Kensington Market International Food Tour
Description
We are no longer food tour guides. We are Culinary Storytellers — the neighbourhood's insiders, walking these streets since 2017. We share the flavours of the families from around the world who now call Kensington Market home. Named the #1 Food & Drink Experience in Canada by TripAdvisor (Travellers' Choice Best of the Best, 2022). Country Winner, World Luxury Travel Awards. Featured in Condé Nast Traveller and National Geographic. Like fine wine, we have aged well. Same tour since 2017 — an evolved experience. Six stops, all family-owned, 8+ cuisines: a full meal's worth of generous tastings, hand-picked from friends we've known for nearly a decade. Small groups, no lines, stories you can't Google. Bienvenue. Welcome home.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Kensington Market is Toronto's most eclectic Heritage neighbourhood — a few square blocks where the whole world cooks. Once a rough-around-the-edges immigrant market, always honest, it has been our home away from home since 2017: the most diverse neighbourhood in the most diverse city in the world. We walk it the way locals do — counter by counter, friend by friend. Across six family-owned kitchens and 8+ cuisines, recent tastings have included fish and chips with kale salad, mama-recipe Jamaican patties, South American empanadas, Japanese pocket sushi, Himalayan dumplings with butter tea, and a sweet finish near Fika Cafe. The menu has changed over the years, but the spirit has not: these are the flavours our friends love, because they still remind them of the home they left behind. Small groups, always led by a veteran Culinary Storyteller. Come hungry — tastings are generous, a full meal's worth. Leave with stories you can't Google. Bienvenue. Welcome home.
On Kensington's eastern edge our walk brushes Toronto's Chinatown — by square footage the largest in North America, and one of four Chinatowns in Toronto. That a single city holds four tells you everything about how deep its diversity runs. We don't stop to eat here — six kitchens in Kensington will fill you — but we walk alongside more than 50 places to eat spanning 25+ nationalities of food: noodle houses, BBQ windows, dumpling counters, bakeries, bubble tea. Your Culinary Storyteller will point out where the locals actually line up, and guests regularly come back the next day with our shortlist in hand. Think of it as a preview of everything this city still has waiting for you. One walk barely scratches the surface of how Toronto eats — Kensington Market and Chinatown side by side are why we call this the most diverse neighbourhood in the most diverse city in the world: generations of new Canadians, cooking the flavours of home, next door to one another.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Infant meals not included
- Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Our friends cook their family recipes as they always have, so we can't accommodate gluten, dairy, or nut allergies, and we don't offer a vegan option. Vegetarian and pescatarian versions are available — just tell us when you book.
- We do not recommend this Experience for guests who have mobility issues.
Reviews(850)
Love the unique restaurant choices for us to try and cultural commentary went along with the food beautifully!
We had a food tour with Jessica, starting off at Fresco’s Fish & Chips and ending at Fika with an iced tea and ginger cookie. The tour was so fun - we learned so much about the market and its history, different types of cuisine, and various cultures. Jessica was our guide and she was fantastic - an absolute ray of sunshine who possesses so much knowledge of the area and Toronto in general. I’d highly recommend the tour and exploring Kensington Market - was a wonderful 2.5 hour experience.
Felicia, our guide, was so knowledgeable and friendly. The food we had was amazing and we left very full!
Hi Karena, Thank you so much for this lovely review, and for joining us on the Kensington Market International Food Tour! Felicia has been with Chopsticks+Forks since the very beginning — she's our founding storyteller — and it means the world to hear her warmth and knowledge came through so clearly. We're so glad you left full (that's always the goal!). Thank you for trusting us with your afternoon in our neighbourhood. Bienvenue. Welcome home.
Jessica was an amazing tour guide. I tried foods that I would've walked past if I had been on my own. Highly recommend this tour to try new foods and get some history on the Kensington Market.
Thank you so much for the kind words! We love that Jessica opened up flavours you might have otherwise walked right past — that's exactly the Kensington experience we hope to share. We'll pass this along to her. Hope to welcome you back to explore more soon. Bienvenue. Welcome home.
Great tour guide. Lots of food from different countries.
Thank you for this — that variety is Kensington in a nutshell, a whole world of food in a few blocks. Glad you got a taste of it. Bienvenue. Welcome home.
Jessica was an amazing guide. Great value and delicious food! Had the best time!!!
Thank you for this — Jessica has such a warmth for Kensington and its stories, so glad it came through. Bienvenue. Welcome home.
We had a fantastic experience on the Kensington Market International Food Tour, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to truly understand this unique Toronto neighborhood. Our guide, Jessica, was fantastic—warm, friendly, engaging, and incredibly knowledgeable. What I especially appreciated was that the tour wasn't simply a series of food tastings. At several stops, we didn't sample anything at all; instead, we learned about the businesses, the immigrant communities that shaped Kensington Market, and the neighborhood's fascinating history. Those stops added so much depth to the experience. The food itself was wonderfully diverse, reflecting the incredible range of cultures represented in Kensington Market. We sampled everything from fish and chips to Caribbean and Asian specialties, along with a Scandinavian treat. By the end of the tour, we had not only tasted a terrific variety of foods, but also gained a much deeper appreciation for the historic and cultural significance of the market. And yes, if you try everything, you will definitely leave with a very full belly! I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants to experience Kensington Market beyond the surface and really understand the people, cultures, and history that have made this neighborhood so special.
Priscilla, thank you for a review this thoughtful. Kensington is home to families who left everything behind to build something new here, and Jessica does that history justice better than almost anyone I know. Bienvenue. Welcome home.
My boyfriend and I did the Kensington Market food tour during our trip to Toronto and I cannot recommend it enough! Jusep was our guide and he was so incredibly kind and knowledgeable, and truly made it such an enjoyable experience. It was a perfect way to try a lot of foods from a variety of cultures, in an area with so many options that it otherwise might be intimidating to know where to start. It was so delicious and a lovely experience. Come with an empty stomach!
Thank you both so much for this! Kensington is genuinely my favourite corner of the city to share — it's got so much packed into a few blocks that "where do I even start" is exactly the right instinct, and exactly what the tour is there to solve. So glad it landed the way it did, and that you left properly full — that's the goal. Thanks for taking the time to write this up, and I hope you two make it back to Toronto (and Kensington) again soon.
If you're looking for one of the best ways to experience Toronto, this food tour is an absolute must. We joined the Kensington Market International Food Tour with Jusep, and it exceeded every expectation. From the moment the tour began, it was obvious how much Jusep genuinely loves Kensington Market. His enthusiasm is contagious, and his passion for the neighbourhood, its people, its history, and its incredible diversity shines through in every story he tells. His promise of taking you on a culinary journey through eight countries in under three hours isn't just a clever tagline—it truly feels like you're travelling the world without ever leaving Toronto. Each stop introduced us to authentic, delicious food while Jusep seamlessly connected the cuisine to the cultures, history, and communities that have made Kensington Market such a special place. This wasn't just a food tour—it was an entertaining, educational, and immersive experience. We laughed, learned, explored, and ate some incredible food. If you want to discover Toronto through its food and the stories behind it, this tour is worth every minute. Thank you, Jusep, for sharing your passion for Kensington Market and creating such a memorable afternoon. We'll definitely be back for another Chopsticks + Forks adventure!
Thank you for this — genuinely. Kensington isn't just where I work, it's my home away from home, and getting to share the stories of the families who've built their lives here is the best part of my week. So glad the eight-countries-in-three-hours promise held up and that you felt it, not just heard it. Can't wait to welcome you back for another adventure. Bienvenue, and welcome home.
This was such a lovely experience! Our guide, Jusep, was kind, enthusiastic and full of knowledge about the history of the area and the various cultures represented in the neighborhood. The tour included a wide variety of interesting foods from diverse parts of the world. I would highly recommend this tour to others!
Thank you so much for this. Kensington has been my home away from home for almost ten years now — I no longer just take people on a tour, I invite them into my neighbourhood, into the kitchens of the families who've become my family. So glad that came through for you. Bienvenue, and welcome home anytime you're back in Toronto.
