What’s on the menu at Bar Pompette, Little Italy’s new all-day French café and bar with a perfect back patio

What’s on the menu at Bar Pompette, Little Italy’s new all-day French café and bar with a perfect back patio

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Name: Bar Pompette
Contact: 607 College St., @barpompette_to
Neighbourhood: Little Italy
Previously: The Walton
Owners: Jonathan Bauer, Martine Bauer, Maxime Hoerth and Hugo Togni
Chef: Martine Bauer (Pompette)
Outdoor seating: Back patio
Covid-19 safety measures: Hand sanitizer stations at entrance and doorways; tables are sanitized when guests finish their meal; masks are to be worn when leaving the table
Accessibility: A raised lip at main entrance and low step up to the bar, washrooms and back patio

The food

During the day, there’s a short menu of freshly baked goods (pastries, baguettes) made next door at big-sister spot Pompette. The evening brings small plates of snacks (popcorn, olives, charcuterie, cheese, cornichons) to pair with cocktails and wine.

Freshly baked baguettes, cookies and madeleines are available for takeaway.

 

The jambon-beurre tops one of Bauer’s house-made, butter-slicked baguettes with slices of ham. $12.

 

Chef Bauer avec baguette.

 

Gravlax sandwich. $15.

 

Country-style terrine with pickles and house-made baguette. $15.

 

Radishes with butter. $8.

 

Fresh ricotta topped with citrus dressing and za’atar is served with sourdough crackers. $11.

 

Smoked cod roe tarama (served with baguette). $14.

 

Evening snacks rotate but could include 18-month aged comté ($12), sliced saucisson ($13), marinated olives ($7), caramelized almonds and cashews ($8) and a Baba au Calvados ($12).
The drinks

The café-by-day serves coffee-based drinks made using beans from Toronto’s own De Mello (as well as monthly-changing features from international roasters). At night, the menu transitions to boozier beverages, including wines by the glass and signature cocktails, some of which are spirit-free.

Toasty and rich, the Hojicha latte is made with roasted Japanese green tea. $5.

 

The mellow Bijou is made with gin, Calvados, green chartreuse, Carpano and licorice. $19.

 

11 a.m. in Marseille is made using Ricard, toasted almond orgeat, beeswax, lemon and egg white. $16.

 

Hoerth’s Nitro Colada (a Pompette signature) lightens up a piña colada by mixing centrifuge-clarified pineapple juice with coconut oil–washed rum and house-made falernum spiced with curry leaf. The concoction is infused with nitrogen, resulting in a cocktail that’s dangerously drinkable. $16.

 

Bauer’s (pictured here) wine list changes regularly, but is predominantly made up of easy-sipping European wines.

 

Here are some of them now, just chillin’.
The space

Between plush banquettes and a marble-topped bar, the walk-in only (for now) space can seat around 30 inside. But until indoor dining is back on the table, guests need to head to the bar’s backyard where they’ll find a romantic patio decorated with twinkle lights and sheltered by a canopy of trees.

House-made condiments for sale include a chocolate-hazelnut spread, concord grape jelly, jam and mustard.

 

Here’s that adorable back patio, completely tucked away from the clamour of College Street. Photo by Renée Suen

 

From left to right: sommelier Bauer, barmen Hoerth and Togni, and chef Bauer.