Where to Eat, Shop & Play in Toronto’s Chinatown

Growing up in the 1990s, I traversed Chinatown nearly every weekend with my Cantonese grandparents. We would run errands in and around Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West, stocking up on tangerines, lychees, bok choi and lap cheong (Chinese sausage).

Sunday mornings, my grandfather would take us out for dim sum, and my grandmother would buy me good-luck charm bracelets, bright kung fu slippers or steamed curry-beef baos.

Decades later, these are all things you can still do!

While Chinatown now offers shops from the Asian diaspora and beyond, its cultural DNA as a walkable, food-obsessed, Chinese-Canadian heritage district remains. Here’s how to cover 12 hours in Toronto’s downtown Chinatown.

Morning: Dim sum & self-guided Chinatown walking tour

Downtown Chinatown (also called Chinatown West, as there are five Chinatowns in the Greater Toronto Area) welcomes visitors with Millie Chen’s iconic Gateway art installation on the corner of Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West. Its four red dragons are located high above a streetcar stop as an allegorical entrance.

At the intersection of Spadina and Dundas streets, a great place to start your self-guided tour is the landmark Dragon City Mall, which is filled with food spots, souvenirs, and clothing shops.

From here, fuel up with dim sum: dumplings, rice rolls, congee and tea at Dim Sum King, an old-school “yum cha” (the Cantonese way of saying dim sum) trolley cart spot on the third floor, Rosewood Asian Cuisine or Rol San Restaurant, a student fave.

For coffee and a pastry, drop into Dark Horse Espresso Bar for serious brews or Little Pebbles for Japanese-French treats alongside locally roasted coffee and premium teas. Don’t miss DaanGo Cake Lab if you love inventive, cute cookies and pastries.

Walking up Spadina Avenue to College Street will give you the full, bustling Chinatown experience, where music booms from shops, greengrocers call out in Cantonese, and everyone from tiny grannies to the frazzled University of Toronto students is speed-walking to their next destination.

ALSO READ: 20 Spots to Get Your Dim Sum Fix in Toronto

Check out Tap Phong, a one-stop shop for affordable Chinese and Western cookware and classic souvenirs like paper lanterns and jade statues. Shops selling bamboo goods, tee shirts, umbrellas, sun hats and slippers abound, such as at B & J Trading, so if you forgot anything at home, now’s your chance.

For arty Canadiana souvenirs and hard-to-find art supplies, pop into Gwartzman’s, a family-owned indie art store that carries Indigenous-owned Beam watercolour paints, and Studiostone’s adorable turtle and orca soapstone carving kits, both proudly Canadian brands.

You can also explore the eastern edges of Chinatown on Dundas West. At Chinatown Mart, you can buy Chinese good-luck ephemera. Take a milk bubble tea break at Higher, or try a Korean-style boba tea at HanBingo.

Afternoon: Noods, art & Grange Park

Sit down for lunch at Fudao Noodle House, or head to Pho Hung for excellent Vietnamese bun noodles and pho. For Chinese-Canadian noodle classics like chow mein and lo mein, my family hits up Cantonese favourites Swatow Restaurant and Taste of China Seafood Restaurant.

If the sun is shining, you can grab takeout Vietnamese sandwiches from Banh Mi Nguyen Huong to eat at Grange Park.

Grange Park offers shade, play structures and a splash pad for your little ones. You can also stroll along the path and visit the climbable Henry Moore sculpture Large Two Forms for a photo opp.

Spend the afternoon at the AGO, an art museum with something for all ages. An expansive Group of Seven permanent collection, notable Indigenous and Canadian art collections, and the impressive Old Master Collection will all captivate art lovers.

I’ve visited the AGO specifically to see Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo by Rembrandt twice—the sitter’s eyes connect with us across the centuries, more lively than any photograph—at the current exhibition Painted Presence: Rembrandt and his Peers (on until February 1, 2026).

Starting June 28, 2025, stop in to see the late, famed Cape Dorset illustrator and artist Surusilutu Ashoona’s first ever solo exhibition. February of 2026 will bring Beatles’ Paul McCartney’s photography exhibition Photographs 1963-64 Eyes of The Storm.

Across the street, Bau-Xi Gallery is one of the city’s best Canadian and international contemporary art galleries.

Evening: Cocktails & cuisine in Chinatown

Come dinner, tuck into the chrysanthemum spinach or the Hong Kong French toast everyone raves about at Sunnys Chinese in Kensington Market, just a short walk from Spadina. Another Chinatown dinner hot spot is R&D by Chef Alvin Leung of MasterChef Canada fame.

A pleasant walk away on College street is top restaurant Dai Lo, featuring elevated Cantonese cuisine, and vibey Midnight Snack Bar known for its inventive teapot cocktails and Japanese-inspired “wafu pastas.”

Late night: Toronto nightlife in Chinatown

Take in Toronto’s live music scene at the legendary El Mocambo. Its unmissable neon palm signage dates from its origins as a dance club circa 1948. Acts like Blondie, U2 and the Rolling Stones have appeared on the “El Mo” stage.

This summer, Toronto’s African Pride party, Roots And Groove, is taking place here (June 27, 2025), and the band Shef Leppard (not a typo) plays this autumn (October 17).

But the night is still young, so head to Chinatown’s best bar, Big Trouble, for yuzu cocktails and a nice soju selection, plus yummy pan-Asian finger foods.

This strip of Spadina is famous for its ultra-late night eats. If you’re feeling peckish, a short stroll north or south will unearth your own hidden-gem eatery, feeding university students, shift workers and post-party crowds.

And if it’s a chill hang featuring bubble tea, coffee or mochi desserts you’re after, visit Lait Night, open until 3 a.m. (4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights).

Getting to Chinatown

Take the 505 Dundas streetcar to Spadina Avenue
Or take the Line 1: Yonge-University subway to Spadina station, then take the 510 Spadina streetcar southbound to Dundas Street West

—This story has been updated with new details since it was first published in March 2021.