Simple Cafe
1303 Queen Street East
Phone: 416.466.2345
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Simple Cafe's owner Raquel, a resident of Leslieville, once lamented the lack of good, healthy quick breakfast options in the area. When one wants to grab something fast and nutritious, where does one go? Burger King? Nuh uh. So Raquel took the bull by the horns and opened a cafe.
In business for just over seven weeks, Simple Cafe is sandwiched between Tango Palace and Red Rocket on the south side of Queen. Inside, three tables are sandwiched between two white walls (more tables in the back!) and fresh sandwich toppings lay in the display case, tempting customers. In other sandwich news, here is a picture of a sandwich.
With a 'create your own' menu style for sammies ($6) and salads ($4-$6), I couldn't help but take full advantage of the aged cheddar and was served an eyes-roll-to-the-back-of-the-head grilled cheese. The selection of baked treats (most prepared by Raquel, her friends and accomplished baker aunt) called my name (seriously, they did) and I went for the m-o-i-s-t (it's better if you don't say it in full, right?) apple cinnamon cake. (No more brackets). My friend insisted I try the chocolate orange pound cake, and who was I to turn that down? And how rude for me to not take 3-4 bites?
Simple Cafe serves up an organic, fair trade Brazilian roast as well as red tea espresso. Coffee is $1.50 a cup, but if you bring your own cup it's only a buck. Take out is served in biodegradable cups, in keeping with the cafe's green, organic frame of mind.
When the weather gets a little warmer, Raquel plans to open up the backyard to expand seating space, especially for their Sunday brunch. With vines covering the walls, it looks like it'll be a welcome serene space to visit come spring time. And with Raquel's (and friend/co-worker Tessa's) friendly, welcoming demeanor, Simple Cafe is definitely a place worth visiting.
Hours:
Monday - Friday: 8am-8pm
Saturday - Sunday: 10am-6pm
WiFi: Yes
Comments (13)
this place is glorious.
awesome service, great food, and even better coffee.
cheeeeeeck it out
I love this place the people are so nice and the food is great. Loved the chicken pot pie took it home and it was a full meal for like 6 bucks!
Simple cafe is one of my favourite new places to grab a coffee and snack. There red tea espresso is a great substitute for coffee. Shall I mention the amazing orange chocolate pound cake! What a treat!!!
Great prices, good food, cool and mellow atmosphere. A great addition to leslieville!!!
Thanks!!!
Live not 10 minutes away and pass it everyday on my way to work. I think this weekend I will definitely check it out, a very nice addition to the neighborhood.
Aw, dang, just moved away. Glad to see more cafes in the neighbourhood though. As nice as Leslieville is getting, it's still mostly stores and restaurants -- need more tasty coffee and sandwich places!
Hey congrats on the new venture Racquel, I will definitely pop in and say "hi" next time I'm in TO and try some of that espresso.
great food, great atmosphere, great people. amazing coffee.
free wifi and good mags. will definitely make this a routine stop.
Went there last weekend with my brother. The staff was very friendly, and the coffee was okay, but the atmosphere was a bit lacking, IMO. Certainly not a bad place to visit if you're in the area, but not entirely worth the drive from North York for me.
I finally stopped into Simple after noticing when it first opened. I roll by it daily on the streetcar. I guess I spoke with Raquel (whose name I only got from this site), who mentioned that she's always used the lever espresso machine they use. That came up when I asked whether it was a pod machine, since it looked odd. I'm not an expert on espresso machines.
I wasn't bowled over by the coffee, which was served in a paper cup even though I hadn't indicated I was taking it to go. No biggy. (One espresso doesn't tell you diddly squat.) I'm not too keen on milder South American coffees like this either. When all things are equal, I prefer a medium over a dark, but that doesn't mean that all mediums are the same. The best medium I've ever had was a Colombian, roasted on the premises in a shop on Yonge St a few blocks north of Eglinton. It's long gone. The second best would be a Java that was my first taste of real coffee and it was Second Cup. That was way back in the 80s and that coffee, for whatever reason, came and went in a short period of time and never returned.
I like the vibe here at Simple, which is just a hole in the wall, although I don't get why anyone would call a cafe "Simple." It shrieks: "I have no imagination." Oh well. The fact of the matter is, The focus here is on quality (which shrieks "caring about what's important") and, judging from the friendly and informative exchange I had with Raquel, that includes service as well.
In between Coxwell and Sumach, where I work, there are now 9 independent coffee shops (only one of which I haven't tried) and one Starbucks. Most of those don't rock me. The one that rocks me most is Dark Horse. But I like to change things up fairly regularly and different shops have different strengths and draws. There's a small number I alternate between. I don't know whether Simple will come to be in that circle. It's almost only good for take out. It's very small. I would not hesitate to stop at Simple again for a decent lunch and to give the coffee a fair try, but if I'm on the way to work and don't want to waste time, I might not want to stop and find that there's no seating.
Simple may do fine, but it does have a fair bit of competition now. I wish Raquel success.
Well, I stopped in again and tried a macchiato. (A store called Cream opened across the street and I wanted to see what it was about. While I was there, I thought I'd try Simple's macchiato.) The very friendly barista made me a great tasting cup - a la Starbucks. (That Brazilian fair trade, organic they're using is really, really good, once you get a drink that lets you get at the flavor!) Now, I'm not going to say it was bad or wrong. I would make this observation though: When I explained that the other upscale shops, including Te Aro just down the street, make macchiatos very differently and use micro-foam, she asked me what micro-foam was. Her foam was terrible, but it didn't hurt the coffee, which, fortunately, was awesome. Not long ago, I didn't know myself what micro-foam was. When I explained to her what it was, it sounded (understandably) to her like the resulting drink would be far too milky. And, actually, that can easily happen if the espresso shots are not up to snuff.
But when the espresso is right, the micro-foam and the coffee perfom this amazing dance on the taste buds that amazes. Neither ingredient overwhelms the other. The coffee is enhanced by the milk and vice versa, which is what I tried to convey to my friend - with fewer words.
But what strikes me is this; Any coffee shop that takes it's coffee, and it's espresso, seriously, should be staffed by baristas who drink coffee, who know things like how the other shops, upscale and not, are making their drinks. (I recommended that she try Te Aro's macchiato to get an idea.) This particular girl, a wonderful person who tried out a drink on me, gratis, doesn't drink coffee! Well, Okay. But...
I wish them well. I also recommended to the girl that they put up a sign inside the shop that lets people know that there is seating back behind the doorway, which there is. If I hadn't gone back to check out the patio, I would never have noticed the extra seating inside the shop. It's not much mind you.
I can see the backyard patio being a much nicer garden-like spot once they've been there for a few years and have had time to plant things etc..
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