Downsview Park Merchants Market

Downsview Park farmers and flea market has the best jerk chicken and oxtail in this city. That’s right — the allegations are bold but so are the flavours that entail in these dishes.
The jerk chicken, which is $ 4.99, is delicious!
Flavoured thoroughly to the bones, and placed on a bed of rice and peas drenched in oxtail gravy, really only tells part of the story.
Ask for complimentary coleslaw (or fried plantains), homemade hot sauce, and voilà, the fairytale is complete.
I’ve been scouring the city to discover where the nicest jerks (pun alert) are, but I keep coming back to this weekend-​only market just two stops off Downsview Station.
So hop off at Tuscan Gate for all of you bus-​taking folks and check it out for yourself: King’s Palace Caribbean, Food Booth E4.
And if you’re already at the markets, grab a sugarcane juice, too.
Tell the owner you want that «sweet and sour secret drink.» It’s perfect with the meal.
Also check out all the other booths selling every kinds of food, fresh produce, and crafts.
This former Canadian Armed Forces air hangar has quite a lot to offer.

In terms of variety and size, you probably won’t get much better than this flea market in the GTA. I came here specifically to try the food court but I found it disappointing overall, especially after reading good things about it. I tried a variety of things from several stalls and they were all of mediocre quality.

I love this market. The antiques are amazing. The ghetto fabulous apparel.
The friendly vibe. I love the eye glasses that have shades built in. The new
feature called the Glamour Girls where I just literally updated my make up collection
that would have cost me hundreds more at Sephora. I got amazing pigments
and great HD foundation at a fraction of the cost and its made in Canada, mandatory for me. I’ve worn the product for 10 days straight with no breakouts! That’s never happened with any other product line. Best make up ever. I love the food court. I just got a pair of real Christian Dior shades from Maria’s Antiques. I often find amazing things at pennies on the dollar.

Today I went by the Downsview flea market and found that it was not as interesting as other flea markets around Toronto. Sure. there are fruits and vegetables stands but the quality of the products are not the greatest. I personally wouldn’t buy it. As I continue to investigate further into the flea market I saw many booths that sells the same things which is no surprised. After visiting this flea market I was a little disappointed, unlike the other flea markets I’ve been too.

Dec 20: holiday hours are supposed to be open until 7pm how ever most of the shops are still closing at 5:30pm or 6 (including the shops I went to visit, army surplus and the Mexican or West Indian food counter) ! what a complete waste of time. I think I’m over this flea market.

This is a flea market. You will find all sorts of stuff here. From carpets to DVDs to live reptiles to underwear. There are some really cool stalls here and some doozies. There is a jewelery stall here that has beautiful sterling silver jewelery in very unique styles. The prices are not typical flea market though ($ 100 — $ 200). Then there are the stalls that sell home hair colouring kits that are at least a decade old (you can tell by the packaging) for $ 3. It’s a true mishmash of stuff.
There is also a farmer’s market section that sells produce. However, I did not visit this area.
The true gem amidst everything is the international food court. There are several stalls serving authentic ethnic foods. I remember seeing Mexican, Colombian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Filipino, Afghan, Caribbean, Peruvian, and East African foods. There are probably more that I forgot.
I went here with my parents recently and we tried to sample foods from different stalls. We stopped at Samach first (East African). We had a Beef Cutlet ($ 1) and a Vitumbua ($ 1). The beef cutlet tasted like mashed potatoes stuffed with ground beef and spices and then fried. It was a flavourful ball of tastiness. I tasted some cumin in the spices and my dad thought it tasted like Indian food. We all liked it. The vitumbua is a sweet spongy fried rice cake. It is reminiscent of banh bo nuong (honeycomb cake) from Vietnam. It is also similar to the South Indian idli, except sweet and not sour and fried instead of steamed, but the texture is similar. It was my first time having vitumbua and I really liked it. The man at Samach’s was very patient answering all my questions and was super nice. I would love to return to this stall and try out their other stuff.
We also shared an order of Jerk Chicken with rice and peas and steamed vegetables ($ 5) at a place called Melo (food from Trinidad and Tobago). The woman working there put the food into a Styrofoam container and then put it in the microwave (!) OMG, talk about dangerous chemicals leaching into the food! We stopped her as soon as we realized what she was doing. The food itself was good, but I was concerned that I might have been eating carcinogens from the microwaved Styrofoam.
We also shared some ground meat kebobs, rice and salad ($ 8) and a potato bolani ($ 2.50) from Bamyan (Afghan). This was absolutely delicious. The rice was long grained with carrots and raisins and spiced to perfection. The kebobs were full of flavour and the texture was perfect. The bolani (fried flat bread with potato filling) was freshly fried and the pastry was crispy while the sliced pieces of potatoes were soft, but not mushy. It was fantastic! My only other experience with Afghan food is Watan Kabob and believe it or not this little stall in a flea market is so much better!
I also had a piña colada ice cream drink ($ 3.50) from a little stall that sells bubble tea, scoop ice cream and slushies. It has a plastic 3-​D ice cream cone hanging near the stall and it’s against a wall (no other stalls behind it). The drink was delicious. I saw him making it. He blended a few scoops of coconut ice cream and pineapple juice in a blender and sprayed some whipped cream on top. Yummy!
This flea market is only open on Saturdays and Sundays and only 10am — 6pm. There is lots of parking, but it is quite crowded. It’s fun to walk around and browse the wares, but I doubt that I would ever buy anything here other than food. Actually, I would definitely return for the food!

Went there today to visit The Nut Man who has the freshest nuts, dried fruits, etc. in Toronto! Decided to browse through the Market. What a wonderful surprise! The food emporium (note I did not call it a food court), in particular, is excellent. Authentic, down to earth, home style cooking. Experienced the amazing cuisine of The Caribbean, Afghanistan and Mexico in less than an hour. Had an Afghani boulani (chive pancake/​bread) with a spicy, vinegary chutney (divine …), Escovitch fish accompanied with peas and rice/​coleslaw (red snapper, really well prepared), and a rich, hearty Mexican beef soup (Mole De Olla). The women who do the cooking in these food establishments are truly dedicated to providing authentic, real, wholesome food. I will definitely be back to partake of some more of these exquisite foods.

I love coming to Downsview market. The food stalls in the back are awesome! Personally I am a fan of the Mexican stall but it’s a bit pricey. Well worth it though as the food is authentic and very tasty. I also buy my produce from the market which is great. Save a lot of money buying the produce there, although I typically buy more then maybe we need. Still love going there… the smells the sounds and the people are enjoyable.

This is one crazy Flea Market that basically has everything from antiques, persian rugs, perfume, clothes, car parts, electronics and knock off stuff
Come hungry because the food court at the back offers the most diverse menu
Caribbean, latin american, chinese, and a girl that makes awesome cupcakes.
The chefs are your friends mother and they make excellent, authentic, honest food as if you were sitting at their house saturday night.
The produce section is not from the local farmers

This review covers only the produce section of the market.
Don’t bother buying your produce here. Yes the prices are good but it is dimly lit and I made some regrettable purchases. The fruit and veg look like they are the castoffs from the worst No Frills. I couldn’t find a single red or orange bell pepper that didn’t have a grey dint in it (you know the kind that would quickly morph to a rotten spot). Half of the eggplants I brought home had to be trimmed to get rid of the questionable not so fresh bits. The bananas tasted fine but the outside had an unattractive grey tinge. The beets were fine. The one high-​light was the giant asiatic flat bread seasoned with nigella which was excellent once toasted.
I only went here because I was already at Downsview park shooting a freezing cold university field hockey game in the SNOW on October 31. I should’ve just cut my losses and gone home right after.

Downsview Park Merchants Market brings me back to my years when I watched over my parents tiny stall at Pickering FLEA Market. I had the most fun there running around, looking at various and spending $$ on Sports Cards and Sausages & Sauerkraut on a bun.
Driving into this large-​scale hangar size market there was AMPLE parking space and the was plenty of greenery for children to run around chasing themselves if they get bored indoors.
I walked in through the entrance which was small and ghetto so I suggest that you follow your NOSE towards the large open end entrance instead where the Fruit & Vegetable Market was as well as a few food vendors.
Here you can buy Fruit & Vegetable in bulk and even Eggs and Oil. I didn’t notice a significant savings in prize but others seem to like browzing and picking stuff up.
As suspected, you have anything you can imagine from a Flea Market such as Jeweller, Electronics, Bags & Luggage, Video Games, Antiques, Paintings, Pots & Pans, Knifes, DVDs, etc…
Until you walk towards the other end where an INTERNATIONAL Food area with roughly 12 vendors are ready for your order. Very international with Thai, Lebanese, Trinidad, Afghan, El Salvador, Jamaican, Italian, Chinese, etc…
It’s definitely a good place to PRACTICE your haggling skills and I think I did alright as I can see the disappointed look at the lady that paid me back money she didn’t want to give away.