Last weekend I finally went to Toronto’s newest popular retail development, The Well, for Arcadia Earth and for the opening of their new food hall, Wellington Market. In this blog post, I will recap and review everything I ate there along with some recommendations and tips if you plan on going as well as more information. Before you scroll below, follow me on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook as I will be posting more food and Toronto content!
About and Location
The Well has a very distinct look and feel to it as it has an open layout concept with various levels and combines both residential and commercial spaces. It’s been open for a few months now with more stores coming in, but last weekend was the first time their food hall, Wellington Market, was finally open. You can access the market on the lower level (look for the signs) and take the escalator down where you will see numerous shops (including some popular and exclusive restaurants). Tip: the seating areas get filled quickly so if you are in a group make sure you have someone that can secure the seat or take your food outside into other areas to properly sit down. The exact location is 486 Front Street West, Toronto, Ontario (an eight-minute walk from Rogers Centre and within the downtown Toronto area). There is paid parking (I believe it was $15 for a few hours when I went) and accessible via public transit.
Ramen RYU
This is the first place I tried and my main meal that day. I noticed there wasn’t a line here and the staff were really friendly and good with giving suggestions for me as a vegetarian. Ramen RYU is a new establishment from the popular “RYUS NOODLE BAR” brand specializes in Yokohama (Japan) style and is Toronto’s first ramen shop that focuses on Iekei ramen as its main product. I tried their vegan donburi which had minced vegan protein “meat” and mayo on a bed of spinach with rice underneath. I felt the protein was minced nicely and easy to eat and the vegan mayo complimented it with good flavour. However, my only complaint was that for the price you paid, there was a lot more rice than protein but thankfully it still tasted good. When looking at the veggie options I saw the spinach gomaee and the staff then explained what it was and advised it tasted great so I tried it. He was absolutely right, I loved how the spinach was sautéed perfectly with great crunch and soft texture. The toppings and sauce on top were the perfect finish and although it was $6, it tasted amazing and I will get that again. Together after tax for both of these items, it came up to $27.
Doraji
This is a brand new authentic Korean restaurant that is opened exclusively at The Well, co-founded by siblings who grew up in Toronto. Ironically, I tried this place with my sister as this was her main meal that day. DORAJI means bellflower in Korean and is a key ingredient in their dishes and they hope to embrace and share South Korea‘s culture through their dishes. We were curious and happy to try their vegetarian bibimbap. I loved that they had a lot of toppings on them, and my favourite was the mushrooms, it was chewy and filling. My sister got the miso sauce and I am not sure if it was that or the bellflower but it did have a strong flavour that overpowered the rest of the dish. I would probably try the purple rice and Ssamjang Mayo or signature sauce next time when getting the bibimbap. We also got a side of japchae that had great texture and I loved that it wasn’t too cold or anything, and since the bibimbap comes with a side of gochujang, I mixed it in and thought it tasted much better with the gochujang as it gave a nice kick. They did have an opening week sale so for these two items after tax it was less than $20.
Rosie’s Burgers
Rosie’s was the only place in this food hall I’ve been to before as I was able to finally try their burgers at their Queen St. location after the Priya Ragu concert in March. They have also gained some recent popularity because of their banana pudding which may or may not have sparked a debate on who has the best banana pudding in the city. Unfortunately, when I tried them in March I wasn’t able to try their pudding as they forgot to pack it but their customer service was really kind and amazing so they gave me a gift card so I can try it at a future date. Full transparency, I was initially just going to go to Rosie’s but unfortunately, their gas wasn’t working so they couldn’t make any food but still sold the banana budding. I can confirm, that you can believe the hype when it comes to their banana pudding, it was phenomenal. Loved the different textures from the crunchy top to the souffle-type pudding with real bananas inside. With every bite, you can experience the savory crunch, and not-too-sweet bananas and cream which makes this worth the price of $6.
Samosarie
For snacks to take home, I was drawn into this spot because of the vibrant colors each samosa had. I was surprised to see that each colour was to distinguish a different flavor and they had so many different flavours. As someone from Scarborough, I grew up eating samosas and had never seen anything like this before. I thought it was really cool that these samosas were free of peanuts, tree nuts, soy, egg, sesame, and seafood, and in total, they had eight different plant-based/vegetarian options. Therefore, I was curious to try but the price was high since it is $1.15 per samosa so I got the half dozen deal for 7.34 after tax. I tried the sunrise masala dosa, truffle mushroom, vegan saag paneer, cheddar, and potato pierogi, spanakopita, and blush honey garlic aloo gobi. From what I tried, it’s honestly not bad and you can taste each unique flavour which I appreciate. I believe they even had some frozen bags you can purchase but my favourite out of the six was the saag paneer and aloo gobi. I also found the texture of the samosa to be very different from the other samosas I had but it did add to how unique these were, but once again this is definitely pricey.
Chun Yang
Last but not least, I couldn’t leave without getting a drink to wash everything down and if you know me, I do enjoy trying different boba/bubble tea drinks. I decided to try Chun Yang because I never had it before and when looking at the staff working, I could tell there was a process in place to take the flavour from the tea leaves in each cup. They had several flavours and saw that they had some popular options as well. I ended up getting the honey lemon tea with aiyu and herbal jelly which after tax and a 20% opening week discount, came up to 7.68. The honey lemon tea had a very strong herbal flavour which I didn’t mind but I know can be off-putting to some. I thought the aiyu jelly (jelly from awkeotsang fig) to be the best part of the drink because of the texture and taste. Although there was clearly a distinct taste and process involved, I do want to note that it did take a long time to get the drink.
Overall
All in all, I am happy I was finally able to go to The Well and try this food hall. I think there are a lot of different and cool options and can see myself going again sometime in the future. I do think that the pricing is high and you can easily spend a lot of money here in one sitting so it’s not a food hall I would like to come back to frequently but would be nice to go to one in a while. I think given the location it’s no surprise that these prices are the way it is and some of these spots do include interesting ingredients which also makes sense for why they are marked up. Nonetheless, I am happy that I got to try these spots and might try again from them again. If you have been here or planning on going, let me know below or on social media. Make sure to follow on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook so you won’t miss out on more Toronto/GTA food content I post!