How artist Charles Pachter would spend a perfect Saturday in Chinatown

“I’ve lived in the neighbourhood since 1978. It feels like a blend of Hong Kong, Le Marais in Paris and Greenwich Village. I’ll start my day with a bagel from My Market Bakery (184 Baldwin St., 416-593-6772), which I’ll eat on my 40-foot-long deck overlooking the whole city. Then I’ll wander through Grange Park behind the AGO, which is always full of families and old Chinese ladies and gentlemen practising Tai Chi. My favourite lunch spot is La Casita Chinese Eatery (405 Dundas St. W., 416-341-8688), a Chinese-Peruvian fusion restaurant—only in Toronto. I always order a sizzling oyster hot pot. The place even has a few prints of my paintings. Then I’ll get groceries at the Lucky Moose Food Mart (393 Dundas St. W., 416-351-8688). You can live on $20 a week if you shop here for produce. Where else could I get five avocados for a dollar? I’ll stop in at Gwartzmans (448 Spadina Ave., 416-922-5429) for art supplies, then spend the afternoon at the AGO (317 Dundas St. W., 416-979-6648) visiting the latest exhibits. My neighbours have become my extended family, so some nights we meet up at Ka Chi (414 Dundas St. W., 416-598-3222), a Korean restaurant that serves fabulous seafood pancakes and soup dumplings. You could eat in this neighbourhood for weeks and never exhaust all the flavours.”