By Saima Desai
Some of the best food in the GTA is found in squat, sun-faded strip malls an hour from downtown Toronto.
Driving by, signs announce a jenga tower of unrelated services: you can get your computer fixed, have your clothes dry-cleaned, buy herbal supplements, and eat the fluffiest injera or most finger-licking shawarma.
In car-dependent suburbs where walking can be tough, strip mall parking lots have become the community’s main streets. For some, it’s a daily visit to the plaza for groceries or lunch; others make pilgrimages to the suburbs to eat food from back home they can’t find anywhere else.
I asked some of the GTA’s finest strip mall experts to share their favourite plazas. I heard from Scarborough food influencer @bigbellymel, PlazaPOPS program director Naziha Nasrin, and (of course) my Gujarati aunties.
By Naziha Nasrin
RIDGEWAY PLAZA (403 & 407)
Nestled along the edge of Missis sauga near Eglinton Avenue West and Winston Churchill Boulevard is North America’s largest fully halal plaza, with over 100 restaurants.
Food is the focus, but with a health clinic, a mosque across the street, and a big halal grocery store, Ridgeway has become a one-stop shop for the Muslim community. During
Ramadan especially, when Muslims
break their fast, the plaza is bumping: uncles and aunties relaxing, young men revving their car engines, “the youths” lining up for Yemeni
coffee.
As an urban planner, it truly amazes me how a strip mall can cre ate such a sense of belonging.
For me, a perfect Ridgeway night means
visiting 3 Food Street for their matka kashmiri chai — spiced, steaming, and served in a clay pot — and hanging out in the masjid (mosque) parking lot with my friends to catch an
amazing sunset
