It's The Real Thing

Toronto doesn't have its own baked pastry but there are a few Montreal-style bagel shops in the city. Then I heard about "Turkish bagel" (simit) and wow, there's a café at King and Niagara offering this interesting treat called Simit and Chai.

Early Sunday afternoon, I dropped by. It was a bright place, in the hipster mold, with a trendy clientele. The café offered numerous Middle Eastern bite-site fares especially sweet dessert (other than baklava). I got the traditional offering of simit, pastirma, asiago cheese, and tomato ($11.50). What came out was a large, hollowing bagel liberally coated with sesame seed. It was a wonderful combination of flaviour between the cheese, tomato, and slight saltiness from the cured beef. The simit itself was toothsome and fragrant. I quite enjoyed this "street eat" though there was a bit of sticker shock since the simit itself was only $2/each if you bought a dozen.