Indie coffee passport: Le Baratin (formerly Bivy)
Well, it still says Bivy on the passport itself, of course. It now says Bivy/Le Baratin on the Participating Cafes section of the passport website. On the door and all the printed materials, it's now just Le Baratin.
I asked the server about the name change, and she was polite but a little vague- something about a new partner on board. Not that it matters one way or the other, as long as they honour the agreement, which of course they do. In the last iteration of the passport, two cafes closed up shop before I got to them. In this one, I'm less than half way through, and so far two establishments have changed hands and names both.
This is not a cafe, but a restaurant as well. The menu looks wonderful. Anniko visited another time, and reported that the plates of charcuterie wafting their way to other tables looked delicious.
The decor is French and sailing-themed, the tables are simple but comfortable. The range of shortbread cookies and other treats are help-yourself in a book shelf on one wall. A chalkboard advertises wine specials by the glass. And there's free wifi. The coffee is expertly made and nicely served.
Le Baratin is way out on Dundas street, just shy of Landsdowne- for me, definitely worth a refueling stop on my way to the preferred Huge Grocery Store just south of that intersection, which itself is worth a longish streetcar ride across town.
Of the trio of coffee passport places I've visited in this neighbourhood, Le Baratin is by far my favourite, and the only one I'd consider worthy of a special trip, though Cygnet comes close.
Washrooms are delightful, albeit in the basement, as with so very many of Toronto's drinking and dining establishments. It's really the only flaw in the place.
Partly accessible: no steps from street level, washrooms in basement
Plenty of seating
Recommended
I asked the server about the name change, and she was polite but a little vague- something about a new partner on board. Not that it matters one way or the other, as long as they honour the agreement, which of course they do. In the last iteration of the passport, two cafes closed up shop before I got to them. In this one, I'm less than half way through, and so far two establishments have changed hands and names both.
This is not a cafe, but a restaurant as well. The menu looks wonderful. Anniko visited another time, and reported that the plates of charcuterie wafting their way to other tables looked delicious.
The decor is French and sailing-themed, the tables are simple but comfortable. The range of shortbread cookies and other treats are help-yourself in a book shelf on one wall. A chalkboard advertises wine specials by the glass. And there's free wifi. The coffee is expertly made and nicely served.
Le Baratin is way out on Dundas street, just shy of Landsdowne- for me, definitely worth a refueling stop on my way to the preferred Huge Grocery Store just south of that intersection, which itself is worth a longish streetcar ride across town.
Of the trio of coffee passport places I've visited in this neighbourhood, Le Baratin is by far my favourite, and the only one I'd consider worthy of a special trip, though Cygnet comes close.
Washrooms are delightful, albeit in the basement, as with so very many of Toronto's drinking and dining establishments. It's really the only flaw in the place.
Partly accessible: no steps from street level, washrooms in basement
Plenty of seating
Recommended