Station Café & Kitchen: A Community Fixture
Station Cafe & Kitchen is a relatively new addition to the Bloor West brunch scene. Sitting at the corner of Bloor and Ossington (which is definitely a point in its favour - too many brunch spots are far from the subway!) it features a small patio as well as a spacious interior.
The interior is friendly and well-lit, with bright yellow walls and spray-painted graffiti art lending it a casual feel. Although they haven’t been around long, they’re already making a name for themselves by hosting a wide variety of events, from Paint Nites to open mic nights (the last Wednesday of every month) to beer yoga.
And of course… they have pretty good food too!
All of their meals and sauces are made from scratch, and they’ve purposely kept their menu lean to ensure they can narrow down on what makes them great.
And even though it wasn’t that big, it still featured a wide variety of vegetarian options, which I appreciated. It was easy for me to find a variety of dishes I could try there, brunch-related or not.
And try a variety of dishes we did!
The first up: Breakfast Poutine (which is made with vegetarian gravy that rivals Poutini’s).
It’s part of their all-day breakfast menu - and would be perfect for both an early-morning hangover cure or a late-night snack. The cheese curds melted perfectly into the crispy “smash browns”, giving it the perfect poutine texture. It usually comes with bacon, but we got it with a bit of avocado on the side instead.
The next up: Vegan Butter Chicken! The sauce was very fresh and not heavy, while still retaining the classic flavour.
Although I liked the pieces of “chicken” (sourced from Yam Chops, a local vegan butchery), I found the texture of the naan a bit dry and the rice slightly overcooked - maybe it would have turned out better with the sauce on the side rather than on top?
Next, we tried their simply named Omelette. It was vegetarian, and came with the same delicious fried potatoes that formed the base of the Breakfast Poutine.
We could really taste the difference that having them cut fresh made - they were crispy perfection. (And I ate them with sriracha, of course!)
The Omelette itself, much like its name, was nothing particularly special. It included red peppers, tomato, and onion: a classic combination, but one that could have used a little more pizazz to make it stand out.
Finally, we tried a couple of sandwich-style dishes: the classic Avocado Toast (wouldn’t be a real brunch without it, right?) and their Vegetarian Schnitzel.
I thought the combination of Avocado Toast and salsa, the sauce that came with it, was a little odd, but the thick coating of avocado was definitely appreciated! The layer of feta on top also added a nice touch to an otherwise simple meal.
The Schnitzel was probably our favourite of the dishes we got to try, simply because it was a little different than the norm. Once again, Yam Chops provided the “meat”, and Station Café provided the homemade ranch sauce. We liked that they added more onto the side so that it was easy to dip the sandwich in it.
Overall review of Station Café & Kitchen’s brunch: 3.5/5
Although I liked the atmosphere and the food was good, I didn’t feel like it had any truly standout elements that made their meals exceptional. However, I’d probably still go back because I liked the service, and it would be an easy spot to go with a group of friends.
Station Café & Kitchen brunch at a glance:
Good for: smaller or larger groups (they also offer discounts for larger meetups)
Good mix of vegetarian and meat options
Brunch hours: weekends from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
