Review: Hawthorne, home of downtown’s buzziest new lunch deal

The service at the Financial District’s buzziest new lunch spot is as smooth as Beyoncé’s airbrushed thighs. You’d never guess the place was a partnership with Toronto’s hospitality union to help youths get training in the industry. The food—the kind of new-Canadian fare taking over Toronto right now—is decent too. The menu offers several sharing plates, including addictive Paella Bombs, three crispy rice balls in sweet tomato sauce with mussels and chorizo. The daily #FourSquare Meal, four small plates for $16, is the best deal by far. Ours included soy-sticky pork belly with green beans, and a succulent, tiny stuffed quail on eggplant purée. The house-made banana-fig soda tastes like a compulsively drinkable, fizzy banana milkshake. Dinner is also available but noon, when the place fills up with power lunchers, is the best time to go.