Resto Writeup: Breakfast at Brassaii

Breakfast, to me, is definitely the most important and intimate meal of the day. Morning is a special, vulnerable time, and it sets the mood for the whole day. I don't have breakfast with just anyone, and I don't just have it anywhere.



For a cozy, relaxing and tasty breakfast with a friend, Brassaii (461 King St. W) is a venue that seldom disappoints. Named after the famous Hungarian-born photographer, the restaurant is elegantly designed in an impressively refurbished brick-and-beam industrial space with white walls providing a clean backdrop for classic and original photography. Large windows give the space a light and airy quality and make it a thoroughly enjoyable place to start your day.

Walking into this impressive yet friendly space, one expects to overpay for food, but breakfast here is surprisingly affordable. The top prize for value goes to the delicious and filling $3 croissant filled with nutella and banana. If you are interested in a healthier option, the $6 granola (with yogourt and honey) is one of the best such dishes I've had. A perennial favourite is also the goat cheese omelette ($7), with a side of toast and potatoes.

Resto Writeup: Fusaro's Kitchen

Following the theme of crowded but delicious and affordable lunch places around King/Spadina, a shining star definitely worthy of some attention is the lively and always satisfying Fusaro's Kitchen (147 Spadina Ave).

This charming cafeteria-style restaurant is a local lunchtime hotspot and it's usually fairly difficult to get a table, but even getting your food to go is worth a bit of a wait in the line. Once at the counter, you can order one of the delicious panini (my favourite is the tuna, $6.25), wraps, pasta, chicken alla parmigiana, or anything else they have laid out in the display. The bottled Brio Chinotto is another personal must-have.

Resto Writeup: Thai Princess

Thai Princess (387 King St. W) is one of the restaurants I most frequently frequent for lunch. It is also probably the best Thai restaurant I know in Toronto.

While lunchtime is often crowded, causing waits of up to 15-20 minutes on bad days, the struggle is well worth it. The dishes are mostly fairly usual fare (pad thai, curries) but they are made to a standard superior to that of most other Thai restaurants. The curry pad thai (with chicken and shrimp, $10 before taxes) is my favourite and it is truly sensational. I sometimes like to wash that down with hot ginger tea ($2.50), which comes in a nice ceramic tea pot and is a delicious remedy on a cold winter day.

Only once has anything in this restaurant disappointed me, and it had to do with the aforementioned ginger tea. In this one instance, another person accompanying me ordered the ginger tea as well, and we were made to share the one tea pot. We had had multiple tea orders before, and each person was always given their own pot previously, but the server assured me there was no mistake in this case. Certainly, it makes no sense to charge us twice for the same thing I normally get a single charge for. Anyway, a minor misunderstanding which was not repeated.

For an inexpensive, lively, laid-back and yet high-quality Thai lunch in the King/Spadina area, you can't go wrong with Thai Princess.