Why one of the TTC’s loneliest subway stops is a food destination

If you live in Toronto you might have asked yourself, “What’s there to do at Bessarion station?” Since its opening in 2002 on the Sheppard line in North York, it has been given the dubious honour of being one of the least used subway stations on the TTC system.

Pre-pandemic numbers in 2019 showed daily ridership at 3,290 at the station, compared to 247,675 at Yonge-Bloor. The only stations that were less busy were Midland and Ellesmere along the Scarborough LRT line, (both with under 3,000 riders, but to be fair, those trains hold fewer people), and Downsview Park, with about 200 fewer riders than Bessarion.

But as someone who regularly uses Line 4, there are actually two very good reasons — both food-related, of course — to get out at the station, located on Sheppard, midway between Leslie Street and Bayview Avenue.

Here’s the scoop on why it’s worth hopping off at Bessarion.

Kourosh Supermarket (740 Sheppard Ave. E., Unit 2)

A few steps from Bessarion’s small north-side entrance (turn left at the collector’s booth and go up the stairs when leaving the station) is the two-year-old Kourosh Supermarket, a Persian grocer founded by Ali Javidan, who lived in the neighbourhood when he arrived in Canada in 2013 and worked as a food importer.

“We were importing products (from Iran) to Canada and we wanted to extend the business to groceries,” he said. “I know this area very well. I lived here and there’s a lot of Persians. This was a convenience store and we spent $400,000 transforming everything. What other supermarket is this close to the subway?”

Javidan has big dreams for the store, hoping that it will eventually expand to multiple locations in Canada and the U.S. But for now he’s using this first location as a prototype.

The shop’s small produce fridges are stocked with barberries, dates and, now, during the peak of summer, Ontario sour cherries, which are a staple in rice and stewed dishes. The bakery shelf is full of locally baked barbari breads, which are restocked twice a day.

The fridges stock cakes and pastries from Persian bakery BB Cafe and containers of kashke bademjan, an eggplant dip made with kashk, an incredibly flavourful, salty and sour dairy product used throughout Central Asia to give dishes such as stews, vegetables and dips an assertive acidic bite that blows North American yogurt out of the water. (It’s sold in jars as well as dried balls, that can also be eaten plain as a snack.)

Look out for treats in the form of baklava made with layers of pistachio, almond, rosewater, cardamom and saffron from the city of Qazvin in northern Iran. On one visit, there was a basket next to the register of what Javidan calls fooman cookies, a spiced walnut-stuffed soft treat also from the northern part of the country.

At the back of the store is a deli case of halal cold cuts; hunks of brined cheeses of varying salty, tart and crumbly levels (the tub marked Iranian cheese is the creamiest); and a small hot table for food on the go.

There’s gheymeh, a hearty tomato-based split pea and beef stew that’s brightened with the zing of dried lime and topped with shoestring potato chips. (The stew is often served with fried potatoes for a contrasting texture.) Ghormeh sabzi is a classic herb, beef and kidney bean stew with simultaneous sweet, sour, savoury and bitter flavours thanks to the dried lime and fenugreek, two essential ingredients. It’s all served on a bed of basmati rice.

There are no kebabs here — Javidan says it would make the shop too smoky — but you can hop over to the adjacent Wycliff Square Plaza to the right of Kourosh for Shatter Abbas, a local Persian kebab chain with three other locations in the city. A single chicken kebab comes with enough rice for two meals.

Taro’s Fish (800 Sheppard Ave. E.)

Also at Wycliff Square Plaza is the long-standing Taro’s Fish, which when it first opened was one of the few places in the GTA to get sushi-grade fish outside of a sit-down restaurant. It’s a fishmonger, mini Japanese grocer and takeout sushi spot.

Husband and wife team Taro Akiyama and Chiaki Akiyama first met when they were both working at downtown’s Nami Restaurant — touted as the birthplace of the sushi pizza — in 1987.

“(Taro) always wanted to own his own business and open a restaurant, but we didn’t have any money,” said Chiaki, in between assembling chirashi bowls. Instead, in 1996, they started a small fish processing business in Mississauga, operating out of a Japanese grocer and wholesaler that needed someone to help process and deliver fish to restaurants and households at a time when sushi-grade fish was still hard to come by in the city. This was before the arrival of giant supermarkets like Galleria and T&T selling sashimi to the masses.

Two years later, the couple went retail and set up a shop at Markham’s J-Town Japanese shopping complex before moving to the current location at Bessarion in 2008.

Those who scoff at Bessarion being a ghost town have never shopped at Taro’s Fish, where lines regularly form outside before opening.

The place is small, but full of activity. The single back door is where deliveries come in all morning, from frozen ramen kits from downtown’s Ramen Raijin restaurant, to boxes of fish.

An-easy-to-miss sign on the top of the fridge says that for an extra $3 they’ll slice the fish and put it on top of sushi rice to make it a meal. While they have fancy cuts of tuna that could turn a rice bowl into a $50-plus event, there are also lower-priced fish for a luxurious meal in the $20 and under range. (Try the trout, it’s similar to salmon; or the tamago egg for a non-fish option.)

Gloria Tsoi worked at the nearby Ikea before she made the move to Taro’s 16 months ago. “I was a customer for 12 years before coming here. I got tired of waiting in line to get in so I decided to work here,” said Tsoi, laughing. “We’re only open for six hours and we don’t do any advertising, so this is a place people make a point to visit.”

Tsoi works as the floor manager, answering phone orders for sushi platters and evening pickup, as well as asking customers in line if they want their fish cut. She notes they were one of the few businesses that got busier during the pandemic when restaurants were closed, and a second smaller location opened in Markham in June 2020.

For now, Bessarion continues to be a gem of a food destination on the Sheppard line for those who live nearby and those in the know on where to get good groceries and takeout. What is there to do at Bessarion? The better question is what you should eat first when you get there.

Karon Liu is a Toronto-based food reporter for the Star. Reach him via email: karonliu@thestar.ca