Restaurant: Insomnia Restaurant & Lounge
Location: 563 Bloor St West, Toronto, ON M5S 1Y6
Price Range: $$
[wp-review]
Insomnia is a famous brunch and late night spot in Toronto, conveniently located on Bloor Street West and 2 minutes walk from Bathurst Station. I used to work around here and everytime I passed by, the place was always crowded and lively! I came here 1 year ago when the term “brunch” was a new thing for me, and I have to say, it was Insomnia that introduced me to brunch on the weekends ;).
On the weekends their brunch hour is from 9am-3pm and I strongly recommend to make a reservation ahead of time, as this place can get crowded very fast. I didn’t make a reservation and the wait was around 45mins to 1 hour for 2 people.
Since Insomnia opens until 2AM, it is a great spot for late night drinks and snacks with their extensive drink menu.
I like how they decorated the ceilings with those lights throughout the restaurant, make it looks like stars, super pretty :D.
To be honest I actually have never eaten Greek Yogurt with granola and fruits before (I know, shocking eh?). Also, I admit the price is quite steep for an inexpensive and simple dish, but I’m glad I tried it and now I have been making this dish for breakfast! You can add your own choices of fruits and nuts, and I don’t add honey as my fruits are usually sweet enough :).
Anyways, the Sun Salutation was delicious but just a tad sweet in my opinion. The fruits and honey were already sweet enough, I didn’t think the raisins were needed
Of course the egg benedicts were spot on, and slathered with a yummy Hollandaise sauce. The homefries aren’t your normal fries, they are baked potatoes and covered in their “Legendary Sauce” without them being soggy. I have no idea what the sauce was, but it seems to be a ketchup based sauce? They were soooo gooood and I would definitely come back here just for their homefries. The mixed greens were lightly dressed with a vinaigrette, very refreshing and lightened up the dish! 🙂 Unfortunately I don’t think my muffins were toasted, they came out cold and too chewy for my taste.
The curry rice cakes were the spotlight of this dish! It’s like the chef got some leftover curry rice, did some magical thing and boom, flavorful patties were born :D. You can substitute your bread with this for $2 and I would take the curry rice cakes over the english muffins any day! Other than that, the egg benedicts were perfect again, the Hollandaise sauce wasn’t too heavy and had a hint of citrus. My friend also got a side order of peameal and I wish the waitress would have asked if she wanted to incorporate it with the egg benedict, as it looked quite sad like that on the side lol but oh well, it wasn’t a big deal.
While the wait at Insomnia was quite long, I would say the wait was worth it!I have been here twice and enjoyed both times. The food is great, server is friendly and efficient for a really busy place. Apparently I heard their pancakes are delicious so I can’t wait to come back! If you are around the area, definitely give this place a try as it is a solid brunch spot in downtown Toronto :).
