Post call breakfast
Coming to Toronto means adopting the Canadian
work-lifestyle. Hello, 24 hour in-house calls where sleep is fragmented and
variable. Including the signover times, I’m often in the hospital for
25-26hours at a stretch. With fragmented sleep in a marshmallow mattress, I
decided to make myself two rules:
1.
Thou shalt take the streetcar to/from work on
call days
2.
Thou shalt eat something delicious after the
call
Hence begins the exploration of the neighbourhood for post
call breakfast
July 9 – Aunties &
Uncles
74 Lippincott St, Toronto
One of the most popular brunch spots in Toronto, it is easy
to see why this place is packed on a Saturday morning. We waited close to an
hour in the blazing sun but it was really worthwhile.
We had omelette of the day (spinach, asparagus and goats
cheese) with challah toast and potato salad; and banana maple pancakes. The
omelette was fluffy and tasty with a good punch from the goats cheese. The
potato salad was piquant and the toast simply indulgent. The pancakes were even
better, just a little oaty and not too sweet, perfect to soak up the maple
syrup.
July 11 – Nu Bugel
240 Augusta St, Toronto
I was pretty tired by the time I made it here, and reading
menus is not my forte. Toasted coconut bagel? Sounded interesting enough and
the waitress’ suggestion of cream cheese to accompany was perfect – soft and
oozing like a dream. The coffee is free on weekdays which is a nice bonus.
July 15 – Our Spot
There is a funky bench outside Our Spot, which sits in the
middle of Kensington village. The service is super friendly and the waitress
lent a sympathetic ear to my troubles.
Breakfast here is huge and I had to take half of it home.
The Greek plate has Greek salad, 3 eggs cooked any style, toast and home fries.
The heartiness was just what I needed after a long night. I went home and
crashed out.
July 20 – Dark Horse
Espresso
This was the first time I did not sleep a wink for the
entire 24 hour call and I felt really dark when I left the hospital. As I
talked to P on the phone I managed to walk the wrong way and ended up on the
south side of Spadina. There was a huge queue of people in dark horse so I
walked in too.
The space is beautiful and airy. The blackboard menu is
trendy hipsteriffic and the promise of a flat white had me almost close to
tears. I also picked up this cherry almond scone (sort of half savoury, half
sweet) to gobble with my coffee… but all in all it was pretty average. It made
me miss home.
July 24 – Cobb’s
scones… Momofuku Daisho
After this call I didn’t go out for breakfast because the
attending had brought scones for our breakfast. The blueberry scone was
beautifully moist – hands down favourite.
After a brief nap I went for lunch at Momofuku Daisho.
Momofuku in Toronto takes up a whole building adjacent to the Shangri la, with
a stunning modern artwork of a ?horse ?bull ?unicorn full of hands right
outside. Inside, the noodle bar is a chaotic space on the ground floor, but
daisho is the grown-up area on the first floor. Surrounded completely by glass,
the space is beautifully bright. We had an amazing 3 course meal here as part
of the summerlicious promotion ($28).
The infamous pork bun.
Kim chi noodle (a la bibimbap but with the noodles drenched in a kim chi peanut sauce, just the right amount of spicy)
Secreto ssam plate (the pork was so aesthetically pleasing, the grains of the meat inviting even to a vegetarian. Served with sticky rice, daikon, gravy and lettuce cups)
Deconstructed blueberry cheesecake
Honeydew sorbet with white chocolate
