A new food hall has opened downtown

Here's what to eat and drink at The Well's Wellington Market

- ANDY TAKAGI, MARK COLLEY

The new Wellington Market in The Well on Spadina Avenue is made of 35 storefronts and includes restaurants, to-go counters and food-related retail.

After officially opening earlier this month, The Well’s Wellington Market, its new food hall, was bustling with hungry office-workers shortly before the lunch rush on a recent Tuesday.

It looks like a classic mall food court, but the selection is much more than your classic New York Fries or A&W.

Each stall is different from the next — sushi, fish and chips, tacos, burgers, Korean rice bowls; there’s no theme besides the fact that many of these are independent shops with deep Toronto roots.

The bright red font of Gus Tacos locations dots storefronts across the city from Scarborough to Etobicoke. La Cubana has been a longtime staple of the Roncesvalles neighbourhood, specializing in pork sandwiches, pressed or on a buttery roll. And The Islands Caribbean Cookshop, with locations in Yonge Sheppard Centre and York University, serves up rotis, sandwiches, jerk chicken and Jamaican patties.

“Although it is located at Spadina and Front, it doesn’t feel like the Eaton Centre. It doesn’t feel like Yorkdale Mall. It feels like something different,” said Rico Adiputra, owner of Hooky’s Fish and Chips.

“It still feels like a little neighbourhood market. It just so happens to be smack dab in one of the busiest intersections of Toronto.

The Well has come a long way from its days as a literal hole in the ground — nearly 20 metres deep when the Star checked it out in 2018.

Since then, the pit, a joint venture between RioCan and Allied Properties, has been filled with a mix of retail, office space and residential buildings, including the Star’s offices.