Restaurants
The Bristol Yard
The Bristol Yard is a quaint British cafe that's located on Christie just North of Bloor. Davy Love--of BlowUp DJing fame--has faded out from the club scene and into the kitchen as owner and chef, and The Bristol Yard allows him to showcase heritage British cuisine from bangers and rashers to pies and crumpets. Unpretentious and warm, don't expect elevated fare, but rather a working class meal that offers the full monty.
Perhaps the recent Olympics 'opening ceremonies caused a hankering for a solid British breakfast (either that, or the bender the night before), but we find ourselves at The Bristol Yard bright and early on Sunday morning in hopes of beating the brunch madness.
The interior marries warm wood with monochromatic seating--black tables and white benches--for an effect that's half old-fashioned diner, and half rustic reclamation. It's a nice change of pace from typical pub decor. Portraits of famous Brits hang on an accent wall, and there's only seating for about twenty, so arrive early to snag a booth as a queue began to form by the time we finished.
The breakfast pie ($12) starts off as a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, which is then covered in a cornish pasty. Any pie is only as good as its crust--dense yet flaky, this one was stellar, and rendered its contents a mere afterthought, although it's worth noting the savory sausage within.
Their Bristolian version of eggs benny, Egg St. George ($12), sees two poached eggs atop a slice of back bacon, laid over house-made crumpets. The entire dish is then doused in their own 'Bristol Sauce,' which is similar to a mornay. Albeit just a garnish, the fiery red hot sauce brought together the entire dish.
For good measure, we decided to split the beans on toast ($7) with our choice of either aged cheddar or a blue veined stiltion. The housemade beans are braised to a perfection that clings to the thick slabs of white toast. Definitely not from a can, the beans are a meal unto themselves, and were complemented nicely by the richness of the stilton. Word to the wise: don't skimp on the stilton.
Apparently, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs because we can't resist a Tikka Masal Pie ($5) for the road--these savoury pies are available for take-out as an addendum to your meal.
The Bristol Yard is a stand-out option amidst the city's ample options for British fare, with a jovial atmosphere that's perfectly matched to their comfort food. We're already planning to return for dinner.
Photos by Peter Henderson
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I live a block away so I'm envisioning myself getting very fat soon. Only strike against them is the absence of a Noel Gallagher portrait on the wall.
Also stoked there is no Noel Gallagher picture on the wall.
a cornish pasty is a dish all of its own: a baked pastry filled with meat and veg and eaten by hand. It isnt a pie crust.
what you had there was just a pork pie with an egg in the middle. and it looks delicious.
question: does this place serve scotch eggs?
Caveat: It was hot as the hobs of hell in that place, despite the physical presence of an air conditioner. It's also tough to get coffee, first cup or refills. But the guy was so nice nd overworked that you almost forgive that.
The blond Scottish guy is friendly and nice, it's too bad the place is on the tiny side.
I had the Benny pictured here on the blog, and it was delicious and spicy hot.
And the coffee strong and included, just the way I like it.. Service was friendly and fast. It's tiny, charming, and popular, so I imagine can be very busy, but worth the wait.
They now have a liquor licence as well, UK beer selection.
And looks like a patio for summer.
I'll be back for 'the Full Monty Breakfast' and one of the selection of dinner Pies.
WTF? I guess I should be thankful they told me the address.
BlogTO I love you, but you're bringing me down. How do you not include the hours of operation? Truth is, without you, I wouldn't have heard of so many of these places, but let's get a couple things straight. Your user reviews are so all over the place, that I have to typically trust the good word of the readers and NOT your 'staff' reviews to tell me whether a place is worth going to or not. Is it really that difficult for your reviewers (or profilers) to include some basic details that might be relevant to the masses? You're lack of consistency in providing what would seem to many as the basics really blows me away. In the meantime, I've looked up the Yelp review of this place and provided a link so your readers can check the hours for themselves. However, please note that upon looking over the FB page of TBY, hours seem to be posted in comments (not About?) and they don't seem to be open consistently. e.g. a comment from January 18th that says, "We are NOT open for dinner tonight (Friday)."
Not to c**p on just BlogTO, THE BRISTOL YARD, this internet thing is a make or break for places like yourself. Maybe attempt to review what your customers are saying/complaining about but in a productive fashion instead of hitting them in the balls. Also, what's with your FB page? No consistent hours of operation? Do you wake up daily from with a hangover and see if you want to go in to work that day? You have a great opportunity here to show you are engaged with your customer. You know the ones who pay your bills. The ones who want to come to your place but won't because they don't know when you are open. Customers want customer service and I'm not sure you DO get that concept. Especially as a couple comments point out some customers are leaving your restaurant unhappy; maybe it is you, hmm? Seems like you'd rather combat them and be the winner then attempt to learn and adapt. Not a great long-term strategy eh? Set the record straight in a collaborative manner, engage, listen and reap the benefits.
I wanted to come, food does look good tbh but I'd rather not have a surly waiter experience, guess when you're open, and then be made fun of for leaving a review which may not have a 100% favorable experience attached to it.
I know DJ's don't like it when people make requests, but, you're not DJ'ing anymore. Booyah!
Enough free advice and bitching. I'm going to change my tequila infused tampon now...
Is there a way that when a restaurant is 'featured/profiled/reviewed', a link is sent out to that establishment where they can update certain prudent pieces of information? Put the onus on the establishment to confirm/verify/update hours as I can understand it's tedious and next to impossible for your staffers to keep things updated.
Apologies on my diatribe, I read BlogTO every day. You offer a great service to me and I just get annoyed when you create an interest but then I have to go off-site to get the basics.
Thanks for explaining your position and I'll consider that next time I read an article.
I inquired about the hours once, showed up the same day and it was closed. Went back the next day and, although lights were on, nobody answered the door. When I called, someone told me the Facebook hours were wrong. What gives? I mean it's great if you live around the corner or always dine at 8 but I just wanted to pick up some damn pies for my Scottish grandma who was at the bedside of her dying husband of 60 years. Not to seek sob-story sympathy (well, maybe) but pies are powerful. Please, for the sake of grannies everywhere, suck it up and be conformists and post your hours.
This website is chock full of shitty comments, it takes a proper business to leave them aside and let people with good judgement to take value, when added, from the posts made.
Like I said, the food is great but the back kitchen doesn't seem like they know how to run a restaurant. With only a handful of tables, there is no way a couple of pies and fries should take that long (and I've worked in the restaurant industry for years).
I live just down the block and have been a couple of times and I must say, they are so disorganized! Too bad because the food is good. Just don't come hungry!
While the wait was a little longer than normal the food was great. Maybe add some nibbles on the table next time. The service was very good otherwise. Looking forward to going again.
Waited almost an hour for food. Need to speed up the service for food.
I also really hope that the commenter "The Bristol Yard" isn't actually the person running the restaurant, because the replies are turning me off of ever going there again.