Our final full day in Toronto had to start with a morning run. This was one of my last opportunities to see as much street art as I possible could.
More Street Art in Toronto
The first mural on my run was this one on the side of Blunt & Cherry. It is located at 64 Spadina Avenue.
Next up was another Banksy. This one is within One York Street. To see it you have to go into the building and up to the first level. It was saved by Menkes Developments when they tore down the previous building.
It shows a security guard with a pink balloon dog. Originally positioned at the back of the police headquarters. The underlying message of the artwork was that the police has been soft on criminals they were releasing from prison.
Then I made my way to 50 Pembroke Street. This is where the King of the North mural is located. Created during the 2019 NBA championship to celebrate the Raptors and basketball star Kawhi Leonard . The Raptors, who were the underdog team ended up taking the championship title.
Leonard was declared the “King of the North”.
After seeing this, I than ran to Church Street and stumbled upon the next mural at 418. This was a collaboration between Troy Brooks and Christiano de Araujo. Called Bathhouse Raids, this commemorates the gay bathhouse raids that occurred in Toronto in 1981. The raids marked a major turning point in the history of the LGBTQ community in Canada.
The subsequent couple I found as I was walking down John Street to go back to the AirBnB. The first one is on the side of the building of Mizzica.
These mischievous racoons are found further on down John Street,
This next one is called Sharkwater Pangea Seed 280 Adelaide St W (corner of John and Adelaide). This shark tank mural was a collaboration by lead artist Alex Lazich aka Bacon @vizsla_bacon and Christina Mazzulla @cmazulla.
The final mural that I saw on my morning run was this one. It’s another one by Bacon. It can found at 290 Adelaide St W. According to StreetARToronto it is of dancers and a musician of various cultures. A celebration of culture and art.
Mothers Dumplings
Later on we headed back on to Chinatown and on to Mothers Dumplings for some midday dim sum.
Mothers Dumplings is a no thrills Chinese Restaurant. The waiting staff are friendly and extremely polite. As the name suggests their specialty is their dumplings. Although their menu does have other stuff on it, this is what we chose to focus on.
We had three different types of dumpling with a mix of the steamed and pan fried.
First up were the Beef and Chives Steamed Dumplings
Next Pork and Pickled Cabbage Steamed Dumplings
Finally Pork and Bak Choi Pan Fried Dumplings
The dumplings very meaty and delicious. They were also very filling. What we ordered some might say was too much for two people at lunch time.
I hadn’t tried Chinese tea before. I thought it was going to be the same as Green Tea but it’s very refreshing.
Chinatown to Adelaide Street West Street Art
Fully satisfied from our dim sum lunch, we went back to the AirBnB to pick up the car. On the way back we saw more street art.
The following ones are Chinese Zodiac Street Murals near Glen Baillie Place. The goat, the rabbit and the tiger.
On Grange Avenue, we saw this Art is Essential mural created by Artists – Soller, Flips & Kreecha.
Indian Elephant found on Cameron Street.
Also found on Cameron Street, This is Paradise. Created by an artist who was grateful for being able to stay in a flat on this street.
This super cool Darth Vader can be found on Graffiti Alley.
These ones we saw after walking down Graffiti Alley near Rush Lane.
Kew Beach
After the street art, we headed out east of Toronto City Centre to Kew Beach. This area has lots of trendy bars and restaurants. It’s definitely an area that I would like to explore when I next visit Toronto.
We spent our time here having a relaxing walk along the beach. It was fairly busy as it was really sunny and also a public holiday. The beach is well maintained and very clean. It was fully of people but still very chilled.
On the way back stopped at Tommy Thompson Park. We had thought that it was only open from 4.30 pm as it was a weekday when we visited. However, because it was a public holiday it appeared to have been open all day. Had we known we would have come earlier. We were very tired at this point so decided that this would also be added to the list for when we next visit Toronto.
At this point, we were definitely starting to realise we really hadn’t allowed ourselves enough time in Toronto!
Chefs Hall
In the evening, we headed out to Chefs Hall. located in Toronto’s Financial District at 111 Richmond Street West
It’s website states “global cuisines from unique vendors, paired with a diverse range of craft beers and spirits from the Chefs Hall Bar”
When we arrived the place was deserted. There were just a handful of other people there. With it being in the Financial District, this might have been down to the public holiday.
First up after a quick look around, we ordered ourselves some Margaritas from the Chefs Hall Bar. They were good!
Once those had been concluded, it was on to some food.
We started with Colibri who specialise in hand-pressed tortillas. We had the Baja Fish, Cod battered and deep fried, pickled veg, and Macha crema. This is on the right of the image below. To accompany this we also had the Beef Alambre, which is Steak, poblano peppers, red peppers.
We enjoyed both of the tacos, they were fairly flavoursome for fast food.
We then ordered some chicken Grateful Chicken to take back to the AirBnB. Our google review can be found here.
Next up our return home…