Toronto Food Tour: St. Lawrence Market & The Distillery

Peameal bacon, pizza, and the people who made them Toronto originals

A guided food tasting tour through Toronto's St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery District, led by a Culinary Storyteller who has walked these blocks for years and knows the vendors and kitchen families behind each stop. You'll taste up to 13 dishes across six stops (peameal bacon, fresh seafood, wood-oven pizza, butter tarts, poutine and more) over two and a half unhurried hours, eating a full meal while learning how each dish became a Canadian fixture. Small groups stay under 14, and vegetarian and pescatarian versions are available when you book.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Distillery District and Market

• Begin walk at Sweetie Pie Bakery
• Taste savoury bites and cocktail
• Hear Distillery District history
• Photograph cobblestone lanes
• Visit St. Lawrence Market stalls
• Taste peameal bacon sandwich and seafood
• Enjoy a sweet treat at market
• End tour in the market

The experience

You start at the Distillery District, a pedestrian-only village of cobblestone lanes and Victorian industrial buildings that once housed a whisky distillery. Sweetie Pie Bakery sits on Tank House Lane, and this is where your guide begins, not with a script, but with the story of how whisky built this corner of the city, why it fell silent, and how food brought it back to life. Over an hour, you'll taste savoury bites, a signature alcohol-free cocktail, and a sweet treat, moving between tastings while the buildings around you hold their own history. The lanes photograph beautifully, and cameras are welcome.

From there, you walk to St. Lawrence Market: two centuries old, 120 vendors under one roof, and ranked first by National Geographic ahead of London's Borough Market. This isn't a tourist attraction that sells food. It's a working market that became an attraction by being excellent for two hundred years. Your guide moves stall to stall the way regulars shop, introducing you to the families behind the counters. Recent tastings have included the market's signature peameal bacon sandwich, fresh seafood (smoked salmon, gravlax, lumpfish caviar, oyster), and a second sweet treat to finish. The tour ends here on purpose, in the middle of the market, and guests regularly stay to shop using a shortlist of what to carry home.

The tastings add up to a full meal: wood-oven Hawaiian pizza from Old Flame Brewery (the Canadian original, Ontario 1962); poutine crowned with Montreal smoked meat and a classic Canadian drink; a Scotch butter tart from Tartistry (the Canadian dessert debate settled by hand); a Nanaimo bar finale from Eve's Temptations (B.C.'s no-bake legend); and the seafood run. Your guide, William or Jusep, has been leading tours in these blocks since 2017 and 2019 respectively. They rebuilt this tour from the ground up and know every kitchen on the route by name. Children from age 3 are welcome, and strollers work on the market floors and the Distillery's cobblestone lanes.

What’s included

• Up to 13 tastings across six stops: peameal bacon sandwich, smoked salmon, gravlax, lumpfish caviar, oyster, wood-oven Hawaiian pizza, poutine with Montreal smoked meat, a classic Canadian drink, Scotch butter tart, and a Nanaimo bar.
• a live guide in English who knows the vendors and kitchen families by name.
• small groups capped at 14.

Before you book

Days and timesWednesday to SundayDeparts at 11:00

Book up to12h before

AgesAdult (13 to 64 years) · Senior (65 and older) · Youth (8 to 12 years) · Child (3 to 7 years) · Under 3: can't be booked

GroupUp to 16

Live guideEnglish

Meeting point and pickupNo hotel pickup: you go to the meeting point. Ends at a different place from where it starts.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.

Prices and times updated today

Good to know

Moderate physical effortStroller-friendlyPublic transport nearby

Operated by Chopsticks and Forks

Is this one for you?Two and a half hours leaves room for a full afternoon elsewhere in Toronto, or a leisurely lunch afterward. The tour is a meal, not a snack, so plan the rest of your day around it. If you have a free morning or early afternoon and want to eat your way through the city's two most storied food neighborhoods without building the itinerary yourself, this is the shape that works.

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Top questions

Can children come?

Yes. Ticket types: Youth (8 to 12 years); Child (3 to 7 years). Children under 3 can't be included in the booking.

What makes the peameal bacon sandwich a Toronto original?

Peameal bacon is St. Lawrence Market's signature dish, and your guide tells the story of how it became a Toronto fixture. You taste it as part of the market hour, introduced to the vendors who've been selling it for generations.

Is the wood-oven pizza really a Canadian invention?

The wood-oven Hawaiian pizza you'll taste at Old Flame Brewery in the Distillery District is Ontario 1962: one of the stories your Culinary Storyteller unpacks over the course of the afternoon, along with why a Distillery pizza claims to be Canada's own.

How much food do you actually eat on this tour?

Up to 13 tastings across six stops add up to a full meal: the peameal bacon sandwich, fresh seafood, wood-oven pizza, butter tart, poutine with Montreal smoked meat, and a Nanaimo bar to finish, plus a signature alcohol-free cocktail at the start.

Can I bring my three-year-old?

Children are welcome from age 3, and infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller on both the Distillery's cobblestone lanes and the market floors.

What if I'm vegetarian or pescatarian?

Vegetarian and pescatarian versions of the tour are available. Just tell the operator when you book. The tour cannot accommodate gluten, dairy, or nut allergies, and there is no vegan option, since the kitchens cook their family recipes as they always have.

How long does the tour take?

The tour runs two and a half hours: an hour at the Distillery District starting at Sweetie Pie Bakery, then an hour at St. Lawrence Market, with time to move between stops and linger over each tasting.