On The Town: Artscape Wychwood TTC Barns Farmers’ Market+ Fish Shak

601 Christie Street
Toronto, ON, M6G 4C7

(Photo borrowed from Localism)

On Saturday I decided to venture over to Wychwood Barns to check out their farmers’ market.  Wychwood Barns is a very cool re-purposing of land in Toronto.  The barn was originally a repair shop for streetcars for the TTC but sat abandoned for years.  I feel like the Wychwood Barns project has been talked about for YEARS but only recently came to fruition.

The result is a 60,000 sq. ft. community/arts centre that is home to artists and their families, home to non-profit and environmental organizations, used as an event space, artist workshops etc.  There is also the BEST kiddie playground (it made me wish I had borrowed a kid for the day so that I could play too!).  Best of all on Saturdays they setup a great farmers’ market.

Now you have to understand, I grew to love farmers’ markets while living in New York. The Union Square market was always within walking distance while I was in school (and a comfortable subway ride away once I graduated) and (unfairly) became my gold standard for farmers markets.  When I was in Paris I discovered that they too had some pretty awesome markets and I ended up buying most of my produce from them. Sure we have markets here in Toronto but they just don’t compare. EXCEPT FOR WYCHWOOD!

My love of the farmers market has been reignited!  There are approximately 35-40 vendors every week selling a variety of produce.  I saw everything from honey to meat to peaches to corn to baked goods and beyond  The prices are comparable to other markets and are generally in-line (or  hair more expensive) with supermarket prices    The produce definitely seemed farm fresh.

I was there at about 11AM and the place was hop hoppining.  There’s definitely a great community feel.  Vendors greeted regular customers by name, families were out for a stroll… it was lovely.  I even scored a free piece of grilled corn from one of the vendors. DELICIOUS.

What really won my heart over was my fish sandwich from Fish Shak.  Now the fish sandwich from Fish Shak is LEGENDARY.  And by legendary I mean I’ve had about 3 people in totally different circles recommend this sandwich to me in the past year.  The cook/owner is from Barbados and seems totally awesome.  I say this because my fish sandwich was totally awesome.

Here’s the lowdown on the sandwich: a RICE baguette (gluten-free? most likely) is topped with fried sweet plantain, a homemade sauce, marinated onions and peppers, fillets of fried fish (west indian style) and avocado.  Of course there’s the option for pepper.

It’s like an escovitched fish on a bun without all the drama of bones and stuff.  It was truly amazing.  I loved how the sweetness of the plantains and butteryness of the avocado mellowed out the pepper and vinegar of the onions and peppers.  The fish itself was perfectly cooked and very flavourful.  The rice baguette was also yummy… I wouldn’t have guessed it was not made with wheat.  The Fish Shak also makes a mean looking veggie roti (fish is also available) using veggies from the other vendors in the market (they try to keep things as local as they are able to).  They also have homemade ginger beer and sorrel.  They were out of ginger beer so I had a sorrel and it was fantastic.  I’m telling you, Fish Shak is pure love. My sandwich was $7 and my sorrel was $3.  Best $10 I’ve spent in a long time.

Side note: they used to have a restaurant on Dundas but it has since closed down.  Fish Shak has a booth at the Dufferin Grove market on Thursday as well.

I’ve pretty much been dreaming about this fish sandwich since I had it and am now concerned that Wychwood Barns will be a regular stop on my Saturday afternoon activities.  It’s a year-round market which is also pretty awesome.

To find out more about the Artscape Wychwood TTC Barns project Click Here.