Oliver and Bonacini Canteen

Price: 3/5

Taste: 3.5/5

Authenticity: 3.5/5

Atmosphere: 4.5/5

Service: 4/5

My boyfriend and I were wandering on King Street West trying to find a place to eat lunch. We passed by O&B Canteen and since it was lively and filled with lots of people, we decided to check it out.

It wasn't until I got home till I realized what O&B stood for: Oliver and Bonacini. These two individuals have created a fine dining restaurant empire in Toronto! They are the owners of amazing restaurants such as Canoe, Jump and Luma and this cafe definitely is an asset to their restaurant empire. 

Being in the TIFF Lightbox, Canteen is a casual cafe/bakery unlike Canoe or Jump. It is very spacious and opened with a large sidewalk patio and ceiling high windows that bring in a lot of light. The design of the restaurant is simple and clean and it also caters to busy customers with their "grab and go" counter. They have great service, fresh ingredients and unique dishes. Overall, Canteen has a beautiful atmosphere and great food! 

This is what I ordered for lunch: 

1) Grilled Chicken and Swiss Club with the side of Puree Turnip Soup ($14.00) 

• menu description: focaccia, arugula, bacon-aise, Roma tomato and includes a choice of soup, salad or fries
• thoughts: 
• The sandwich:  The chicken was nice and juicy, the bread had a nice crunch to it, the swiss cheese was not overpowering and by having the sandwich simply grilled just made me enjoy this dish more. Some complaints I have about this sandwich is that there wasn't enough vegetables in the sandwich which also contributed making the sandwich being on the drier side. The bread/any bread is on dry so having more juices like more tomatoes could have definitely helped with the ingestion of this sandwich. Also, the taste of this sandwich is more on the bland side (which I personally like) but for others, it may be a turn off. 
• The soup: The soup of the day was a Puree Turnip Soup and it was DELICIOUS! The turnip flavour was just right and the texture was nice and smooth. 

Overall, this cafe has a wonderful atmosphere! They even serve something called The Knuckle Sandwich when the Blue Jays play at home in Toronto which I find adds to their creativity.  I'll definitely come back here if I'm in the area!