Pride of the Garden District (6.6 km)

Attendance policy is enforced for this hike. See below for details.

Just off to the side of downtown Yonge Street, the Garden District and Church-Wellesley Village has soaring churches, restored mansions, crumbling mansions, a hotel-turned-strip-club-turned-condo, homeless shelters, and modernist skyscrapers. It's a fascinating mix. The centrepiece is Allan Gardens, which we'll be skirting around in this hike.

Church-Wellesley is the centre of Pride celebrations. We're visiting before it becomes too crazy at the end of the month. Historically, this area isn't known for food, but that's changing as good restaurants spill over from Yonge Street. Case in point: we'll end at a Thai restaurant that does an elevated seafood kai toon (savoury custard) and hoy jor (crab rolls) garnished with gold leaf.

Highlights

1. Yonge-Dundas Square subway entrance (depart 6:30pm)
2. Mackenzie House
3. St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica / Metropolitan United Church
4. Super Parsian / Panemor / Pink Elephant Creamery
5. Filmores Hotel
6. All Saints Church-Community Centre
7. Hugh Garner Housing Co-op
8. Sweet Addictions (depart 7:25pm)
9. Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
10. The Keg Steakhouse (haunted) Mansion
11. Many historic mansions
12. Rogers Inc HQ
13. Nani's Gelato
14. The ArQuives
15. The Blake House / Canada's National Ballet School
16. Snowday Bingsu / Kintaro Izakaya
17. Thong Lor Thai Grilled Bar (arrive 8:20pm)

Neighbourhoods
Garden District > Cabbagetown > Upper Jarvis > Church-Wellesley Village

Map
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1jw4j0tN2UcymOVYKMzbj6YW3OOxcO5U&usp=sharing

We'll be going faster than usual. Minimum speed is 5 km/h.

How it works
Hike starts punctually. Late or can't do the whole route? Meet us at scheduled checkpoints.

We'll browse many food places but won't linger long. See the route in advance, organize takeout, then pickup along the way.

Not sure what to try? Join our omakase for $5, which gives a tiny sample from different restaurants. Payment on the day of event by cash or e-transfer to globaltorontoeats@gmail.com. No refunds after orders are placed. Details of sampled food will be uploaded after the hike.

Limited cutlery provided. Highly recommended to bring cutlery and containers for omakase and bringing back leftovers.

See our About section for more info.

Attendance policy
Please check in with an organizer when you attend. 24 hours before the hike, we'll check who is on the confirmed list. Those that don't show up will be flagged. Repeat offenders may be banned.

If you made it off the waitlist less than 24 hours before the event, you won't be considered a no-show.

Please change your RSVP if you're not able to attend. Changing RSVP at the last minute does not give others enough time to react.