Gourmet Shopping in Toronto

Toronto rivals any big city when it comes to the availability of fine and gourmet foods. Its multicultural population (about half the city's residents were foreign-born) ensures not only a thriving restaurant scene but also an astounding variety of specialty food shops. The diversity is a boon for local foodies – you can probably find a restaurant, café or street vendor serving just about any global cuisine you'd like to try, but if not, finding all the ingredients to make it yourself is a snap. Happily, high quality regional goods (farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, artisan cheeses, hormone- and pesticide-free meats, wild game, locally foraged mushrooms, and the like) are also abundant. Here are some of the best places to start your search for the best domestic and imported foods Toronto has to offer.

Alex Farm Products is known first and foremost for their selection of cheeses, which includes imported varieties as well as artisanal cheeses from regional makers. Samples are offered freely, and the shop has a fine selection of crackers, oils, pâtés and wines. Expert, friendly staff can help you with planning a cheese tasting party, wine pairings, and even cooking tips.

Another great place for cheese is All the Best Fine Foods, where you'll find a top-notch selection from around the world. But this store goes well beyond, stocking all manner of gourmet goodies: olive oils, condiments, spices, pickled vegetables of every variety, plus cookbooks and gift baskets. Their bakery produces fabulous breads, pastries and desserts, and the kitchen prepares a great assortment of heat-and-serve type dishes that are perfect for those crazy nights when the prospect of cooking a full meal is too daunting.

Undoubtedly the king of the (cheese) hill in Toronto is Cheese Boutique, a family-owned shop that opened in the 1970s and has expanded and improved consistently ever since. They have their own cheese aging cave, and free samples are de rigueur. Dairy goodness galore! The main focus is and always has been cheese, but you'll find shelves lined with lots of other goodies, too, from imported Turkish figs to Hungarian paprika, plus deli meats, chocolates and coffee. 

The favorite for papayas, coconuts, mangos, lychees, persimmons, and tamarinds is K&K Tropical Fruits. Along with the more common tropical fruits, they carry hard-to-find and unusual varieties like the stinky but coveted durian, rambutans, milk apples, and sweet sops, along with the usual apples, oranges and bananas.

At Max's Market, foodies swoon over a smorgasbord of salads, soups, stews, pastas, Indian dishes, rosti, stir-fries, roasted chicken and other meats, all temptingly packaged to take home and devour. And that's just one side of the store. On the other side, find boxes, jars, bags and cans of everything from Hudson Valley foie gras to osetra caviar to miso paste to banana leaves. 

For a Toronto experience akin to shopping at Harrod's in London or Fauchon in Paris, make a beeline for Pusateri's Fine Foods. It's a massive store packed with domestic and imported foods, packaged and prepared foods, fresh dairy, produce, seafood and meat, exotic spices and condiments, and even house-baked breads and pastries. This is the go-to for every Toronto foodie.

When the time comes for a sweet reward, Soma Chocolates is the ultimate. In fact, many local chefs consider it the finest in town and feature it on their menus. Soma's Distillery District shop is the ideal destination for a mid-afternoon splurge: traditional but oh-so-decadent candies, unusual contemporary creations, rich gelato, chewy cookies or warming hot chocolate.

Sometimes you can substitute one herb for another without marring the finished dish. But for those times when you absolutely have to have asafetida, epazote, amchur, filé powder, or galangal, the Spice Trader is the place to go. Along with more than 100 individual herbs and spices, peppers and salts, they also carry custom blends such as the increasingly popular Middle Eastern Ras el Hanout and Za'atar. Plus, just about everything in the shop is organic.

Middle Eastern cuisine is quite popular in Toronto, with falafel shops and kebab counters all over the place and a burgeoning Arab Quarter near Scarborough. At Ararat International Fine Foods and Nasr Foods, you can find all your favorites already prepared – the smoothest hummus, the tangiest tabouli, the softest pita – but that's not all. These markets are both perfect for stocking up on all the ingredients you need to make your own, like tahini, all sorts of spices and seeds, chickpea flour, a dizzying array of pickled vegetables, preserved lemons, olives, feta and halloumi, and dried fruits.

These shops are all fun, whether you're just browsing or doing some serious shopping. You need not be a cook to appreciate all the tantalizing smells and alluring displays – the only requirement is a love of food. And who knows – you may bump into a kindred spirit or two while ogling the olives, sniffing the spices, checking out the cheeses, or drooling over the desserts.