Location: 1550 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://goodfork.ca/

The first thing I should note is that Good Fork is extremely popular.  I showed up a bit after 11:00 on a recent Saturday and the place was an absolute madhouse; it was completely packed, with a whole bunch of people standing around waiting for tables and a 45 minute wait to be seated.

I came back a week later at around 9:30 and got seated right away, and by the time I left it was packed again.  They don’t do reservations on the weekend, so be warned: show up early or get ready to wait.

I tried a couple of things.  First up was the crispy chicken sandwich: “toasted bun, breaded n’ fried chicken thigh, lemony schmaltz mayo, lettuce, dilly labneh, pickles.”  This didn’t particularly knock my socks off, but it’s a very good fried chicken sandwich.  It kinda reminded me of an upscale McChicken.  I got the salad on the side, which is fairly by-the-numbers, but is nice and zippy and does a good job of cutting through the richness of the sandwich.

I also tried the blueberry halva pancakes, which, unlike the sandwich, kinda did knock my socks off.  From the menu: “buttermilk pancake stack, orange blossom ricotta, lemony blueberry, halva crumble, pure hockley valley maple syrup.”

These were some top-notch pancakes; the pancakes themselves strike the perfect balance between fluffiness and substance, and all the toppings were super tasty.  It never would have occurred to me to put halva on a pancake, but its nutty richness complements the sweet blueberry sauce perfectly.

I also liked that the level of sweetness was relatively restrained — the dish comes with a bottle of maple syrup on the side, but it’s so good on its own that I found this to be completely unnecessary.