What to know
- Toronto content creator Ranique McFarlane is visiting a local food spot near all 109 TTC subway and LRT stations.
- Every restaurant should be within a 15-minute walk, independently owned and ideally offer meals for $20 to $25 or less.
- McFarlane has released two episodes and recorded about eight, with three to four new videos planned each week.
- The Metro Eats series aims to help people explore Toronto’s neighbourhoods, cultures and small businesses without needing a car.
A Toronto content creator is eating his way across the TTC, visiting all 109 subway and LRT stations to show affordable, independently owned food spots within walking distance of each stop.
Ranique McFarlane launched the series through his Metro Eats social media platforms, where he helps viewers explore the city’s restaurants, activities and experiences without needing a car — highlighting an independent food spot within walking distance of each one.
“I know people online love series’, so I just had a crazy idea,” McFarlane told Now Toronto. “I’m like, ‘What if I just ate at every single TTC station?’”
Two episodes have been released so far, leaving McFarlane with 107 stations to post. He has already recorded about eight episodes and plans to release three to four each week, primarily on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The challenge is about more than finding somewhere to eat. McFarlane is using the series to show transit riders how many affordable, locally owned restaurants and different cultural experiences are accessible without a car.
Each stop comes with a few rules: the restaurant should be within a 15-minute walk of the station, the meal should ideally cost no more than $20 to $25 and franchises are off the table.
“Strictly no franchises, so only small businesses, local businesses, and then keeping it under that $20, maybe $25 max threshold for the series,” he said. “So it’s quick, commuter bites, affordable that people can go into, and then local.”
Metro Eats began after a job loss
McFarlane, who was born in Toronto and raised mainly in Brampton by Jamaican parents, studied marketing at the University of Windsor and previously worked as an online personal trainer. His experience creating fitness content also made him comfortable speaking in front of a camera.
The idea for his food page came unexpectedly after he lost his job in Kitchener and prepared to move back to Toronto in August 2025.
Before leaving the Kitchener-Waterloo area, McFarlane began making videos about local restaurants he had heard about but had not yet visited. The videos attracted thousands of views and helped him build an audience.
However, when he brought the same general food-review concept to Toronto, it did not immediately connect.
“When I tried the same concept in Toronto, it was kind of dead,” he said. “It was oversaturated. No one really cared.”
Then, McFarlane noticed a recurring complaint in the comment sections of other Toronto food creators. Viewers would say the featured restaurants were too far away, often in places such as Scarborough or Thornhill, and difficult to reach without a vehicle.
McFarlane had sold his own car while living in Kitchener, so he understood the problem too.
“I’m still going on date nights. I’m still going out and enjoying,” he said. “What if I just serve that community, the people that don’t drive, because I don’t drive either? But we’re in a big city and it’s still accessible to these places.”
That thought became Metro Eats in October 2025. Instead of being another general Toronto food page, it would focus specifically on restaurants, activities and experiences located within a 15-minute walk of a train station.
McFarlane later expanded the page beyond food after realizing that festivals, arcades, plays and other activities could also be grouped under the same transit-friendly concept. After restaurants began reaching out to him, he decided to turn Metro Eats into his full-time job and build it as a media platform.
“I’m like, ‘You know what? Let me just take this serious. Let me just brand it as a media page,’” he said. “Let me stick to the local businesses, the restaurants, the activities. Stick to the theme of being near transit, and just own this lane that I have.”
Finding food beyond the usual Toronto pockets
Before visiting a station, McFarlane searches within the walking radius for an unusual dish, interesting concept, community staple or local story. Suggestions from followers through comments and direct messages also help shape his list.
But there is one other important test: it has to be somewhere he would genuinely want to eat.
At Davisville Station, for example, a follower recommended a shawarma counter operating inside a convenience store — exactly the type of unexpected spot McFarlane hopes the series will uncover.
Some of his favourite discoveries so far include Mercado, a Portuguese restaurant near Caledonia Station on Line 5 Eglinton. McFarlane praised its seafood, outdoor patio and date-night atmosphere.
“Feels like you got dropped into Portugal, and you’re still in Toronto,” he said. “It’s probably one of the best patios that I’ve been on, and the food is amazing.”
Another standout was Heval Cafe, a Kurdish cafe near Queen’s Park Station featured in the second episode. McFarlane highlighted its focaccia and barberry bread sandwiches, along with cookies he described as tasting like a cookie on the outside and cake on the inside.
The challenge has also introduced him to cuisines and neighbourhoods he had not previously explored. Near Mount Pleasant Station, McFarlane tried food from Côte d’Ivoire at Instant du Palais and discovered a community he did not know was there.
“I’m learning about all these small communities, local cafes, local bakeries, local restaurants,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Damn, I didn’t realize Toronto was like this.’”
Travelling between the lines has also shown him how food prices shift across the transit system. He has generally found more affordable options along the new Eglinton and Finch West lines, with prices increasing closer to the downtown core.
More than anything, however, the series has changed the way he views Toronto’s neighbourhoods.
“There’s a lot of areas that I’m pretty sure people have not seen because they stay in their little pockets,” McFarlane said. “I kind of love that I’m getting to explore all around Toronto.”
Each station brings him into a different part of the city, where the atmosphere, architecture and demographics can change within only a few stops. Some areas feel older and more rustic, while others are modern or shaped by close-knit communities that regularly support the same neighbourhood businesses.
The experience has allowed him to see more clearly where Toronto’s Persian, Nigerian, Jamaican, Italian, Portuguese and other cultural communities have built their own pockets of the city.
“You can experience so many different cultures in the city, and it’s all on the train line,” he said.
Viewers are waiting for their station
The early response has brought thousands of new viewers to McFarlane’s page. He said one episode alone earned him about 500 new followers, many of whom said they planned to follow the entire series.
Part of the appeal, he believes, is that nearly everyone has a station they consider their own. Viewers are waiting to see which restaurant he chooses in their neighbourhood, or questioning whether he will find anything at all.
“They’re like, ‘I’m here for this series. I can’t wait. Go here, go there,’” he said. “Everybody has their own station, so to say, and they want to see what you’re going to hit in their neighbourhood or where you’re going to go next.”
As someone with a background in health and fitness, McFarlane said he does not always finish everything he orders, especially when visiting multiple places in one area. When he has suitable leftovers, he packs them up and gives them to people experiencing homelessness or others who may need a meal.
By the time he reaches station 109, McFarlane hopes viewers will have a much longer list of local businesses to try and a different understanding of how much of Toronto can be explored by transit.
“It’s just showing how easy it is to have access to good food,” he said. “By transit, you don’t really need to drive. It’s accessible.”
While the challenge begins in Toronto, McFarlane hopes Metro Eats can eventually expand into other Canadian cities and help more people discover what is waiting just beyond their usual go-to spot.
“Support the local businesses in the neighbourhood. Show them some love. Go meet the owners.”
