Location: 88 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://mamakas.ca/bar-koukla/

I visited Bar Koukla for brunch recently, and it was thoroughly delicious.  But then this place is an offshoot of Mamakas Taverna, which I like quite a lot, so I probably shouldn’t be surprised.

I tried the patates arnaki, which features tender braised lamb served with Greek-style roasted potatoes and a yogurt sauce.

Every element here is so good — the lamb is tasty and super tender, the perfectly cooked potatoes are infused with an almost meaty flavour, and the yogurt adds a nice zippiness that cuts through the richness of the meat and potatoes.  It’s a great dish.

My only complaint about the place actually has nothing to do with the food — I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the furniture at a restaurant, but the saggy, backless chairs here are absurdly unpleasant to sit on.  They’re so flagrantly uncomfortable that I have to imagine that this is a purposeful choice to encourage diners to leave faster to improve turnover.  It’s a sour note on an otherwise stellar meal.