Did you know that in France, people take 2 hour lunch breaks on the regular? I can only dream of that! But at Maman, you can attempt to pretend you’re in France by taking a 45 minute lunch break for a 3-course prix fix meal on Fridays – and that’s what I did.
Maman is a café and bakery originating from New York and recently opened up their second location in Toronto. Dishes served here are inspired by the Southern France cuisine, and you can sense it by just looking at the decor. In addition to being there for your morning coffee/breakfast, they also serve lunch on a daily basis (in addition to the prix fixe menu) and cinq-á-sept. But today, I came for Maman à Table.
To start, you can choose between a grilled tomato gazpacho with sweet red peppers & cucumbers, or the de-constructed avocado toast. The gazpacho is a chilled soup, which would recommend on a hot, summer day. However, the avocado toast was the winner here. Topping your slice of bread with fresh tomatoes, spread the avocado on it and sprinkle some of the chili flakes and salt... SO good.
• croque maman with parisian ham & comte cheese, served with mixed greens
• daily quiche, served with mixed greens
• salade niçoise with tuna, tomato, hard boiled egg, anchovies, green beans, black olives, onions and olive oil
Look at that spread!! The croque maman was exactly what I thought it would be. Although I'm not a huge fan of bread, the cheese & ham made me love it! The daily quiche was chose was a salmon & spinach quiche, and was easily my favourite dish out of the three. The salade niçoise was very refreshing and also very filling because of all the ingredients in the salad. It was a little too salty for my liking (due to the anchovies and olives), but it did transport me back to Nice, France. Oh what I would do to go back to France for a meal!
After indulging in all of the above, I really didn't know if I could make it back to work! It honestly felt like I could just hang out here for the rest of my Friday. Good thing Maman knew this would happen. The last course of this prix fixe menu was a couple of sweet bites from their bakery and a cup of coffee - muchhhh needed. This was the perfect little mid-day getaway after a long week of work, and did I mention you can get all this for just $20? It is available every Friday from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM.
