In 2015, Metrolinx was expropriating the building that housed House of Chan so it could build the Crosstown's station at Bathurst. That meant one of the city's longest-running steak and Cantonese rooms would move a short walk east toward Avenue Road, as Post City reported at the time. Eleven years later the same line drops riders at Chaplin station, a block or two from the restaurant's current door.
This fall, the newest restaurant on the strip opened only steps from the oldest. Most of the reasons to eat on this stretch of Eglinton West are places that stayed open through the construction. A rider stepping off Line 5 at Forest Hill, Chaplin or Avenue station arrives at a street that held onto its restaurants while the line went in, and is only now getting new ones.
The line that moved a restaurant now stops near it
Line 5 Eglinton opened to the public on Sunday, February 8, 2026, according to the TTC's launch notice. Metrolinx describes the route as 19 kilometres from Mount Dennis to Kennedy. The TTC's Line 5 route listing shows Forest Hill, Chaplin and Avenue as three stops in a row, which puts the full stretch between Bathurst and Avenue Road within a short ride. In blogTO's stop-by-stop eating guide, published when the line opened, the line's arrival came after "15 painstaking years of construction."
House of Chan lived through those years in a way few businesses did, because it had to move. When Post City covered the relocation, owner Lyons promised the room would make the trip with it. "We're taking the booths with us and the tables," she told the paper. The lobster tank was moving too, along with the red carpets and mirrors. She also said the steaks would not change, and that the kitchen uses only U.S. prime.
The restaurant's current home is 514 Eglinton Ave. W., and its site gives the nearest major intersection as Eglinton and Heddington. The site lists dinner hours of 4:30 to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, and says the restaurant has served Toronto for "over 50 years." blogTO's Line 5 guide goes further back, dating the restaurant to the 1950s, and picks it as the place to eat at Chaplin for "a smorgasbord of Cantonese classics, or... a big, juicy steak."
The line's construction moved the restaurant a few blocks east, and the finished line now stops within walking distance of its new address.
The newest table, steps from the oldest
The block near Forest Hill station shows the same pattern on one sidewalk.
Jerusalem Restaurant at 955 Eglinton Ave. W. says on its own site that it was established in 1971, and that it was the first Middle Eastern restaurant to serve the City of Toronto, opened as a venture by three brothers. blogTO picked it for the Forest Hill stop, recommending the falafel, hummus and kabob.
Eight street numbers west, at 947 Eglinton Ave. W., Woodlyns opened in mid-October. The restaurant is a Jewish and Asian concept from chef Nick Liu, whose downtown rooms include DaiLo in Little Italy and Cafe Renee on King West. He is joined by head chef Josh Ling, who has cooked at DaiLo, Vela, Cafe Renee and Vea in Hong Kong, and by partner Jeff Goldstein, whom blogTO's preview describes as a lifelong resident of the neighbourhood the restaurant serves. The same preview framed the opening as a chef from "perpetually buzzy" downtown restaurants setting up north of Bloor. It placed the room on a strip that is "still rebuilding after more than a decade of disruptive TTC construction."
The Woodlyns team described its goal this way in blogTO's preview:
"Our mission is simple: to create a place where people can gather with loved ones, share food and drink, and take part in one of our most important rituals: coming together around the table."
The menu on the restaurant's OpenTable page was last updated October 8, 2026. It lists matzo ball wonton soup, a Reuben spring roll, chicken knish, a pastrami sandwich and a whole steamed branzino. blogTO says the interior takes its cue from the neighbourhood's wooded areas, with rich wood accents. The reservation listing shows dinner only:
- Wednesday and Sunday: 4:30 to 10 p.m.
- Thursday: 4:30 to 11 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: 4:30 p.m. to midnight
Toronto Life's preview of the opening placed it in Cedarvale. That shows how loosely this part of Eglinton gets labelled, even when the address sits on the Forest Hill stop.
So Woodlyns and Jerusalem now sit on the same block, more than half a century apart in age. Woodlyns has no track record yet. Jerusalem's dates back to 1971.
The daytime end of the strip, toward Avenue Road
The two dinner rooms near Bathurst keep evening hours. The east end, near Avenue station, is busier in daylight.
Phipps Bakery Cafe is at 420 Eglinton Ave. W., open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Sundays. The company says it was founded in 1986 in Cabbagetown, and it now supplies baked goods to customers across the GTA as well. In October 2026, Streets of Toronto's Best of Toronto 2026 named it Best Cakes. The writeup credits its Eglinton West counter with "gooey caramel and rich layer cakes."
Just off Eglinton, Crosstown Coffee Bar at 187 Highbourne Rd. was blogTO's pick for the Avenue stop. The guide says the café serves Hale coffee beans and sweet treats. It also points out that the café shares a name with the line it now sits beside. The café's name comes from the Crosstown project, and its location now makes it the coffee stop at Avenue station.
Phipps was founded in 1986, four decades before Line 5 opened, and in 2026 its Eglinton West counter won a citywide award for cakes.
One evening, three stops
All three stations sit on a single short stretch of Line 5, so one outing can cover several of these places. Opening hours decide the order more than distance does:
- Afternoon at Avenue. Coffee at Crosstown Coffee Bar on Highbourne, then a slice of cake or a box to take home from Phipps before it closes at 5 p.m.
- Early dinner at Chaplin. House of Chan opens at 4:30 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday, for steak or Cantonese dishes in the room Lyons promised would feel the same after the move.
- A late table at Forest Hill. Woodlyns stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and Jerusalem is a few doors east for anyone who would rather finish with falafel.
The order works best on a Wednesday through Saturday, when all four venues with posted hours are open. Phipps is closed on Sundays, and House of Chan's posted hours do not include Monday. Hours change, especially in a restaurant's first months, so check each venue's own page before heading out.
Pamak and Dorotea at PAM Realty Ltd. follow how a street like Eglinton West changes from one season to the next, from the restaurants that stayed through construction to the new ones opening near the stations. If the new line has you thinking about what it means for the homes on the blocks around Forest Hill, Chaplin or Avenue, Contact Us. We are happy to talk it through with you.
