This walk of fame area in the entertainment district of Toronto Ontario Canada displays maple leaf…read moreshaped sidewalk stars embedded into the pavement to honor famous Canadian's including celebrities, movie stars, actors, arts, sports, science, business and charity. Founded in 1998, it spans 13 blocks mainly around Roy Thomson Hall, Princess Wales Theatre and the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

I recently attended a musical at the Princess of Wales Theatre. After it was over, I walked out of…read morethe theatre and looked down. I normally don't look down at the sidewalk, but I did for some reason. I noticed inductee names and stars. I was walking on Canada's Walk of Fame. So cool! Since 1998, a number of Canadians who have excelled in various fields are inducted in Canada's Walk of Fame. The fields are diverse, from science and philanthropy, to athletics and music. Inductee stars are present along King Street West, between John Street and Simcoe Street. They are also on Simcoe Street, between King Street West and Wellington Street, in downtown Toronto. I was at King and John, so I'm at the beginning or end of the walk of fame, depending on the direction that you're going. I like that if you're looking for a specific inductee, you can do a search on Canada's Walk of Fame site. It'll save you a bit of time if you just want to see specific inductee stars without walking the whole thing. The link is here: https://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/the-walk-of-fame/find-a-star I enjoyed taking a bit of time looking at the inductees before I headed home. I took a few photos of these notable folks: - Monty Hall, host of Let's Make a Deal (Winnipegger) - Wayne Gretzky, the Great One of hockey - Guy Lombardo (I grew up listening to his Christmas album with His Royal Canadians) - Timothy Findley (author best known for The Wars) I would love to return to check out all the stars. I like being a tourist in my hometown and learning from self-discovery activities, especially when they are free. (328)

The 3-day RC Show event this year is happening at The International Centre in sauga March 8-10,…read more2026. 5 halls filled with lots of vendors, exhibitors, media and attendees! This was my first year attending and now I can understand why this is a 3-day event lol. I had a great time :) Hall 1 has all the alcoholic beverages, endless food samples, and AMEX lounge (definitely worth checking out) Hall 2, 3, 4 has all the huge appliances (with delicious samples), beautiful tableware, sustainable takeout packaging... we even saw sushi making machines that T&T Supermarket has adopted. Hall 5 has all the coffee tasting, machines and latte art competition + Kawartha ice cream truck, and milk chocolate sample.

Tips: - The first day of this three-day event is the most…read moreexciting with a welcome, opening address, and more. - Parking at Enercare Centre is packed in the morning. If you can delay coming till mid-afternoon, you'll have better luck with available parking spots. - In 2026, the show moves to the International Centre. - Wear comfortable footwear and clothing. You'll be walking around a lot, and sampling food and more. Yesterday, I visited the Restaurants Canada (RC) Show for the first time. A friend graciously got me a pass to go to this three-day trade show and conference, which saved me $149 to participate for the first time. I was grateful for the invitation. RC Show allows you to network with industry professionals. It's Canada's largest foodservice and hospitality event. It was a wonderful experience to shop, taste, learn, connect, and grow businesses and taste palettes. I frankly didn't know about Restaurants Canada until I found about this show. Canada has roughly a $114 billion foodservice industry. This trade show runs annually. I got to learn from the best, hear about the latest product innovations, and sample good eats and drinks. This event was at Enercare Centre. I'm familiar with it. I've been to the One of a Kind Show and Planted Expo here. I also attend Toronto Marlies and Toronto Sceptres at Coca-Cola Coliseum next door and park at Enercare Centre. I got here just after 11 am on a Monday. Finding an available parking spot was tough. I had to settle for crashing a lone parent-child parking spot. It was tiny, but my car fit in it fine. The check-in process was horrific. I was parked closer to exhibition hall D. You register online and need to have your QR code. At the registration counter at exhibition hall A, you get it scanned and then a badge is printed. You then go in exhibition hall B for the show. I lined up for 1.5 hours. My friend didn't tell me that I could have used to Skip the Dishes line to save time. Ugh! I did learn while in line chatting with a past attendee that it was faster entry last year. Scan the QR code and then enter. This new process was painful. One I got inside, it was awesome. I learned about Bunn slushie machines relying on torque and adjusting water levels to make the smoothest slushies. The peach one was fantastic! I am a tea person. I got to sample mango chai tea from Tea Squared. I have been a fan of its on-the-go square teabags for looseleaf tea for eons. It was wonderful to enjoy tea and see this vendor. I went a bit crazy with tea. It brings me great joy. I sampled peppermint tea and iced black tea from Steven Smith Teamaker. Both were excellent. I got a massive reusable bag and tea samples. I love this bag! I had a lot of dessert samples. A chunky monkey cake sample was divine from Elite Sweets. The best fruit preserves and fruit shots from Darbo and White Toque, respectively, were outstanding. The dulce de leche churro bite from the latter was incredible. The frozen treats were delicious. I got green apple and mango alphonso gelato that were amazing. The nachos, salsa, and sauce samples from Splenda and Select Food Products were inspiring. I rarely add corn to my salsa. I should after trying the former's recipe! The smoked lime and tequila sauce from the latter was incredible with nachos. The best products were paper cups and straws that don't get soggy by SoFi. They blew my mind. The latter had a bendy straw. I was impressed. I got sample paper straws. They are excellent! I also enjoyed the shell pasta sample from Griss Pasta and the Impossible chick'n nugget. Delicious! There was so much to take in. I ate and drank my way through this show. I will also suggest that there be more places to sit down to enjoy your samples. I ended up borrowing a side table at a booth to put down my stuff and sample before moving on. I only sat down once at a demonstration area and watch a man pour coffee from the most fancy industrial coffee maker. It was cool, even for a non-coffee regular. I liked the robots that past by me. I want one. I left at around 4 pm. It's definitely a day event and you can stay till closing. I was good going home earlier to avoid the crazy rain and winds. I had a good time. I learned a lot. There are improvements to be made with the badge procedure. I'm hoping that things are better, including parking at the International Centre next year. (124)

Tip: If you work or live in Mississauga, you can get a Mississauga library card for free. You have…read moreto present proof that you're a resident or work in the city. I'm Mary. I live in Markham. I work in Mississauga. I've been working in Mississauga since 2010. For the first five years being employed by my current employer, I was never fully comfortable saying that I knew the city well until I joined Yelp. Yelp experiences and events got me out and about. These days, I can say with a lot more confidence that I know the city a lot better. It has grown over the decades. As a kid, my parents would take me to the Chinatown in Mississauga. We'd take photos and get some buns at the local bakery. These days, there are a couple of Chinatown locations, with a lot of businesses and selection of goods. I remember applying for a job as an undergraduate, which led me to the Future Shop (this franchise ceased operations years ago) headquarters in Mississauga. I took public transit to get there. I recall the blocks being so far apart compared to living in the Beaches. Sadly, I didn't get the job. I did get an introduction to the Mississauga transit system and how deadly getting off a block early was. That walk took forever! When I first think of Mississauga, it's the airport. Many airports in Canada are not where you think they are. Toronto Pearson International Airport is is Mississauga. Vancouver International Airport is in Richmond, BC. Some airports actually do make sense, though. Winnipeg Richardson International Airport is indeed in Winnipeg, for instance. I probably know Pearson better than any place in Mississauga. I have travelled a lot, departing from and returning to Terminals 1 and 3. My employer's first location was across from the airport. The office moved to another side of the airport, so I still see planes taking off and touching down whenever I'm heading or leaving work. I've grown to love this airport. It's not the greatest when there's a strike. Baggage dropoff continues to be a pain. It's clean and it gets me to my destinations in one piece. I also love The Hearth in Terminal 1 - US departures. The food is yummy and it kills time having a casual meal before catching a flight out. Square One is the city's largest mall. It has expanded quite a bit over the years. I like the food court and the Food District. I'm always getting patties from Patties Express when I'm in the Food District. I like discovering new stores and businesses every time I'm there. Bingz and Sansotei Ramen are the latest food additions. They are excellent. Speaking of ramen, there are a ton of good ramen joints in this city. Sansotei Ramen. Kinton Ramen. Kamen (formerly Kenzo Ramen). Yum! I have many favourite restaurants that are in Mississauga: - Pho Ngoc Yen - Gyubee Japanese Grill - Arigato - Gladiator Burger and Steaks - Bombay Bhel - Bao Bar - Rick's Good Eats - Sikgaek - Spoon and Fork - Chilli Chicken House - Door FiftyFive - The Maharaja - Myungdong Noodle Shabushabu - Buka Maranga - Bravo Bistro - Kish's Roti and Doubles - The Burger Alley - Pitas and Grill - Royal Jasmine - Vamos Por Tacos - KK Sushi - Lily's Cafe (formerly Treats) - Ande Ka Funda There's definitely more. There's a ton of good eats in this city. It's nice that I can rattle off such a nice list of eateries that are worth visiting. The best perk working in Mississauga is that I can get a free library card. I don't have a Toronto one because I neither work nor live there. I can get a Mississauga card for free when I bring proof (a paystub) that I work or live in the city. I love it! Although my commute between the two M cities can be long, especially when the weather is horrible or there's an accident on a major 400-series highway, I'm used to it. Mississauga is a decent city in which to work. The food scene is great. It has been great discovering the city and what it has to offer. (298)

The Short Version: Markham is a suburb of Toronto, but it's…read moreno sleepy suburb, it has lots of great restaurants and fun places to shop. The Long Version: I'm thrilled that Markham has its own Yelp listing. Markham is about 30 km northeast of Toronto, and it has seen significant growth in the last few decades. When I was living in Toronto, I rarely ever went to Markham (except to go to Pacific Mall, more on that later) but after I left Toronto I discovered Markham more. This is mostly because when my parents and I would return to visit Toronto, we would stay in Markham as accommodations were more affordable there, and traffic was less congested than in Toronto. Also, my dad loves Chinese Food, and since there is a large Chinese population in Markham, he's in foodie paradise there. Haha. I soon discovered that Markham had plenty of restaurants and shops that I like. My first time to Markham was to visit Pacific Mall. When it opened in 1996 it was the cat's meow. I remember my parents taking my brother and I there and I was fascinated by all the Asian shops. I was interested in the hair accessories and my brother was interested in the videogames and figurines. And we were both interested in the food court, lol. These days Pacific Mall is no longer novel and it has lost its former glory. Now there are many shops that sell the same thing and they are items that you can get elsewhere. The food court is still cool though. Once upon a time they even had a Beard Papa's franchise at Pacific Mall, but alas it closed. Although these days, my favourite food court in Markham is at First Markham Place. It's fairly large with lots of vendors and prices are very reasonable. Most vendors are small independent businesses with only one location. I also like the Oomomo at First Markham Place. I also love J-Town, which is in Markham. You'll find all things Japanese here. Sasaki Fine Pastry has amazing daifuku! Kuo Hua Trading Co Ltd is also another favourite place of mine in Markham. They sell imported items from Taiwan. CF Markville is a great mainstream mall in Markham. And it has my favourites stores, Marshalls and Winners! Markham also has several restaurants that specialize in huge wonton soups, which I love, such as Big Trio Wonton Noodles and Wonton Hut. The wontons are the size of golf balls, lol. Markham also has lots of bubble tea shops and I love my boba. Haha. I'm a fan of Markham, although I feel like you need a car to get around. It's not all that walkable, everything is fairly spaced out, but this is expected since it's a suburb. Review #26 (2026)

A high school friend recently returned to the greater Toronto area (GTA). We met for dim sum in…read moreMarkham and she brought her childhood friend. We had this conversation just before we got the bill: Friend: What is Markham known for? Me: Horrible drivers in BMWs. I curse more at drivers here and their poor driving than any other place. We all laughed. It is also true. There are plenty of incompetent drivers in this city that I call home. Markham is north of Toronto. It's considered a suburb and is a part of the GTA. I've actually had two stints in Markham. My parents and I moved from the Beaches to Markham after I had graduated from high school. Back then, Markham was a town. I moved away for nine years. I returned to Markham and it has been my home ever since. I saw the population boom. Markham has been deemed a city since 2012. I have seen a lot of change in Markham over the years. Retail and urban areas used to be between Steeles Avenue East and Major Mackenzie Drive back in the day. Farmland dominated Markham above Major Mackenzie. Urban sprawl happened when housing became ridiculously expensive in Toronto. More folks wanted to live in Markham because housing used to be cheaper and affordable. More development happened here, which has caused a lot of farmland transformed into neighbourhoods and shopping centres. Case in point: downtown Markham. It used to be nothing but vacant, vast plots of land. It's now home to condominiums, retail stores and services, and a lot more. The city does have many high tech companies and is considered Canada's high tech capital. IBM, AMD, and General Motors are some of the bigger technology players. It's cool that York University is creating a Markham campus in the downtown core. I wish that it were there when I was an undergraduate student! I like living in Markham. There are a ton of good restaurants. It has everything that I need. There are pockets of this city that still feel like a town. Every time I visit my local post office to pick up a package or parcel, everyone there knows me. When I visit my go-to pharmacy, the pharmacist knows me. It's cool and nice. I will highlight the Markham Theatre. It's a lovely place to take in a concert or musical. It's affordable in a classy venue. I have seen Jann Arden there. It was also a nice venue for a Yelp event a few years back. Mary from Markham. I love the alliteration. It's also a cool city in which to live. (137)

Tip: This monument is in front of Burnhamthorpe Library, facing Dixie Road…read more It's Wednesday. I leave work at 3:30 pm. I grab a drink at Starbucks. I then head down to Burnhamthorpe Library to renew my library card. I'm driving southbound along Dixie Road. I make a right turn to get to the library's parking lot. I spot a monument to my right. What?! I have been visiting this library for seven years. How come I never noticed this monument until now? After renewing my library card, I walked across the parking lot to check out this special Vietnamese Boat People Monument. This monument was established on November 9, 2019. I wouldn't have seen it that year, as my library card renews every year at the end of September. I frankly can't explain why I never noticed this monument. Perhaps it's the black and grey colours that didn't pop. On Wednesday, there were colourful flowers around the monument that made my head turn. Vi Vi Vo Hung Kiet sculpted this monument, which was built and donated to the City of Mississauga as a gesture of gratitude to Canada by the Vietnamese Canadian community and the Vietnamese Boat People Memorial Association. It commemorates more than a million Vietnamese refugees who escaped the collapse of the Republic of Vietnam on April 30, 1975. Roughly half a million of them lost their lives fleeing by either land or sea. I admired the monument for a while. It's made of bronze and granite. It has a boat that is practically submerged in the sea. There's a family of three looking hopeful at the bird with a maple leaf in the dad's hand. In his other hand is a flag with SOS on it. It's such a thoughtfully crafted statue. I like self-discovery points of interest. I tend to live under a rock, but I'm so glad that I found this monument. It's quite an informative area. There's a map that indicates where Vietnamese refugees moved to seek freedom. North America took in many, with Canada welcoming just over 104,000 refugees to their new home. Details about the historical significance of the Republic of Vietnam's demise, and the struggle to get refugees out of camps and be free are shared in both English and Vietnamese. You can take a load off your feet by sitting down on one of the blocks that comprise a ring around the statue. It was a bit hot to sit down yesterday, but it's nice that you can if you need to. I'm pleased that this monument exists. I'm so glad that I took the time to learn so much about its significance to the Vietnamese Canadian community. (338)

To be honest I didn't expect much from the event, yet the description on the website seemed to…read morepromise a lot more. Although they've had previous events in Vancouver, this is the first time in Toronto. We got to the Habourfront Centre, and I thought there would be more of a spectacle for this event. There were no signage for this to direct us to the right place. You wouldn't have known this was going on unless you knew already. The event takes place in one of the event rooms and the small atrium out side of it. It did seem less like a corporate sponsored event, and more like a high school play evening. We did get "hot asian beverages", a small cup of ginger tea, when we got there. There were two lines at the 'entrance' and we were stopped. We weren't allowed to go in the priority line because we weren't CIBC customers (show your card), so we directed to the other line. I don't see why it even mattered at this point because there was no one there. I thought they were going to give us a spiel or make us sign up for something, but that wasn't the case. We were stopped again, because we couldn't go into the exhibit room with our hot drink we just got. Instead we stood awkwardly in the line (what line? we were the only ones there), to finish the drink. Finally we walk though the small side door to the exhibit. It was quite nice, but along with the cheesy music and tv screen, the 'art' wasn't appreciated as it should be. The lights were cool, and I guess nice for kids, but there wasn't much else to this. 4 big installations. I can't describe the feeling of amateur and lack of ...professionalism?... I felt in here, yet I was sad that the art wasn't appreciated for what it should be. It was nice, colourful and big. You come out into the small atrium in the front. It's crowded. They could have had some of this up near the empty entrance to the area. At least it would feel less awkward, and folks could look at CIBC paraphenlia whilst sipping on their tea. And it would help make the even seem happening. You get a red pocket with a chocolate coin in it, there was a draw for a Silver Coin (and by draw, you are reaching into a box full of cards, and hoping to choose the right one), a spin wheel to win a pen, dragon hat or chocolate coin (which I already had), two tables to put together the hat and a photo booth. All might have been okay if it wasn't so crowded (and it's winter people have big jackets). Overall, don't take your time to come out to this unless already in the area, or you want to go skating as well. So glad this didn't cost anything, I would have been so mad. It is what it is. I hope someone is reading this, because the event could be improved still over the next few days!

We quite enjoyed the shadow puppet play but I would suggest to line up early for this. It's very…read morepopular with the families and the seating in the theatre is limited. First come first served. There's a glow in the dark aquarium exhibit setup in tribute to the play's characters. A few giveaways there, I spun the wheel and won a dragons mask, got some free candy at the CIBC VIP lounge (yum rootbeer and coffee flavour). You can also build a latern, supplies are limited though. Oh and if you start to get hungry, and don't want to trek to (Spadina & Dundas) Chinatown, the cafe near the skating rink was serving some Taiwanese food. I was surprised by how popular this event was considering it's in the middle of the winter so get there early. The puppet play was the highlight of the night, next was the photobooth where one can don some props like dragons and scrolls.

Graffiti Alley is such a cool living piece of art and it's free to see! It's especially a very long…read moreand wide alley with tons of art. We even saw an artist painting a new work over something else. We went in the morning around 9am and were basically some of the only people there. You can easily spend half hour or even more looking at everything. The only downside is that it is indeed in an alley where there's trash.

As the name suggests, this is an alley full of graffiti. It runs a few blocks with a bunch of…read moredifferent art. It was very cool checking this little alley out!

The other night, I was taking photos of downtown Toronto as I walked to where my car was parked. It…read morewas nice getting reacquainted with my hometown. I saw the skybridge and took photos from Queen Street West. It was nearly 11 pm, so I couldn't walk across it. Who knew that you could review this skybridge on Yelp? I do now! I remember the old skybridge. As a youngster, my mom and I spent a lot of time at Simpsons (now where Hudson's Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue are) and the Eaton Centre. Yep, I can go that far into my past. I'm glad I still can. We would cross this bridge out of convenience, especially when the weather wasn't great outside. I could barely see out the windows back then, so I remember the silver panelling more at that height. Simpsons died. Hudson's Bay (probably The Bay back then) took over. I walked across the old skybridge a lot as a mall-loving teenager, well into my undergraduate years. I then moved away for roughly nine years. All that skybridge walking had died. The last time I saw this bridge was in 2010. I don't spent a whole lot of time downtown these days. I shop differently, preferring deals at outlet malls. Music stores have also died along Yonge Street, which was one of my favourite places to visit while downtown. These days, I'm in the area to eat or see a concert. It was both the other night. The current skybridge replaced the old one in 2017. I like the replacement. It's cool. It's a helical shape that is architecturally unique and modern. It's pretty looking at it at night. I stood there for a while admiring it. The old skybridge was a simple barrel-vaulted roof that made you feel like you were a plant in a greenhouse as you walked through it on a sunny day. I remember how I felt and what it looked like. Sadly, I don't have any photos of it back then. I hope to walk across it someday when I'm not taking in a concert. It'll be fun crossing Queen Street West from above again after all these years. (177)

This is an architecturally interesting bridge. It was replaced a few years ago. It allows people to…read moreview the street below and see TTC streetcars from the top. It connects Eaton Centre to Hudson's Bay./Saks Fifth Avenue.