A market has been held in the heart of Toronto's Old Town for around 200 years. Today the historic St Lawrence Market Complex (stlawrencemarket.com) continues to buzz, with 120 vendors and food counters offering everything from Ontario-made cheeses to Italian olive oils to South American–style arepas. It's always a lively scene, though weekdays can be less packed (note that it's closed on Monday).
The main event is St Lawrence Market South. Housed in a beautiful redbrick structure from 1902, it is built around the remains of Toronto's first City Hall (which stood here from 1845-99) and holds two floors of food stalls, delis and counters. Try Toronto's classic peameal-bacon sandwich in its Carousel Bakery birthplace, grab a Montréal-style bagel at St Urbain Bagel (sturbainbagelbakery.godaddysites.com), try dreamy pastries at Blackbird Baking Co (blackbirdbakingco.com) or sample European-rooted butter tarts and coconut-based Nanaimo bars. At the building's north end, it is possible to make out the shape of the former City Hall's council chamber, now home to the small Market Gallery museum (toronto.ca), open Wednesday to Sunday.
Across Front St, St Lawrence Market North relaunched in 2025 following a decade-long, multimillion-dollar revamp led by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Adamson Associates Architects (Rogers also designed Paris' Pompidou Centre). At the time of writing, the building was hosting the wonderful St Lawrence Farmers Market, which pulls in food lovers every Saturday from 5am. Head over as early as possible to bag the finest ingredients (and beat the crowds). Also worth catching is the vintage-focused all-day Sunday Variety Market (sundayvariety.com).