Looking for Halal Brunch in Toronto? Check out These 6 Spots
Toronto’s halal food scene continues to grow, and its brunch scene is no different.
Although I don’t follow a halal diet, I know a lot of people who do – so I wanted to prepare this list to combine all the great halal brunch restaurants I’ve tried in one place.
(Plus, I’m vegetarian, so I feel the “alternative diet” struggle. Veggie-halal solidarity? Is that a thing? If not, it really should be.)
In my brunch expeditions around Toronto, I’ve found five brunch restaurants that I can confirm are halal (as listed on their website, their menu, or confirmed via Instagram after I went).
So, in no particular order, here are the top six halal brunch restaurants in Toronto!
1. Eggstatic
Location: Bayview Village (1568 Bayview Ave)
Brunch hours: 7 AM – 4 PM Tuesday-Thursday, 8 AM – 5 PM Friday-Saturday, 8 AM – 4 PM Sunday and holidays
Although the most-Instagrammed meal you’ll see off Eggstatic’s menu is their Lotus Biscoff pancakes, they offer a huge variety of Middle Eastern dishes with a brunch spin. Five different Benedicts, four different croissant sandwiches, and appetizers galore – what’s not to love?
Plus, they serve brunch all day, every day, so it’s easy to get your fix. (I’m definitely going back to try their Pistachio and Akawi Cheese Pancake… who’s with me?)
2. Takht-e Tavoos
Location: Brockton Village (1120 College St)
Brunch hours: 10 AM – 3 PM Wednesday-Sunday
Brunch menu (note they also have rotating specialties that are not listed)
Tavoos is part of the Pomegranate restaurant family, serving simple and delicious Persian brunch meals. What I liked about most their brunch meals were that they combined a lot of small dishes into one larger meal, so I could have a bit of halloumi, a bit of bread, and a bit of lentil all in one bite.
(Plus, even non-olive-lovers are sure to enjoy the ones Tavoos serves – they’re stuffed and covered with walnut paste!)
3. Maha’s
Location: Leslieville (226 Greenwood Ave)
Brunch hours: 8 AM – 6:30 PM Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday; 8 AM – 4:30 PM weekends
A classic on the Toronto brunch scene, Maha’s serves up Egyptian fare with a homey atmosphere. Their honey cardamom latte is also one of my favourite coffee drinks in the city – this means a lot coming from me, considering how much coffee I drink on a weekly basis. (On a side note, who else is a sucker for cardamom? And don’t even talk to me about the Starbucks version!)
Be warned, though: their lines stretch around the block on weekends, so you might be better off going on a weekend. If you want to learn more, check out my full review (although they’ve renovated since it was posted, so clearly I need to go back!).
4. The Poet Café
Location: King East (173 King St E)
Brunch hours: 8 AM – 3 PM Monday-Friday, 10 AM – 3 PM Saturday-Sunday
During the week, go visit the Poet to sip some delicious coffee… and during the weekend, go visit them for some amazing Persian brunch!
Or, just go there all week long for both. I won’t judge.
Note that they offer different menus depending on the day of the week: weekdays feature a greater variety of simpler dishes, Saturdays (the day on which I visited) has a smaller menu with more elaborate dishes, and Sundays they offer one main dish with six sides and a drink – I’m going to have to go back and try that out myself.
5. Little Sito
Location: Bloorcourt (840 Bloor St W)
Brunch hours: 10:30 AM – 3 PM, weekends
Little Sito offers a delicious variety of Lebanese fare in an upscale industrial ambiance (and also have a dinner menu for days when you’re not just feeling brunch). They have a lot of sharing (mezza) plates, making it a great choice if you’re going with a large group.
You can find my full review if you want to know more about their ambiance and what I tried, but I do want to highlight one thing: their large front window. It opens out onto the street, making it the perfect spot for people-watching and day-dreaming on a summer day.
6. Naan & Kabob
Location: Yonge and Bloor (691 Yonge St)
Brunch hours and menu: not listed on their site, but they open at 11 on weekends
Although Naan & Kabob is best known for (what else) their kabobs, they’ve now started offering a brunch menu at their downtown location. It features traditional Afghan breakfast dishes such as haleem (an oatmeal-like dish cooked with cinnamon and cardamom) as well as their twist on shakshuka made with paneer and spinach.
The advantage of their brunch is that you pay at the counter before getting your food, meaning that if you have places to go afterwards, you can rush right out! (It’s also right beside the Yonge & Bloor subway station, making it accessible no matter where you live in the city.) Although this means you may sacrifice some of the traditional brunch ambiance, it is useful for those on a tight schedule.
Bonus: Aunty’s Kitchen
Location: 6039 Erin Mills Pkwy
Brunch hours: 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM, weekends and holidays
Since Aunty’s is in Mississauga and not in Toronto, I’m including them as a bonus item on this list. They’re better known for their lunch and dinnertime menu, but their Erin Mills location also serves Pakistani breakfast food with a brunch twist, from the classic nihari to Nutella-stuffed paratha. (And note that it’s only the Erin Mills location that serves brunch, so be careful if you’re visiting one of their other locations!)
If you follow a halal diet, I hope you’ve found this list helpful in selecting your next brunch restaurant in Toronto (and if not, well, these spots are just generally delicious, so I hope you still try one of them out).
If there are any other great Toronto halal brunch restaurants I missed, please comment below and let me know – or just tell me which dish you prefer at these ones!
