It was a bright, warm (although sometimes with a nippy wind) Tuesday so I decided to head out for lunch. The nearby high school was on its lunch break and students were congregating outside. One of the perks of living in an urban location was the many choices for food. Most students brought lunch from home but the next most popular options were 241 pizza and Popeye's or MacDonald's from Gerrard Square. Sadly, the Vietnamese banh mi shop had no traffic. I was a bit surprised to see some older kids hanging out inside Dineen Outpost having coffee/tea, cookies, etc. When I was young, we weren't cool enough or lived in a hip enough place to have a barista shop. At lunch, we crowded the local convenience store which had a side-room with 5-6 arcade games.
I kept walking to Logan and stepped inside Madame Levant. This little café promised Turkish coffee and Middle-Eastern fares. My last encounter with Levantine cuisine was a fusion with Italian pizza. I ordered a black mint tea ($3.75) and a Halloumi Zatar sandwich ($14.50). The server said the drink would be better than Arabesque's Blood of the Pigeon tea (though he didn't know what that was). I was skeptical when I saw the lipton tea bag. It didn't wow me like Arabesque but the sugar and fresh mint leaves did improve the generic base.
The sandwich, or more aptly flatbread/sharwarma wrap, was better. The combination of zatar, fried Halloumi cheese, and a mix of tomatoes, olives, and arugula had a nice balanced flavour. The space was bright, airy, and felt local. It was a small lunch for $24 (with tax + tip) but I'm slowly getting used to modern prices.
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