The complete guide to Gerrard India Bazaar Toronto — what to eat, best restaurants, mithai shops, chaat, South Asian grocery, and how to navigate Canada's largest South Asian food strip.
Gerrard India Bazaar is a 6-block stretch of Gerrard Street East in Toronto's East End — Canada's largest South Asian commercial district. It runs roughly from Coxwell Ave to Ashdale Ave and is lined with Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi restaurants, mithai shops, grocery stores, textile shops, jewelry, and cultural goods. It has operated since the early 1970s as Toronto's South Asian cultural and commercial hub.
Gerrard India Bazaar is a neighbourhood rather than a single market, so individual businesses set their own hours. Most restaurants open by 11am and stay open until 10pm or later. Grocery and sweet shops typically open 9am–9pm daily. The strip is busiest on weekends, especially Sunday afternoons.
The Bazaar is on Gerrard Street East between Coxwell Ave and Ashdale Ave. Take the 506 Carlton streetcar east from downtown to Jones Ave (the centre of the strip). From the Bloor–Danforth subway, take Coxwell Ave south from Coxwell Station — it's a 10-minute walk. There is street parking along Gerrard St E, generally available on weekdays.
Extremely — South Asian cuisine includes some of the world's greatest vegetarian cooking traditions. Udupi Palace specialises entirely in South Indian vegetarian food. Lahore Tikka House, Dhaba Ji, and most restaurants have extensive vegetarian menus. The mithai sweets are predominantly vegetarian. And the grocery stores stock every South Asian vegetarian ingredient imaginable.
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