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Food & Drink

What’s on the menu at Please and Thank You, a new snack and cocktail bar on Ossington

It’s from the team behind Oddseoul

By Liza Agrba| Photography by Chrissy Grrrl
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A spread of dishes and drinks on a wooden table at a restaurant

Name: Please and Thank you Contact: 108 Ossington Ave., @pandtytoronto
Neighbourhood: Trinity-Bellwoods
Owner: Naveen Chakravarti Chefs: Executive chef Milo Beaubien-Wright and sous-chef Sammy You Accessibility: Not fully accessible

Opening a restaurant isn’t easy during the best of times. Opening one while you’re undergoing chemotherapy for Stage 2 cancer and dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic fire at your other restaurant is seemingly impossible. Yet that’s exactly how Naveen Chakravarti, owner of Oddseoul and the now-closed Neon Tiger, spent the past year. Between rounds of chemo, he would crash on a bench in the middle of the restaurant construction zone, push through harrowing side effects to have early-morning conversations with builders and lean on his team to keep things running.

Restaurateur Naveen Chakravarti at his newest spot, Please and Thank You
Owner Naveen Chakravarti

Related: What’s on the menu at Belle Isle, a new snack and cocktail bar in the east end

The result is Please and Thank You, the newest snack and cocktail bar on Ossington. “The idea was that it should feel like a party in someone’s living room,” Chakravarti says. “I want this place to have genuinely friendly, unpretentious vibes.”

The Food

There’s a mix of snacks and more substantial main dishes, all of which have big, bright flavours with Indian and east Asian influences. Among them are corn and mozzarella pakoras with kimchi aïoli and shaved bonito, slow-cooked pork ribs dusted with togarashi spice, and lobster ceviche with fried yuca chips.

A chef sits at a bar, making notes on a piece of paper
Sous-chef Sammy You

 

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Lobster ceviche with fried yuca chips
For this lobster “ceviche,” cooked lobster is mixed with garlic aïoli and fish sauce, garnished with chili threads and micro herbs, and served with fried yuca chips for dipping. $25

 

Four pakoras in tonkatsu sauce
These rather non-traditional pakoras are made with a mixture of corn, scallions, mozzarella and egg. It’s all fried to a delightful crisp, drizzled with kimchi aïoli and garnished with bonito flakes, parmesan and tonkatsu sauce for an umami trifecta that plays brilliantly off of the corn’s sweetness. $13

 

A caesar salad topped with Beemster cheese
A solid caesar salad with a house dressing, pickled red onions, and strips of sweet, creamy Beemster cheese. $18

 

Fries blanketed in a truffle and cremini mushroom gravy, and dotted with squeaky Quebec cheese curds
Thrice-cooked fries are blanketed in a truffle-and-cremini gravy and dotted with squeaky Quebec cheese curds, then topped with tabbouleh to bring a little levity to this rich, earthy poutine. $17

 

Tikka-fried chicken finished with julienned mango and scallion
Here we have tikka fried chicken—marinated in garam masala and other spices, double-fried, drizzled with a cilantro-laced green chutney, and finished with julienned mango and scallion curls. $19

 

Miso-glazed pork ribs, dusted with togarashi and perched on a slaw of Napa cabbage, carrot and red onion
Meltingly tender miso-glazed pork ribs, slow-cooked for three hours, are dusted with togarashi; perched on a slaw of napa cabbage, carrot and red onion; and finished with scallions and radish for extra zip. $26

 

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Puff pastry loaded with creamy burrata and poached pear over a reduced pear syrup and garnished with mint, pomegranate and pistachios
There’s no explicit dessert section on the menu, but this dish should satisfy any sweet tooth. It involves puff pastry loaded with creamy burrata and poached pear, sitting in a reduced pear syrup and garnished with mint, pomegranate and pistachios. $17
The Drinks

In a word: crushable. Cocktails are the focus here, and they’re mostly easy-drinkers underpinned by fresh juices and house-made infusions. A riff on the classic Clover Club blends gin with raspberry syrup and yogurt soju. Another drink pairs chocolate bitters with coconut-infused tequila for a twist on the margarita. There’s also a tight wine list and a few beers, including Asahi on tap.

A bartender pours a pink cocktail into a coupe
A riff on the Clover Club, a classic gin sour, the Easy Like Sunday Morning blends Beefeater gin with creamy yogurt soju, house-made raspberry syrup and a touch of gochujang for heat. It’s like a boozy, drinkable raspberry yogurt parfait

 

A pink cocktail served in a coupe and garnished with a strawberry
Here’s the finished drink. $17

 

A bartender shakes powdered sugar over a cocktail garnished with mint
For the Be Nice, dark Havana Club rum and bitter Fernet-Branca come together with pineapple juice, honey and lime. It’s intense and easy-drinking at the same time

 

A cocktail in an old-fashioned glass, garnished with mint and powdered sugar
And the finished drink. $17

 

A bartender pours lime juice into a cocktail
This is the You’re Welcome, a blend of coconut-infused Altos Blanco tequila, Triple Sec, agave syrup, tamarind and chocolate bitters. Think of it as a mole (the sauce, not the marsupial) margarita. $18
The Space

It’s a large open-concept room with dark beams, exposed brick and high ceilings. The floor is lined with floral, geometric black-and-white tiles, and there’s sage-green tilework on the bar surrounding an open kitchen. Moody but cozy, it’s like a house party complete with warm lighting, soft shadows, and the steady hum of music and conversation.

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The dining room at Please and Thank You, a bar in Toronto
A dining room at a restaurant with exposed brick walls
A closeup of the bar at a restaurant with black bar stools and mint-green tiles
The bar at Please and Thank You in Toronto
Industrial-looking pendant lamps hang above the bar at a restaurant in Toronto
The exterior of Please and Thank You, a snack and cocktail bar in Toronto
A green and yellow sign for Please and Thank You, a snack and cocktail bar in Toronto

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