KOS Restaurant

hello hello! my sincere apologies for the lag in food postings...but on a brighter note, I've now completed the majority of my exams and only have one left! woot!


so for my new food venture! last week both C and I had appointments downtown, and with things just being so wonderfully coincidental, both our appointments ended at the same time and we were only 10 minutes away from each other. since we hadn't seen each other for awhile, we decided to go grab brunch in kensington market at a place he had recently read a good review on.


i rarely visit kensington market, but for all the times that i have, i can't help but feel that the vibrant district is like a little hidden gem. nestled in downtown toronto, it is bordered between college, bathurst, dundas and spadina street. though it's inbetween four major streets, once you enter kensington, it feels as if all the traffic noises dissipate, and you are suddenly embraced by soft murmurs and shoes clicking down the cement pathways. the market is filled with a mixture of food stores, bakeries, spice and dry goods, cheese shops, and many little stores that sell a variety of new and used clothing and accessories, so it really is a must-go place if you are visiting toronto, or even live in toronto :)


but i digress...

KOS is a corner-restaurant located at bellevue ave. the exterior looks very plain and not very aesthetically pleasing, and since their signs are not very large or catching, C and i actually missed it when we were walking (careful!). entering from a side-doorway, we were greeted by a waitress (i didn't catch her name) who told us we were able to sit anywhere we wanted. the restaurant was actually very spacious, with two separate dining areas, as well as an outdoor patio. the furniture was very simple; dark wood tables with matching dark wood seats or wine-red diner-styled booth seats. C and i opted for a seat beside the window facing the outdoor patio, mostly because i wanted to sit in the booth seat haha.
we were offered two menus; one laminated and one in a bound book (many places seem to do this, don't they?). the laminated one served the daily specials, whereas the book contained all the food options you could choose, whether they be dinner, lunch or breakfast.

Spinach Cheese Omelette ($7.95)
this was C's order, a large omelette stuffed with creamy feta cheese and soft spinach. the dish was served with four slices of buttered toast (whole-wheat or white, dependent on what you prefer), a medley of  cool and crisp fruits, and what seemed to be a bunch of fried cubed potatoes. C found that, though the omelette did taste delicious, the feta cheese was too overwhelming and the texture of the egg and cheese weren't as complimentary as they could've been if mozarella or cheddar cheese had been used.



Blueberry Pancakes ($6.95)
seeing that i promised C that we'd eat pancakes since february, i felt that it was time that the promise was to be fulfilled. the menu offered the classic pancake, and you were given options on different fruits in which you could add into the batter. C and i opted for blueberries, since we both enjoy blueberries (especially in muffins ^u^). the dish came with 3 moderately sized and golden-brown pancakes, all sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. the pancakes weren't very thick, but the width didn't in any way affect the immense flavor or compromise on the ideal fluffiness that people expect from pancakes. the blueberries were not pureed (as i predicted them to be) but rather they were tossed into the batter as a whole. this was a great addition because whenever you bit into a pancake piece that contained a blueberry, the sweet fruit would literally explode with juice. the batter of the pancake itself possessed a subtle and creamy sweetness that seemed to float in your mouth. a thin crispy layer was on the outer surface of the pancake and gave you a bit of a crunch. the slight crispness and interior fluffiness combined to  create a wonderful contrast in texture.

Egg Salmonnie ($7.95)
this was my order from KOS, since i was craving smoked salmon and something relatively healthy. seeing that the large portion of the meal was poached eggs, i opted on this since there's no oil or fat in the preparation of poached eggs,only water. the dish was comprised of 3 poached eggs ontop of a bed of 2 large whole-wheat english muffins, slightly sauteed spinach and smoked salmon, all covered in a creamy opaque sauce. the eggs were accompanied with a small portion of sweet and fresh fruits, as well as some cubed potatoes. the sauce used was called Hollandaise sauce, which is basically an emulsion of egg yolk and butter, and is considered notoriously difficult to make (since egg yolks tend to scramble with the application of heat). i was extremely satisfied with the result of their sauce since it didn't have any signs of separation at all, and the texture was wonderfully creamy and had a slight tangy taste. the eggs were slightly inconsistent, since one of them didn't have the yolky interior (a sign of a well-done poached egg), but nevertheless, the flavor and silky texture of the eggs were great. the smoked salmon served with this dish was cold-smoked since the texture was rather delicate and not flaky, and though the taste wasn't as smokey as i would have preferred, it still possessed that 'oaky' taste. the only complaint i'd have of this meal is that the juices from the fruit leaked out and made my potatoes all soggy.

a close-up of the egg salmonnie

C's special pancake for me;
a blueberry pancake slice soaked in
maple syrup with a huge chunk of butter

    
     conclusively.  .      . .. 
food: 8/10
atmosphere: 7/10
service: 7/10 
portion: moderate
 price: reasonable (<$10)


happy eating!


xoxo,
-A