this little rose: A Vegiac Visits.. Kensington Market in Toronto, ON

Early on in our stay in Toronto, we asked my favorite front desk guy what he recommended we do on days off. His first recommendation was a visit to Kensington Market. Why? "Because everything there is awesome." How so? "I don't know, it just... every single thing is awesome."

K. Well.. sure, why not.

It is, indeed, awesome for lots of reasons, mainly it's an extremely eclectic neighborhood with lots of cool shops and restaurants, full of immigrants, stoners, hipsters, elderly Jews.. seriously, it's like if all of Brooklyn converged on itself and shrunk to a few blocks.

Happily, there's quite a few places in Kensington Market where I can eat! One such place, Omnivore, offers muffins. I haven't had a chance to try them yet, but I really want to. Muffins were my meal of choice in college, like those giant bran muffins with the fruit on top? Yeah. They're a perfect food and I miss them...

A few great health food stores, too. Great selection, reasonable enough prices.

We've eaten at two restaurants:

The first, Kensingtons, was.. well, it's a cute place. And I applaud them for having a LARGE gluten free menu. However..

I ordered the All Day Breakfast, which is normally $3.99 but effing $10.99 for gf. I mean.. I get that the bread costs more, but really? Are you charging me for requiring a clean griddle? Plus, the regular breakfast includes meat and the gf doesn't. I don't eat meat, but shouldn't something with meat cost more than something without?

Price aside...

Kinda lackluster, no? Really, really basic. And the potato and veggies weren't particularly tasty. And it took 45 minutes to get 2 orders of eggs. Blah.

They also have a large sign in the window claiming to have the best coffee in the city. I realize that isn't like a legal claim or anything, but they're on crack.

A plus? Their sugar, salt and pepper packets are adorbs.

My favorite? The sugar, boasting that it is without equal (see what they did there?), and the pepper, which is just olden-timey cute.

Ugh, I love that everything in Canada is in French as well as English. It's just so charming.

Far more successful than Kensington's is Kensington Cornerstone, where EVERYTHING IS GLUTEN-FREE.

Let me make sure you got that:

I love you, Kensington Cornerstone.

The good news is that the food is also delicious. We've had brunch and dinner here- no pictures of my dinner (mushroom melt with fries) because I was just too hungry and didn't think about it. It was delicious, though. Promise. And I realize it is a strange life when fries are a luxury food, but mmm. Fries. Such a treat to be able to eat you. We also got pecan pie, which was also delicious.

Brunch:

That's the "Big Breakfast Bowl" aka 2 eggs, 3 pancakes, pancakes and veggies. Hello, pretty. Hello.

I scarfed the hell out of that.

I hope Toronto celiacs know what a great restaurant they have in their backyard- Kensington Cornerstone has been open since the Spring and I wish it a long and happy life. It definitely improved my quality of life here, and I would absolutely be a regular if I lived here for real.