And Then It Goes Back

I love the public library especially in Toronto. It provides services for everyone including free internet. It's true that at certain branches like Bloor/Gladstone and Lillian H. Smith (College/Spadina) you sometimes get homeless people acting out, but the library is for everyone. During my unemployment after the dot com crash, my fondest memory was going to Gladstone everyday, sitting in their quiet reading room/lounge (lost in the renovation), and going through the daily news. In fact, I relied on the library in a similar way during the start of the pandemic. Although 20 years later it was now digitally through my tablet while in lockdown in Ottawa. So one of my biggest annual charitable donation is to the TPL.

With a relative coming to stay for a few days at my sublet next week, I took advantage of another library perk: free passes to various cultural sites. I could only get 1 every Saturday so for the past 3 week-ends, I went to 3 different branches early in the morning: Jones/Gerrard, Spadina, and Pape/Danforth. With 2-person passes to the AGO, ROM, and the Bata Shoe Museum, this was a saving of around $130. All 3 were small branches (to maximize my chance of getting a pass) with Pape being the prettiest.

After visiting Pape, I walked along Danforth looking for an eatery that was opened at 9:30 am. I came across Boomerang Sandwich but it had nothing to do with Australian food. It was an Asian fusion place that, according to the lone server, opened about 2 months ago. There was Vietnamese banh mi and pho, Thai curry, and a few Chinese dishes. I was surprised that there were several vegetarian options so I tried the Vegetarian Beef Banh Mi ($8.99).

It was an all right breakfast. I liked that the meat substitute wasn't just tofu although I'm not sure the sauces were vegetarian. Sometimes Asian eateries have a different understanding of no-animal products. Instead of a Vietnamese baguette it was a soft sub. I thought it was better than the traditional Banh Mi Huy Ky on Gerrard but maybe not "100% more expensive" better. On the other hand, the rent on Danforth was likely much higher.

13/05/2022: I went back to try the vegetarian pho ($12.99). It was underwhelming. The broth did not have any richness and it was the same beef as the banh mi. Most importantly, besides the bean sprouts, it lacked any fresh veggies including garnishes such as thai basil, mint, and culantro which give pho that fragrant aroma.