Post call breakfast, month one

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).

 Green bean panzanella salad (punchy fresh and sundried tomatoes, curd, soft bread and roasted hazelnuts)

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