For those of you who do not know Chef Doug McNish, I am a big fan of his and have been enjoying his food for years from Raw Aura, to the Brickworks, and even luckily, sometimes in my own home! He has just started cooking in his new kitchen, and because of popular demand, has tables and chairs and is going to be serving Sunday Brunch every week.
You may think that Doug’s Public Kitchen is in a bit of a weird area of Toronto, but in reality, it’s in a very central place, and right at the Glencairn Subway station, so everyone can easily get to Doug’s awesmazing vegan and organic food! You’ll see his sign clearly as you drive or walk by, it says “Eat Real Food” and it even has many of the terms he uses to describe his own food – organic, vegan, delicious, ethical etc. (pictures below!)
Brunch today was beyond words, I cannot begin to describe how good the food was! It’s very exciting to have a spot that serves all organic food, it makes it worth leaving home for! The only problem was deciding what to have, since as I read each item on his menu, it got better and better and better. So, I decided to order the last item on the menu I read, because I figured I would stick with the “best for last” concept. I believe it worked, although everything else that arrived at our table of 6 and every other table looked incredible too! Do you want to know what my dish was? It was Doug’s Triple Decker Brunch Club Sandwich and it was delicious! It included layers of so many flavours, colours and textures and each bite came together so well, making me have a big smile on my face. Now you are probably wondering what was on this sandwich that I’m giving such high praise to, and here it is: sprouted grain toast, with roasted garlic cashew mayonnaise, tempeh bacon, crisp cornmeal tomato, crisp tofu, avocado and, lettuce, served with herbed homefries and a house salad with his signature house salad dressing, which our table told him that he needs to bottle, it’s so good!
My mother and cousin ordered Doug’s raw crepes and raved about them the whole time they were eating them. I tried one little bite, and must admit, they were great, and if I was still hungry (which I wasn’t since Doug’s portions are huge), I would have ordered one or two of them for dessert! The pancakes, vegan benedict, and the scramble platter all which arrived around me looked so good, and I will choose one next time. I didn’t see the french toast (but I have that at Brickworks Market where he serves sometimes so know how incredible it is) or the chia granola bowl, but I bet you they’re great too.
Doug offers a more exciting drink menu than at most restaurants, because not only does he offer the standard coffee and tea, but he is very creative when making fresh organic juices and smoothies. I immediately chose to sip a “Cinnamon Toast Crunch” Smoothie which was a tall glass of home-made hemp milk, frozen banana, crunchy peanut butter, medjool dates, ground cinnamon and ground vanilla bean – let’s just say that my glass wasn’t full for very long. It was creamy and delicious and I will be craving it often, I highly recommend this, and it’s perfect alongside the club sandwich too.
Brunch overall was great, and others thought so too, so much so that they went over to Doug’s special fridge and took home his vegan soups, chili, mac and cheese, lasagna and his spreads for dinner or other meals.
I hope that you all go to Doug McNish’s special organic sunday brunch in the near future. Just make sure to make your reservations early because it’s a small space and I bet it’ll be full very quickly. You’ll probably see me there very often!
