Must-Try: Splendido’s indulgent new brunch service

By Renée Suen | April 1, 2013

By Renée Suen | 04/01/2013

After eschewing brunch for most of its 23 years, Splendido has finally decided to cater to Toronto’s collective Sunday-morning obsession—albeit in a characteristically indulgent style. Chef Victor Barry’s two-course breakfast, appropriately dubbed The Spread ($35), starts off with a generous assortment of flaky pastries, house-made charcuterie, fine cheeses, pickles and spreads—by itself, this would make a fine and filling brunch. Next up, however, are the luxe takes on classic mains, including eggs Benedict with brown butter béarnaise sauce, an open-faced brioche lobster roll and a braised short rib and fontina burger with foie gras ($18 extra). Even the sides ($6) are unusually decadent, like roasted bone marrow topped with Calvados jam or a plump and juicy link of house-made breakfast sausage. Should the above not prove sufficiently opulent, there’s also a suite of grander feasts—seafood platters, caviar service, a whole roasted lobe of foie gras—which must be ordered ahead and should ideally be consumed with a freshly sabred bottle of champagne. Best of all, unlike so many other brunch spots in the city, this one takes reservations.