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.
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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.”
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.
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.
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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