The 411 On a recent trip to Toronto, Sunday morning came around and after a fun night before where everyone had their share of drinks, the troops were rallied and we headed out to brunch. Isn’t that what brunch is for? To give you enough time to sleep in a little bit while not blowing your entire day and getting some tasty food in your stomach- as well as piecing together the night before.

At 1st glance When I’m in Toronto I rely on others to let me know what’s good. Sometimes, I will do research but I have been to a bunch of spots already and the recommendations I get from my friends have delivered every time. Hanks was on the list and in contention with another spot although, the fact it was close by helped in swaying the decision. We got there and soon realized that a group of 7 is not an easy thing to accommodate but the stars must have aligned because we were seated in around 10 minutes. The interior is of a decent size with a bunch of tables and banquettes. It holds over 50 people. The washrooms are kind of tucked away in that you need to go down a hallway at the left end of the restaurant, walk for a while and find the washroom. I almost felt like I ended up in a different restaurant’s washroom because of how far I went.

Food The menu consists of almost 30 main items with some sides and beverages. Prices range from $8-$12, coffee is $1.90 and gives you free refills. Hanks has a varied menu with a good representation of sandwiches and burgers, some vegetarian options, as well as a breakfast poutine ($9). The menu breakdown is as follows:

Half of us ended up having the Hanks Benny ($13) which is two poached eggs with tomato salsa, generous pieces of avocado and hollandaise sauce. The fact that they used avocado in this dish is what attracted most of us to it. The generous side of potatoes and fruit helped makes the dish even more enjoyable. They applied the right amount of hollandaise sauce and not a single crumb was left.

The Mushroom & Goat Cheese Wrap ($8) comes with roasted garlic white bean spread, thyme, roasted red peppers & baby spinach in a whole wheat tomato tortilla wrap. The wrap was filling and the portion was large – quite a good deal for $8. Also, the bonus is that it is vegetarian friendly and a tasty option at that.

In the same healthy range was the cheddar and apple salad ($9) which had spiced cashews, grapes, sliced apples, mixed greens and a mustard vinaigrette. This salad was a wonderful marriage of healthy and tasty, not to mention it wasn’t a small portion.

There was also the cheesy eggs ($10) which is scrambled eggs, aged cheddar, home fries, a choice of bacon, sausage or peameal and toasted grain bread. I did not get to try this one although it did look quite interesting and any option for peameal makes me happy.

Service We had some small hiccups with the service. My order was messed up and they gave me an eggs Benedict instead of a Hanks Benny. I do understand that the names can sound similar but it is still a mixup, which they did fix quickly. Two of my friends did not get the sides they wanted – one had it mixed up and the other never received it but it was also never billed for it. I should note there was some resistance over us having individual bills and they were pushing for one bill which we would have had to calculate amongst ourselves. I don’t like this one bit and I know it makes the life of the restaurant easier, but it makes the clients life more difficult.

Vegetarian There are some good vegetarian options on this menu and they are tasty as well. The portion sizes are large and the dishes are creative so not only do you have choice, it’s tasty as well.

Wrap up Overall, I did enjoy Hanks. The dishes were tasty, the portion sizes were generous and the prices are fair. Service had some hiccups but I can see myself coming back and maybe trying the breakfast poutine.

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Price	$$	$10-$12
Overall		3.5/5
Wheelchair Access	NO	0/3
Parking	Street, Meter	Medium