Night markets
At the T&T Waterfront Night Market, customers came back for seconds—and sometimes thirds. That was when Chef DK knew the food worked.
ABOUT TASTE BENDER · 316 COLLEGE STREET
BORN TO
BEND THE ORDINARY.
A Toronto story, made from scratch.
Taste Bender Canada started in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown. It grew from Chef DK’s need to keep cooking, keep creating and build a place where nobody could stop that passion.
BEFORE THE STOREFRONT
IT STARTED
IN THE KITCHEN.
Chef DK began his professional cooking career in January 2019 as a dishwasher at a Japanese izakaya near Yonge and Sheppard. Within three months, he had worked his way up to kitchen lead, taking charge whenever the manager or executive chef was away.
His weekly specials kept selling out. That was the first sign that the ideas in his head could become something bigger. He began looking for small opportunities to serve food under his own name and create dishes that felt like Canada.
Nathan Phillips Square
A Christmas market gave him room to test more original dishes and learn what people wanted to eat again.
Lockdown
When restaurant kitchens shut down in 2020 and Chef DK lost his job, he decided to create a place where he could keep cooking on his own terms.
A Canadian cuisine
Home baking opened the first door. From there came a bigger mission: make food that gives people something exciting to say when they are asked what Canadian cuisine can be.
OUR REASON FOR BEING HERE
“Born to create Canadian cuisine. Born to define our food. Born to make a flavour of Canada.”
THE MISSION
CANADIAN FOOD,
OUR WAY.
As a Korean-Canadian chef, Chef DK saw a gap. Family visiting from around the world could name the food they were excited to eat almost anywhere—but Canada was harder to explain.
Taste Bender exists to change that, one original dish at a time. Anything edible or drinkable is a chance to make something from scratch and give it a flavour that belongs here.
See how the food came togetherABOUT CHEF DK
CURIOUS.
HANDS-ON.
The person behind the ideas, the kitchen and every new Taste Bender experiment.
