Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
Anchor
Google PlayA new cultural experience is arriving at the former location of The Annex Food Market in Toronto this month. It bears the name of an old grocery store—the first 24-hour grocery store in the city, Bloor Superfresh—and aims to create a safe and inspiring space for people to celebrate and perhaps discover aspects of Canada’s strong Asian culture.
Superfresh bills itself as “A unique Asian Night Market Concept” and includes multiple vendors focused on Asian street food, a full bar with cocktails on tap, a bodega, and seating for 150 people indoors and 50 outdoors.
“Why don’t we create a space by Asians for Asians—and not just for Asians, but everybody else—to share everything we love about our culture and create a safe space for the community?”
Eats will range from Northern Chinese noodles to Indonesian street food to Japanese snacks and Taiwanese fried chicken, all ordered via the venue’s digital app.
“This is the point of difference: Our Japanese is not ramen and sochi, it’s shokupan and katsu,” says Lui. “Our Indonesian is different. Our Korean is not BBQ and it’s not pork-bone soup… It’s these small dishes of food from a fresh beef tartar to king oyster mushrooms skewered and grilled fresh… it’s drinking food in Korea.”
“I think our job is to create an experience for customers,” says Lui. “We’ve got six or seven different concepts to get your food from and we’ve got cocktails on tap, so as much as you might want to try to do it all in one shot, you’re not going to be able to. We want people to walk away going, ‘Yo, shit, I gotta come back and do more of this because I love the space, it’s a great vibe, and I want to eat more.’”
On May 16, Superfresh will host a ticketed event in collaboration with Alex Wong and Will Lou of The Raptors Show with Will Lou, with proceeds going toward a charity supporting Asian Heritage Month. Lui confirms “Special guests are coming.”
