Bonjour Brioche and coupla banh mi's (Toronto quickie)

Bonjour Brioche has been covered extensively on CH but never mentioned here in the Toronto threads.

just look at all the fresh (and PROPER) baguettes as well as the completely open kitchen which allowed the smell of browned butter to permeate the entire space:


various people have voiced their disappointment w/ "bland" peameal (Canadian bacon). i, for one, had a great peameal bacon sandwich (bun freshly baked on Bonjour's own premises) that rivaled any sandwich from of al's/frank's/tony's/nicky's/insert-your-Italian-cousin's-name-here beef. fresh micro greens and a brush of sweet mayo dressing topped the juicy ham. of course, St. Lawrence Street Market was closed the whole weekend we were there so this was the only peameal bacon sandwich i had (perhaps a blessing in disguise?)

the bacon, watercress, onion quiche was creamy and the smooth custard waddled when touched. coupled with a buttery flaky pastry crust... this slice was just about the perfect brunch food on a frozen Canadian morning. the girlie - on her new years resolution diet plan - touted the granola fruit bowl topped with sunflower seats, shredded coconut flakes, pomegranade seeds, chunks of pineaples, etc., the best CAN$6 she never had to spend.

Bonjour Brioche
812 Queen St. East
Toronto, ON
416 406-1250

fortuidous for my perpetual banh mi haunt, Spadina Street provided the perfect head-to-head comparo:


i'm going to cop out and leave out details of the 2 sandwiches. both restaurants have assembly line style banh mi makers, both have a mountain of pate in the aforementioned assembly line. both store fronts can be tough to negotiate. bottom line: at CAN$1.50, try both and you'll also conclude Banh Mi Nguyen Huong's a lil better (chewy bread, tangy slices of sour pork, more pate, ad nauseam)

Banh Mi & Che Cali (is this place related to the stores of Cali?)


the throng inside Banh Mi Nguyen Huong (dude, who bumped me?):


my real find was the slightly tucked (down) and away:
Chinese Traditional Buns
536 Dundas St. W.,
Toronto
T: 416-299-9011

where the proprietary advised: becuase of the "lazy white people", he doesn't really serve anything until 11am even tho the doors are open at 1030. the gentle man with the heavy northern accent gave us burning hot (yet thin...) soy milk for the road. those in search of xiao long bao are in luck and to put this place into the right perspective: a color picture of braised pork hock can be found taped onto the shabby walls. the tragedy of it all: i didn't get to taste any of it...

let's not forget the fruit stands in Chinatown (NYC style):


Fresh rambutan, longan and lychee as well as my sugar apple:

are all available at reasonable prices (after exchange rate of course).

the BEST PART??? we roomed and boarded and dined for < USD$220 (excluding that lil detour to Chiado) for the weekend. with the perfectly smooth roads, the tiny lil 5 door Toyota Yaris not available in the States, this is definitely the better country in N. America