you know, food that really transports you to a certain time and place.
06:33Thank you, Anna.
06:37From a small community food court in the suburbs, my next stop is in the heart, or should I say the belly, of downtown Toronto.
06:50I'm talking about the path.
06:52The world's largest underground pedestrian walkway.
06:56Every day waves of commuters pass through this place.
07:01And as if grown in number, so have the food courts down here.
07:06But with over 30 kilometers of tunnels, the path is an easy place to get lost.
07:11So I thought it's best to come with a guy.
07:13So they actually changed a lot of the wayfinding in here.
07:15Right.
07:16Okay.
07:17Because it was too confusing.
07:18East is that way.
07:19Scotia Plaza.
07:20Yeah.
07:21Richmond Adelaide Centre is that way.
07:22West.
07:23Back in 2012, award-winning journalist Katie Dobbs spent two weeks living in the path.
07:28The Toronto Star chronicled her experience with the hidden culture below the city in a graphic novel-style weekly feature.
07:36You were inside for two weeks.
07:38Like, you didn't go out.
07:39Yeah.
07:40I was staying in a hotel connected to the path, so I wasn't sleeping down here.
07:43The path is built for, like, these moments that are, like, at the beginning of your day or the end of the day.
07:47And lunch dates.
07:49The food courts in every direction.
07:50Yeah, let's grab some lunch.
07:53Our first stop is one of the busiest food courts in the path, under Union Station.
07:5820 years ago, path food courts had mostly chains selling soups, sandwiches, and giant muffins.
08:05But today, it's an expensive prime location to open a food stall.
08:08And it attracts all kinds of interesting vendors, like Tut's Egyptian Street Food.
08:14I love the cauliflower.
08:15Yeah.
08:16And we have the falafel, too.
08:17Yeah.
08:19Owner Amr Emazariki opened Tut's in 2020.
08:22It was a big risk moving so far from the Egyptian community west of the city.
08:27How did you end up in the path?
08:28Like, did you always want to open a restaurant in the path?
08:30We did a pop-up with Union Station called Union Samrat.
08:33Yeah.
08:34And people loved our food.
08:35So as soon as something opened up, we jumped on the opportunity.
08:38I love it.
08:40Starting off strong here, Katie.
08:41Four sandwiches each.
08:42Oh, my gosh.
08:43All right.
08:44Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:45That was so good.
08:46Thank you so much.
08:47Enjoy.
08:48What are you doing first here?
08:49Cauliflower.
08:50The orange beet.
08:51Okay.
08:52All right.
08:53I'm going to go for the falafel.
08:58Mmm.
08:59Oh, yeah.
09:00It's so good.
09:01Mmm-hmm.
09:02They're doing Egyptian-style falafel made with fava beans and herbs.
09:05It's got a nice, pronounced sort of herbal quality to it.
09:08How's your cauliflower?
09:09It's so good.
09:10It's nice and crispy.
09:11Mmm.
09:12And the seasoning's great.
09:13To be able to see Egyptian street food in the subterranean maze called the path is a
09:18really big deal, I think.
09:19Yeah.
09:20Cheese pizza days are, like, far behind us, which is cool because the path is mostly for office
09:24workers, but it's also for anyone who's, like, coming to see a game or an event.
09:28And there's a lot of people who can hang out in the food ports, like, after everyone goes
09:32home.
09:33You see people, like, studying there.
09:34Sometimes you see people playing board games.
09:35People just hanging out.
09:36It became a third space for a lot of people.
09:38Yeah.
09:39I just love how, as the palette of the city has also grown and evolved, the path has really
09:43accommodated it.
09:44It's so great.
09:45Yeah.
09:46Cheers.
09:49Now it's my turn to lead Katie to another gem in the path.
09:53Porno Cultura.
09:58This wasn't here when I was in the path.
10:00I would have had a lot of cookies.
10:01Yeah.
10:02Back in my days working in tech, Porno Cultura was my go-to for a sweet and a caffeine boost.
10:09Andrea Mastrandria's father and grandfather were both bakers in Italy.
10:13He is carrying on the family tradition right here on the path.
10:16Hi, Andre.
10:17Good to see you.
10:18Good to see you.
10:19Andrea, how would you decide that you wanted to open it here?
10:21I mean, the path always, for me, was quite unique.
10:23You know, there's that culture where people always have their sweet and coffee first thing
10:27before you go to the office.
10:29And then again, that kind of repeats itself, imagine, in the afternoon.
10:32We've kind of just fit right into that.
10:34That's great.
10:35So why don't we just do a couple of different things?
10:37I will.
10:38I like citrus.
10:39Citrus, okay.
10:40This is, we call it our parola di limone, which is lemon.
10:42Lemon shortbread.
10:43Shortbread.
10:44It's grandma's cookie, everybody's favorite.
10:46There's a pistachio limone.
10:49That's a good start.
10:50I'm a huge fan of chocolate.
10:52Chocolate, it's a no-brainer.
10:54This was a very old school, traditional Pugliese.
10:57It's got dried spank grapes.
10:58I'm going to go here.
10:59Parola di ciocoletto?
11:00Yeah.
11:01Salt comes from black olives.
11:03We dried black olives.
11:04You have some really interesting flavor combinations with these cookies.
11:07I mean, they all kind of started from grandfather and my father and that kind of history.
11:12And I'm like, but our customer base and our team represent the globe.
11:17So we are constantly influenced by flavors from many cultures.
11:21We are a Toronto brand, 100%.
11:23I mean, we get these combinations that you wouldn't find definitely in Italy for sure.
11:28Yeah, yeah.
11:29So what are you going to try here?
11:31This is a lemon one.
11:32Okay.
11:33I'm going to start with that one.
11:34Okay.
11:35Oh my gosh.
11:36It's so buttery.
11:37Whoa.
11:38It's so good.
11:39That is wonderfully, just subtly tart.
11:42Oh, that lemon flavor is just so nice and delicate.
11:45So good.
11:46Just what you want in a shortbread.
11:47Yeah, yeah.
11:48Yeah.
11:49We're a very multicultural city, but most of that diversity is in the suburbs.
11:53And it feels to me like finally we're seeing that culture seep into the food courts of downtown Toronto.
11:59For sure.
12:00It's what people want too, right?
12:01The people don't want the same old food courts.
12:03Even since you wrote your piece.
12:05Yeah.
12:06It's changed a ton since then.
12:07I think, Katie, we should do it again.
12:09We should do a part two.
12:10Because I'd love to read how we can live in the past now over 10 years later with the food options we've seen today.
12:17Oh yeah.
12:18Food's never a problem here.
12:20It's clear that there's a demand for food courts that serve many different communities in the city.
12:30In my years as a food writer, I've learned that food courts can also be a place where chefs come to be inspired.
12:37Chefs like my good friend and award-winning restaurateur, David Schwartz.
12:42Hey, buddy.
12:43Get some lunch?
12:44Let's do it.
12:45Let's go.
12:46David has been celebrated for his commitment to traditional cooking at his restaurant, Sonny's Chinese, Mimi Chinese, and Linny's.
12:54His incredible food has earned him a place in the Michelin Guide in Toronto.
12:59When he's not at his restaurant, there's a good chance you can find him at a small food court tucked away beside OCAD University and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Village by the Grange.
13:11Feels like home away from home here.
13:14Has to be our second-dozenth time here.
13:17When this place opened in the 1970s, it was among the first food courts in Canada.
13:22And since then, it's been packed with food stalls as diverse as its clientele.
13:27As well as students, this place caters to people coming from nearby hospital row, galleries, and Chinatown.
13:34When I started coming here, I was a student.
13:37And the way I interacted with this space was very different than the way that I interact with this space now.
13:43It's impossible to choose just one place when we come here.
13:46So we're going to get a bit of everything, starting with Nainai, one of the only Indonesian restaurants in downtown Toronto.
13:53Hi, Alita.
13:55Oh, hi!
13:56How are you?
13:57How are you guys?
13:58Good, good.
13:59Now that I'm here, I'm good.
14:00So the last time we were here, we actually fell in love with this one dish that you served with the Stinky Bean.
14:04Oh, yes, yes, yes, Stinky Bean. Nasi Goreng with Stinky Bean.
14:08So Nasi Goreng is such a really unique dish.
14:11Seeds from the betai tree, also known as stinky beans, have an effect on the body similar to asparagus, hence the nickname.
14:20And Nasi Goreng is fried rice typical of Indonesia and Malaysia, usually seasoned with shallots, garlic, shrimp paste, and tamarind.
14:30Oh, here we go. Okay. Awesome. Oh, my God. Amazing.
14:35I really want Toronto to, like, knows, like, how good is Indonesian food.
14:41It's some of the best Indonesian food I've ever had.
14:43Thank you so much.
14:44Oh, you're welcome.
14:46The place I can never skip when I come here is Jaffna Street Food, my absolute favorite Tamil spot in the city.
14:54So my favorite thing here, which we're going to have, is the shrink kotu.
14:58Okay.
14:59It's basically shrink hoppers that are chopped up on the griddle and tossed in, like, spices, curry of your choice, maybe mutton or chicken.
15:07Exactly. The most popular is mutton, I would say.
15:09Let's do it.
15:12Oh, here we go. Here we go.
15:13Enjoy.
15:16After stops with Turkish donor and Korean bulgogi, in a matter of minutes, we've got a feast of four different cuisines, and it could have easily been more.
15:25More to begin here.
15:26I want to start with this sticky bean.
15:28Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:29Nasi goreng pate.
15:34Oh, yeah. Come on.
15:35That's really good.
15:36The texture of the rice is perfect.
15:38Yeah.
15:39The bean is a little bitter, but good when you eat it with everything.
15:42I feel like a lot of chefs in the city draw inspiration from food courts.
15:47Yes. I live for this.
15:49Food in these food courts is, like, maximum flavor.
15:52Yeah.
15:53And so you were raised in a Jewish household.
15:55Yeah.
15:56And now you run multiple Chinese restaurants.
15:59Yes.
16:00To me, Chinese food culture is the most diverse, historically deep food culture that exists.
16:05I just love it.
16:06And I grew up eating a lot of Chinese food.
16:09So I'm not coming in here and trying, you know, these dishes and then putting them on my menu.
16:14But oftentimes we'll eat these things and there'll be something small that, like, starts a conversation in your head that leads you somewhere else.
16:21Like, the rice here, like, the texture on it is so perfect.
16:24Or the perfectly crispy, edged, delicious meat off of spit.
16:28There's always something that kind of edges my menu somewhere else.
16:31I think we should demystify this idea of appropriation.
16:34In my opinion, anyone should be able to cook anything.
16:36As long as you acknowledge it and respect it and don't mess it up.
16:39The main focus for my team and I every day is celebrating it.
16:44Absolutely.
16:45For our next taste, the iconic string kothu.
16:48This takes me back to my mom's cooking in a way that few restaurant dishes can't.
16:53Oh, yeah, man.
16:54With the lime, like, it's really good.
16:57Crunchy onion, the mutton as well.
17:00Yeah.
17:01Right away, the pronounced flavor is the curry leaf.
17:03I love curry leaf.
17:04Slightly coarse.
17:05Kind of like it tickles in the back of your throat right now.
17:07Oh, man, that is like, that's childhood for me.
17:10Something that makes this space feel really unique and special to me is that it really feels like they're curating with intent for, like, the people who are actually using the space and eating here.
17:20Absolutely.
17:21Students, people who live in the area, who work in the area, who go to school.
17:25A place like this shouldn't exist in today's day and age where you have franchises in every food court, right?
17:30I mean, 50 years in now, this place is, like, really special.
17:33They'll come here with you anytime they stay.
17:36Well, thank you.
17:37All right, so what's next?
17:38Next.
17:39In the center of Toronto's Fashion District is the modern food court Waterworks Food Hall.
17:53It represents an upscale return to the era that created Village by the Grange.
17:58Vibrant, stylish, and perfect for date nights or events, Waterworks Food Hall is a truly contemporary spin on the humble food court with lots of great options.
18:09This looks incredible.
18:11I have to come back and try some.
18:17Tonight, I'm here to eat with Magnus Patterson, owner of the beloved Jamaican-Italian restaurant, Rasta Pasta.
18:24Hey, Magnus.
18:25How are you doing?
18:26How are you, my friend?
18:27Good, dude.
18:28Nice to see you.
18:29Good to see you.
18:30Yeah, man.
18:31This is amazing.
18:32For over a decade, Magnus could be found in Kensington Market, cooking jerk chicken over charcoal in front of its original location.
18:39And he's recently opened a second restaurant here to branch out to a different crowd.
18:45In my opinion, you are a Toronto legend.
18:49I feel like anyone that has spent any time walking through Kensington Market knows your little takeout spot, Rasta Pasta.
18:55Yeah.
18:56This September will be 13 years.
18:5713 years.
18:58Kensington is a bohemian.
18:59It has its own unique personality.
19:01Now you've got this.
19:02This is bougie Rasta Pasta.
19:04It is a very different vibe than Kensington Market.
19:06Oh, yeah.
19:07Yeah.
19:08Waterworks is an upscale food hall.
19:10It's a different clientele.
19:12It's a classy place.
19:13Business people come for lunch.
19:15Yeah.
19:16And on their way home, they stop for dinner.
19:17Yeah.
19:18I see a lot of dates right now.
19:19And the younger guys, they come with their dates.
19:21Yeah.
19:22Anybody is welcome.
19:25There are few better icebreakers for a date night than Magnus' unexpected mixing of classic
19:30Jamaican food with Italian favorites.
19:33Like his irie fettuccine.
19:39Ooh.
19:41And when you read about this dish on paper, if you've never been to Rasta Pasta, you're
19:45thinking in your head, fettuccine Alfredo with jerk chicken.
19:48I don't know.
19:49But when you try it.
19:50Why didn't it taste so good?
19:55This is incredible.
19:58Creamy sauce.
19:59The kick from the jerk chicken.
20:01Very nice.
20:02Mmm.
20:03Mmm.
20:04Wow.
20:05To me, this is not fusion in my opinion.
20:08This is like a marriage.
20:10It goes so well.
20:11Absolutely.
20:12Mm-hmm.
20:13This is Toronto on a plate.
20:15Yes.
20:16They used to cook jerk chicken with my grandma back in Jamaica.
20:19When we first came from Jamaica, we lived on Bond Road.
20:22Very close to Little Jamaica.
20:23That's Italian area also.
20:24Both are right there, right?
20:25So you adapt real fast.
20:26If you let cultures stay in one place long enough, they're going to intertwine.
20:33They're going to find ways to intersect.
20:36And it works so well.
20:38It's such a Toronto thing, Magnus.
20:39It's such a nice taste.
20:40I've got some customers who come and they buy this every single day.
20:43Well, that is like the biggest compliment.
20:46I think the beauty of Toronto is there's so many different kinds of food courts.
20:50Yeah.
20:51It's always about a sense of community and gathering, right?
20:55Yeah.
20:56And trying new food, right?
20:58Trying new foods.
20:59Absolutely.
21:00That's my story.
21:01Mm-hmm.
21:02Yeah.
21:03If it weren't for food courts, I wouldn't be doing what I do today.
21:07Since the first food courts were built in the 1970s, they've been a part of the fabric of Toronto.
21:12As the city has changed, so have they.
21:16They've been at the heart of our oldest communities and are growing to meet the needs of our newest.
21:22If you want to know how a city shares food and culture, these are the places to check out.
21:27Let's go.
21:28Let's go.
21:29Let's go.
21:30Let's go.
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