135 Danforth Avenue
Toronto, ON
416 466-9100.
From the outside, it looks like a hoity-toity bakery. In terms of presentation, the cakes, pastries, squares, breads, and other baked goods are beautifully displayed by the window. The smells draw people in like bait and in no time customers can’t resist. They’ll buy little tarts, fudge, cakes, danishes, and other fattening treats.
I did not know that they served brunch until I went in with a friend to buy a German bread called “Schtolen”. I was surprised to find out that they also serve a healthy brunch too. The next Sunday, I went with my two friends and we enjoyed our brunch. Nestled in the back, there are about 15-20 large tables which sit about 40 people. Walls are multi-coloured and overall decor is fun and funky. I enjoyed an egg white omelete with broccoli, cauliflower, mushroom, mozzarella cheese, and spanish onion.
My other friend has a mushroom and cheese omelete and my other friend had roast beef in a baguette. The service was incredibly slow [one server had quit that very morning] but four different servers were very nice, attentive, and always brought us fresh milk for our coffee, free coffee refills, and were always coming around to see if we were generally happy.
I admit it must be difficult to manage a pastry and bakery shop and a restaurant with only 4-5 staff.
For the slow service, they apologized profusely and gave us a complimentary bag full of cookies. I do not mean chocolate chip cookies to dunk into milk, but fancy, schmancy cookies that look too nice to eat. I gave them to my two friends since cookies are not “Mark-friendly” The omelete was $7.95 and there was no extra charge to make it an egg white omelete…thank goodness….Both of our dishes were served with a large bowl of organic greens with a homemade raspberry viniagrette which was sweet, tart, chunky, and fruity. It may have looked like jam but it was clearly a viniagrette. I would recommend this place for the food and service are stellar.