Toronto's main Chinatown is one of the largest in North America, strung along Spadina Avenue from Dundas Street West up toward College and spilling east along Dundas. It grew from the 1960s as the old Chinatown around City Hall was cleared, and it has since broadened from Cantonese roots into a pan-Asian district — Vietnamese pho counters, Hong Kong bakeries, Sichuan hotpot, Thai groceries and bubble-tea chains crowd the same blocks.
Spadina is the spine: a wide, clattering avenue where streetcars push through crowds, produce stalls block the sidewalks, and roast ducks hang in restaurant windows. The cross streets, especially Dundas, hold the denser run of restaurants and the indoor malls that double as food courts. It is busiest and best on weekends, when the whole neighbourhood comes out to shop and eat.
This is a place to graze rather than sightsee. Come hungry, follow the queues, and don't expect anything polished — the appeal is the noise, the cheapness, and the sheer density of choice. The Art Gallery of Ontario sits just to the east, making it an easy pairing with a morning of culture.