A Great Breakfast Sandwich at Kitten and the Bear

Kitten and the Bear
Location
: 1414 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.kittenandthebear.com/

You wouldn’t think that Kitten and the Bear — an unassuming little bakery that specializes in scones — would serve one of the best breakfast sandwiches in the city, but hey, what do you know?  They do.

They’re actually one block over from the breakfast sandwich amazingness of Dad’s Breakfast & Coffee, and they serve a breakfast sandwich that’s pretty much just as good (but with substantially less hype).

Kitten and the Bear

There’s just the one breakfast sandwich on the menu, the Egg & Cheese on a Scone: “Fluffy egg and aged cheddar on a fresh herb scone.  Add peach & red pepper savoury jam or hot honey!”  I went with the jam, which they make in-house.

Everything here just works: the sharp, gooey cheddar; the silky egg; the nice contrasting sweet and savoury punch of the jam; and especially, the amazing scone.

Kitten and the Bear

I mean, the place specializes in the stuff, so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that the scone is stellar, but it really is.  It’s delightfully buttery, with a nice crispy exterior, and an interior that really nails the fluffiness and substance that you want from a scone.

The quality of the egg, cheese, and jam is high enough that this would be a great sandwich even on lesser bread, but that scone really takes it over the top.

A Great Breakfast Sandwich at Alma + Gil

Alma + Gil
Location
: 392 Dufferin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.almaygil.com/

Alma + Gil started as a pop-up specializing in breakfast sandwiches, and have recently expanded to a new location with a full menu.  There’s some tasty-looking stuff on the menu, but of course, I had to get one of those sandwiches.

Alma + Gil

I went with the pork belly sando: “overeasy free run egg, roasted pork belly, cheese chicharron, caramelized onion sauce, brioche.”

It’s a great sandwich, with the combo of the perfectly runny egg, tender pork belly, and crispy cheese being thoroughly delicious.

Alma + Gil

The “cheese chicharron” is just a piece of cheese that’s been browned and crisped up on the griddle, and yeah, of course it’s a great addition to this (or any) sandwich.

The soft, ultra-fluffy brioche bun adds some mild sweetness, and is a great vehicle for the other ingredients here.

Alma + Gil

There are a couple of things holding this back from breakfast sandwich perfection (I wish they had gotten at least a little bit of colour on the pork belly, and the ultra-rich sandwich is crying out for some hot sauce or anything acidic to cut through its decadence somewhat), but it’s still a top-tier sandwich.

Unique Thai Brunch at Le Lert

Le Lert
Location
: 27 Carlton Street, Toronto
Website: https://lelert.ca/

I like brunch — we all like brunch — but sometimes it can get a bit boring.  Enter Le Lert, which has a fun brunch menu with a Thai twist.

Le Lert

There’s some tempting stuff on the menu, but I went with the omelette over rice, which you can get with northern style sausage patties, grilled pork jowl, pan-grilled striploin, roasted chicken thigh, or grilled mixed mushrooms.

I got the grilled pork jowl, though I was able to try one of the sausages as well.

Le Lert

It’s tasty stuff.  The perfectly-cooked omelette and the fluffy rice make for a great combo, and the unctuous pork jowl is tender and flavourful.  As for the northern style sausage patty, it’s just as good, with a great lemongrass-infused flavour.   The plate also comes with a little bowl of a thick, zippy sauce that does a great job of jazzing everything up.  It’s tasty stuff.

Hearty Kothu Roti at Saffron Spice Kitchen

Hearty Kothu Roti at Saffron Spice Kitchen
Location
: 459 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.saffronspicekitchen.com/

Saffron Spice Kitchen is a delightful little restaurant on Queen Street specializing in Sri Lankan eats.  And when I say little, I mean little.  They’ve got a couple of counter seats, but mostly, this is a take-out place.

Hearty Kothu Roti at Saffron Spice Kitchen

They have a variety of wraps and curries on the menu, but their specialty seems to be the kothu roti (basically a Sri Lankan hash, with chopped up roti, eggs, and meat), with the butter chicken version being the one they’re best known for.

It’s quite tasty and seriously hearty, with a richness from the eggs and a satisfying chewiness from the roti.  It’s also delightfully flavourful, and is absolutely crammed with Sri Lankan spices.

Hearty Kothu Roti at Saffron Spice Kitchen

The butter chicken on top isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, it’s a solid version of the dish and works well with the kothu roti.

You can choose from three levels levels of heat; I went with the hottest version, and while it could have been hotter, it was studded with sliced peppers that gave it some nice pops of heat.  It’s a tasty dish.

Hearty Kothu Roti at Saffron Spice Kitchen

But the portion, good lord.  It costs fifteen bucks, which seems like it might be on the pricey side until they hand it to you and you realize that it must weigh like three or four pounds.  It’s a good thing this is mostly a take-out joint, because this is a dish that either needs to be shared or split up into like two or three meals.  I barely made a dent in it.

Amazing Breakfast Sandwiches at Dad’s Breakfast & Coffee

Dad's Breakfast & Coffee
Location
: 1473 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/dads.goodmorning

Dad’s Breakfast Sandwiches opened pretty recently, and it’s already extremely popular.  I tried to visit a couple of weeks ago, at just before noon on a Saturday, and it was all sold out.  I don’t mean one or two sandwiches were sold out.  I mean they had sold out of everything.

Clearly, going early is advisable.  I showed up at around 9:00am this time, and the place was packed, so I’m guessing another sell-out was inevitable.

Dad's Breakfast & Coffee

(An aside: the sign calls this place “Dad’s Breakfast Sandwiches,” but online, it appears to be called “Dad’s Breakfast & Coffee.”  Figure out a name and stick with it, guys; this isn’t that hard.)

I tried a couple of the sandwiches: Dad’s ’48 (“egg, hashbrown, cheddar, house ketchup, bacon or sausage”) and Katsu Dad (“katsu egg, caramelized onions, chili crisp, aioli”).

Dad's Breakfast & Coffee

I was wondering if maybe this place was a bit over-hyped, but both of these sandwiches took my skepticism, loaded it into a cannon and shot it into the sun.  The hype: 100 percent deserved.

Dad's Breakfast & Coffee

The Dad’s ’48 is the more traditional of the two, but is just perfectly executed on every level.  You can choose between bacon and sausage; the guy behind the counter mentioned that they make their sausage in house, so that’s what I went with.

Dad's Breakfast & Coffee

It’s phenomenal.  Perfect balance between the silky egg patty, the gooey cheese, the meaty sausage (which is nicely spiced and thoroughly delicious), and the crispy hashbrown.  The ketchup and pickle slices (which the menu doesn’t mention) add more flavour and zinginess.  The fluffy, slightly sweet bun is the perfect vehicle.  It’s a top-tier breakfast sandwich.  One of the best in the city for sure.

Dad's Breakfast & Coffee

But as much as I liked that one, I think I might have liked the Katsu Dad even more.  The idea of breading and frying an egg patty is, frankly, genius.  It’s got a great level of crispiness on its exterior, but the egg patty within is just as silky and perfectly cooked at the non-fried one in the Dad’s ’48.

Dad's Breakfast & Coffee

And the combo of the ultra-savoury, mildly spicy chili crisp and the sweet caramelized onions — not to mention the creamy aioli — is a big winner.  I can’t say I’ve ever had a breakfast sandwich quite like this before, and it’s one that will live in my dreams forever.