Swatow Restaurant

Cantonese late-night canteen, a Spadina fixture for decades

Address 309 Spadina Avenue, Chinatown

A big, no-frills Cantonese restaurant that has anchored the southern end of Spadina for decades and stays open late, making it a long-standing refuge for night-shift workers, students and post-bar crowds. The menu is enormous — congee, noodle soups, seafood, hotpot and stir-fries — and the kitchen is fast.

Don't come for atmosphere or décor; come for cheap, generous, dependable Cantonese cooking at almost any hour. The wonton and beef-brisket noodle soups are the classic orders. A genuine slice of old Chinatown that has outlasted most of its contemporaries.

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