Baddies
Baddies is what happened when west end cool met culinary iconoclasm. It’s a small casual white room with alternating marble and black wood tables. You order at the counter and pay up front, but all resemblance to McDonald’s ends there.

What kind of brain could even have dreamt the hotcake? A soft pale buttermilk pancake is foundation for a gastronomic crazy quilt: lemon-scented blueberries, some kiwi, blackberries and strawberries, pears poached in activated charcoal (!!), and in the centre, a small melting tower of London fog leche and Milo butter. What, you ask, is that? Milo is chocolate malt powder dusted on the outside of the leche — dulce de leche flavoured with Earl Grey tea and vanilla, to mimic the London fog drink. And just to gild the already entertaining lily, the hotcake is scattered with flower petals.

But my favourite Baddies brekky is the Brekky Roll — a warm crisp Ace Bakery brioche-like bun holding a perfectly runny fried egg atop mint-tinged chimichurri, tomato and onion relish, arugula, melted cheddar, house-made BBQ sauce and smoky Cumbraes bacon. Bite into that and know that breakfast rules the day.

Baddies, 679 Lansdowne Ave., no phone

A mound of French toast marries well with strips of bacon. 
 

Oakwood Hardware
The hottest hipster hangout north of Dundas is also incredibly family-friendly, and weekend brunches always include small people in high chairs, whom the servers treat with utmost respect. The junior gourmands are particularly fond of the white chocolate mango French toast, a gooey melt of sugary fun. They also like the small house-made jam tarts. Hold the cappuccino for Junior, lest naptime be World War Three. Although the sugar might just do the job.

It’s a tall bright room, with an expansive terrace to welcome summer. The buffet offers good smoked salmon with the expectable baked goods, sausages both normal and turkey, bacon, the aforementioned French toast, hash browns and other indulgences. À la carte you can order a credible Benny with nice runny egg yolks. They also do a somewhat iconoclastic Korean fried chicken sammy — chicken is fried in great tasting Korean-spiked batter, crunchy and spicy, and served on a lovely short biscuit with lettuce.

Sipping a latte after brunch on the sunlit terrace, among young families and hipsters with their trademark little hats and sculpted haircuts, one feels almost…. Cool.

Oakwood Hardware, 337 Oakwood Ave., 416-658-9898