Kensington Market

When I was younger and much cooler than I am now,  Kensington was THE place to hang out. It was shitty, run down and littered with  punks that still hang out near the TD kiosk and Global Cheese on Kensington Avenue. We used to troll all the vintage shops on that strip, starting at Courage My Love and ending at Malini, looking for vintage frocks and stockings with seams.


I still love the Market, although I dont spend nearly as much time there as I once did. And I find these days it is more about the food than the clothes. Of course that said, my friend and I did manage to find ourselves doing a little shopping this week...
Over the years the clothes in Kensington have become more cheap and unique as opposed to full on vintage. Not that vintage is gone, it is there, but even Courage isnt quite as 100% vintage as it was in my youth

I love it, the Market has evolved with me, style wise. I am still a bit of a Boho but not quite the cocktail dress girl I once was, so it all works for me!

So after some time pursuing the aisles of various wee shops, it was time to eat. We wandered around open minded but for the requirement of a patio...And we stumbled upon this little gem at 303 Augusta Avenue, just about across from Supermarket.

First up, Sangria...It was delicious, a little sweet but cold and so MMmmm after a long hot day of Toronto humidity. I will say I found it a tad disappointing that the only fruit garnish in the pitcher was apples. I mean, we are sitting in the middle of the market, make it sexy! But it was delish and I enjoyed every sip. I havent had sangria in ages, and I think it may be a new competitor for my beloved Mango mimosa.


We decided to go with a couple of items from the "Tapas" menu. You gotta love Toronto for having such restaurants that blend Spanish and Indian. And I love that it is not a pathetic attempt of jumbling two competing flavour palates, here I must reference the dreadful "Chino-Loco", a special kind of restaurant hell where they try to make burritos with asian stuff stuffed in , too. blech. This is simply Indian food, in the tapas style. Beautiful.

We settled on the Waterfalls Vegetable combo platter and grilled Masala prawns. And a great choice it was.

The combo platter was made up of a generous portion of onion bajia, 2 healthy sized samosa and veg pakoras. It was served with some kind of sauce I couldn't quite decipher, some kind of tamarind cilantro goodness in a ramekin. The platter was perfect to share, all the items were fried, but not greasy , and bursting with flavour.

The prawns, omg the prawns...The coriander-mint sauce that accompanied the prawns still shows up in my dreams, so good.... We had 2 skewers, with 3 prawns each, beautiful and aromatic, heady with masala and cooked perfectly! Not tough and over cooked, but perfect. They were presented on a bed of mesclun greens with grilled zucchini and red peppers with a side of tamarind sauce.

We topped off the meal with a basket of garlic naan, that had most recently been quite intimate with alot of butter...it was warm and decadent and highly recommended.

It was a great meal, with  great friend, all evenings should be so good! 

Waterfalls Indian Tapas patio
Kensington Market

When you are in the market don't miss......

* Courage My Love (jewellery & other vintage stuff)

* Global Cheese AND Cheese Magic

* House Of Spice

* Essence Of Life (health food crap)

* Pure Intent (naturopathy, acupuncture)

* Kensington Mall ( lots of great deals on clothes)

* Casa Acoreana ( best place to get any spice you have ever wanted)