7 places you need to check out at Square One
From now to September, savour all the flavours of The Food District and Food Central at Square One’s spacious new garden patio
It’s an exciting time for the GTA as cities continue to reopen. Besides welcoming customers back to their businesses, once-homebound denizens can now stretch their legs and experience the quality in-person service that retailers are known for. But for hungry shoppers and diners, there are now a variety of options to dine both indoors and outdoors.
To ensure the entire shopping experience is enjoyable, Square One is celebrating this long-awaited reopening with the launch of The Square at SQ1.
From now until September, shoppers and employees visiting the province’s largest mall can rest and recharge on a sprawling new outdoor patio. Peppered with wide tables, picnic benches, umbrellas, tented areas and Adirondack chairs where up to 206 can chill out, The Square at SQ1 offers plenty of well-spaced outdoor seating to complement Square One’s existing roster of full-service restaurant patios. Located in the lower P6 parking lot – steps away from The Food District, the shopping centre’s fancy food hall – this urban oasis is outfitted with greenery, including suspended plants and lighting hanging from its pergolas, ‘gram-worthy vaulting archways. The cherry on top? When it’s permissible, the space will host live performances and other entertainment.
A one-stop shop to treat your tastebuds to a world of flavours, The Square at SQ1 also gives you access to Square One’s dining roster. Enjoy dishes from the hottest restaurants in The Food District under the shade of a covered tent, or try the buzz-worthiest bites from Food Central while soaking up the sun from an open-air table. With so many options available while safeguarding the health and safety of the community, Square One makes going out again both easy, comfortable and delicious.
Check out these seven delectable eats on your next visit.
For ‘gram-worthy drinks
There’s bubble tea and then there’s bubble tea from Taiwanese brand, The Alley. With Deer fans worldwide clamouring over their brown sugar-sweetened Deerioca (handmade soft and chewy tapioca) and Instagrammable drinks that are as unique and colourful as they are tasty, you’d be hard-pressed not to try one of their eye-catching creations. From the Aurora Series that captures the Northern Lights in a bottle to the Crunch series that caps sweetened milk tea with flakey butter crisps, there’s something for everyone. And there’s always time for the blueberry-infused Royal No 9 Milk Tea that’s part drink, part snack and an all-around fan favourite.
For everything smoky and satisfying
Bringing the Southern-inspired barbecue flavours from their Leslieville restaurant and whiskey bar to The Food District, fans of mouth-watering hunks of grilled proteins can satisfy cravings at Blackjack BBQ. Best-sellers like the Sweet Whisky Pork Ribs and Dinosaur Beef Ribs – a pair of behemoth-sized hickory-smoked ribs that have been prepared with a southwestern-style dry rub and slicked with a bold Texas-style BBQ sauce – make an appearance on this menu for the Blackjack BBQ purist. And to make sure everyone can get their BBQ cravings met, they even have plant-based options with “ribs” made from grilled organic tempeh.
For trendy street-style eats
Tacos, churros and mixtapes, oh my! For bright and flavourful eats, look no further than La Carnita. The pop-up turned restaurant offers popular standards, including In Cod We Trust – a crispy cod taco topped with lime crema and pickled red cabbage and a grilled steak taco drizzled with chipotle mayo, tomatillo salsa and crispy shallots along with punchy cocktails and beer. However, it’s the Mexican Street Corn – grilled corn on the cob topped with Mexican crema, queso anejo, arbol and ancho chili powder – that’s a must for every table.
For everyday treats from Tokyo
If happiness came light and airy, it would be in the form of Fuwa Fuwa’s “fluffy fluffy” made-to-order Japanese soufflé pancake. Soft and delicate, the sponge cake-like griddled pancake is ethereally capped with whipped cream then finished as tiramisu, with fruity strawberry sauce, mangos, or caramelized bananas and even with classic maple syrup.
For a joyful family-friendly feast
Experience the buzz at Jollibee, a popular Filipino-fried chicken chain that’s best know for buckets brimming with Jolly Crispy Chicken and Jolly Spaghetti which is blanketed with a sweet meat sauce that’s studded with chunks of ham and hot dog. The real treat, however, is the peach mango pie. The deep-fried hand pie is stuffed with an oozing fruity filling that’s addictive, delicious and totally worth hoarding.
For good things that come in small packages
When it comes to freshly baked flakey savoury pastries, it’s hard to resist the burst of spicy filling that’s tucked within a golden Jamaican patty from Patties Express in The Food District. Try it solo or stuffed in fluffy coco bread for an incredibly satisfying carb-on-carb experience.
For a taste of the islands
Whether it’s plates chocked full of curry goat and callaloo, or rice and peas topped with oxtail and jerk pork, it’s easy to see why Roywoods draws the crowds. The jerk chicken sandwich is a two-hands affair that stuffs a coco bun with the spice-marinated bird, coleslaw, onions, spicy mayo and tomato, that’s best washed down with a Caribbean soda.
The Square at SQ1 is open every day from 11 AM to 8 PM. While seating is first-come, first-serve, you can sign up for the virtual lineup and an onsite host that will let you know when your table is ready.
The Square at SQ1, P6 parking lot, 100 City Centre Dr., Mississauga, 905-766-1947
 and Instagrammable drinks that are as unique and colourful as they are tasty, you'd be hard-pressed not to try one of their eye-catching creations. From the Aurora Series that captures the Northern Lights in a bottle to the Crunch series that caps sweetened milk tea with flakey butter crisps, there's something for everyone. And there's always time for the blueberry-infused Royal No 9 Milk Tea that's part drink, part snack and an all-around fan favourite.
For everything smoky and satisfying
Bringing the Southern-inspired barbecue flavours from their Leslieville restaurant and whiskey bar to The Food District, fans of mouth-watering hunks of grilled proteins can satisfy cravings at Blackjack BBQ. Best-sellers like the Sweet Whisky Pork Ribs and Dinosaur Beef Ribs – a pair of behemoth-sized hickory-smoked ribs that have been prepared with a southwestern-style dry rub and slicked with a bold Texas-style BBQ sauce – make an appearance on this menu for the Blackjack BBQ purist. And to make sure everyone can get their BBQ cravings met, they even have plant-based options with "ribs" made from grilled organic tempeh.
For trendy street-style eats
Tacos, churros and mixtapes, oh my! For bright and flavourful eats, look no further than La Carnita. The pop-up turned restaurant offers popular standards, including In Cod We Trust – a crispy cod taco topped with lime crema and pickled red cabbage and a grilled steak taco drizzled with chipotle mayo, tomatillo salsa and crispy shallots along with punchy cocktails and beer. However, it's the Mexican Street Corn – grilled corn on the cob topped with Mexican crema, queso anejo, arbol and ancho chili powder – that's a must for every table.
For everyday treats from Tokyo
If happiness came light and airy, it would be in the form of Fuwa Fuwa's "fluffy fluffy" made-to-order Japanese soufflé pancake. Soft and delicate, the sponge cake-like griddled pancake is ethereally capped with whipped cream then finished as tiramisu, with fruity strawberry sauce, mangos, or caramelized bananas and even with classic maple syrup.
For a joyful family-friendly feast
Experience the buzz at Jollibee, a popular Filipino-fried chicken chain that's best know for buckets brimming with Jolly Crispy Chicken and Jolly Spaghetti which is blanketed with a sweet meat sauce that's studded with chunks of ham and hot dog. The real treat, however, is the peach mango pie. The deep-fried hand pie is stuffed with an oozing fruity filling that's addictive, delicious and totally worth hoarding.
For good things that come in small packages
When it comes to freshly baked flakey savoury pastries, it's hard to resist the burst of spicy filling that's tucked within a golden Jamaican patty from Patties Express in The Food District. Try it solo or stuffed in fluffy coco bread for an incredibly satisfying carb-on-carb experience.
For a taste of the islands
Whether it's plates chocked full of curry goat and callaloo, or rice and peas topped with oxtail and jerk pork, it's easy to see why Roywoods draws the crowds. The jerk chicken sandwich is a two-hands affair that stuffs a coco bun with the spice-marinated bird, coleslaw, onions, spicy mayo and tomato, that's best washed down with a Caribbean soda.
The Square at SQ1 is open every day from 11 AM to 8 PM. While seating is first-come, first-serve, you can sign up for the virtual lineup and an onsite host that will let you know when your table is ready.
The Square at SQ1, P6 parking lot, 100 City Centre Dr., Mississauga, 905-766-1947){kind=link}