Kosher Food and Drink

My wife and I were recently at a wedding in Toronto (“Thornhill”) for some close family friends. This was a very brief trip (less than 24 hours on the ground), but we did have a chance on the following morning to grab some brunch before our flight out.

Toronto has a great selection of kosher restaurants, so figuring out where we wanted to eat required some thought. We landed on Cafe Sheli (7700 Bathurst St, Thornhill, ON L4J 0A7, Canada; +1 905-762-0640; cafesheli.com; under COR supervision; dairy), which had convenient hours and an appealing brunch-appropriate menu.

Cafe Sheli was reasonably close to the Thornhill Jewish community, and has a lot of parking nearby. The restaurant ambience itself is something of a mixed bag. The dining area is pretty nice, with some great lighting and clean environs. However, there was some mess in the area surrounding it (as well as a somewhat puzzling hole in the ceiling tiles). It was a pleasant enough spot to eat, but I’d encourage them to look at cleaning up those messy bits.

We were seated quickly, and service was fast and friendly. They didn’t hassle us at all about bringing in our luggage, which was kind of them. The menu is pretty expansive – there’s a lot for breakfast, but also for lunch and dinner. I would say that there’s something for everyone here, and in these days of paring menus to reduce operational costs, that’s not nothing.

I decided to go with the triple-decker challah grilled cheese. My wife had the “eggs benny” and hot chocolate. We split an order of poutine between us. The food came out pretty fast, and the plating was surprisingly thought out – they had three different dishes in use, and each worked nicely for the particular item we ordered.

The triple-decker challah grilled cheese was… average. It was as advertised, but it tasted somewhat bland. I think a little more attention to the crust composition, with more butter and salt, would have done wonders for the end product. The salad was a bit more interesting, with a tasty, acid-y vinaigrette.

In contrast, the eggs benny were absolutely exceptional, at least according to my wife and the tiny bite of it that I had. The hollandaise sauce was very well-constructed, and the eggs were done perfectly. She plowed through the whole thing in no time.

Unfortunately, the poutine was a bit of a letdown – no cheese curds! It was basically just cheesy fries and some gravy. It tasted fine, but I had somewhat higher expectations on the item given price and the Canadian sourcing.

The final price was about $45 USD ($65 CAD), which is about average these days. If we had skipped the poutine, it would have been closer to $30, which is pretty normal for a lunch for two.

Cafe Sheli is a pretty good spot for a nice dairy meal. I’d encourage them to work on the aesthetics a bit more and perhaps elevate the menu further, but I’d certainly return again in the future. There were clearly a lot of regulars in the restaurant, so I assume it’s a popular local choice.