Inside a charming new cocktail bar with an Asian-inspired menu and vintage McDonald’s seating
The siblings behind Lonely Diner were born into the bar business
Name: Lonely Diner
Contact: 432 College St., @lonely_diner
Neighbourhood: Harbord Village
Owners: Christine Pham and Andrew Pham
Chef: Andrew Pham
Accessibility: Not fully accessible
Christine and Andrew Pham—the brother-and-sister team behind Big Trouble, Midnight Market and Midnight Arcade—have just added another notch to their cocktail-bar belt: the Lonely Diner, in the former home of the greasy spoon Mars Diner.
The Pham siblings didn’t just fall into the restaurant industry: they were born into it. “My dad owned Last Temptation and later opened the Green Room and Nirvana,” says Christine. “My brother and I used to play pool at Last Temptation as kids, and we always helped out where we could.”
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When she turned 18, Christine started working at the Green Room. “That was a crazy place to work,” she says. She later managed Nirvana before deciding it was time for her and Andrew to strike out on their own. In 2018, they opened their first bar, Big Trouble. “I was 32 at the time and still really into the party scene,” says Christine. “We wanted to open a bar in Chinatown that catered to the Asian crowd, like us.”
Over the years, Christine and Andrew’s bars have gradually matured—just as they have. Lonely Diner is a chill lounge that feels more like grandma’s basement than a rowdy nightclub and serves a menu of sophisticated cocktails and Asian-inspired snacks. “I’m a mom now,” says Christine. “My life isn’t exactly conducive to dancing on bar tops anymore.”
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The Food
Small, shareable plates with surprising Asian twists are built for snacking, playing with texture while leaning into richness. Think lotus root chips and dip, creamy stracciatella with chili crisp confit tomatoes and crostini, deep-fried cod sandos with secret sauce, and caviar.
The Drinks
“We don’t want to follow trends—we want to make our mark,” says Christine of the drink menu. The result is a lineup of cocktails that spotlights underutilized Asian ingredients, like galangal, while steering clear of overplayed ones, like yuzu or matcha. The standout is the Forbidden Fruit, a velvety milk punch featuring durian (the custard-like fruit that’s banned from certain public places in Singapore due to its distinctive pungent odour). Here, the funky fruit is handled with finesse, blended into a soy milk–based punch along with honeydew, lemon and aromatic baijiu.
The Space
Taking cues from their mother, who opened the vintage clothing shop Tribal Rhythm back in 1993, the Phams sprinkled time-warpy dust all over their new diner. Seventies-inspired with wood panelling and vintage McDonald’s booth seating, Lonely Diner is a groovy, unpretentious little hideaway loaded with charm.
Erin Hershberg is a freelance writer with nearly two decades of experience in the lifestyle sector. She currently lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and two children.
