Location:
410 Adelaide St W
www.leatcatering.com/home.htm
In the cursed location where Zimbel's Cafe and before that, Mosaic used to be, L'eat Express is the newest addition to the building beside Toronto School of Art. Herbal Infusions is faring quite well so far, so maybe there is hope for L'eat (such a difficult name to wrap my head around. Sometimes I think "teat", wrongly, of course).
I hear the brownies are amazing, but I walked by earlier today and the door was locked! Will try again in a bit and keep you posted.
** So went back with some co-workers but they were still closed. Someone did inform us that they were open this morning for a training session which included free pastries and plan to open again later this afternoon for another training session. We were told they'll be open again tomorrow, so fingers crossed!
*** Went back on Friday and they were OPEN! Found out a few things.
Most importantly it's pronounced "ELITE", literally pronounce the letter "L" and the word "EAT". I feel so much better, now. 
Owned by Tony Loschiavo with hand-crafted goodies and gourmet meals made by Chefs Christopher Palik and Eric Walker, L'eat Express looks promising, especially with their original full service catering business (started 1983) in full swing at their Bathurt location. I DID try the brownie, and it did not disappoint. Shared with several co-workers, it was a huge hit! 
The complimentary bran muffin and double chocolate fudge cookie I scored was equally as satisfying, although I have to admit the cookie can't compare to Le Gourmand's chocolate chip walnut cookie which still reigns supreme. 
The teas on hand are from Language of the Leaf, which I love and which Neeta Khanna had sent me a package of teas to review in 2009. I've also heard great things about Paese, the sister restaurant to L'eat on King St W.
I really hope L'eat Express does well in this district, it's such a beautiful space and after speaking to Christopher, Tony and Rahim about their vision for this location, it looks like it's got all the ingredients to being as successful as the original.
Open Monday - Saturday (7:30am - 7pm)
NEW: Khao San Road
Location:
326 Adelaide St W, Toronto, ON M5V 1R3
Cost: $30 (for lunch)
It's the "high maintenance" sister resto to Sukho Thai. It resides in a more expensive neighbourhood, believes less-is-more and is worth the wait.
Open only a month KSR already has its hands full. Of customers. Having arrived just past noon, we were lucky to snag a seat at one of the communal tables in the front.
Looking sort of hurriedly set up, the interior is very sparse but chic enough for the downtown crowd.
The communal tables in the front are a great idea for "quick" lunches, although the time it takes to get a freshly prepared gourmet lunch is anything but quick.
Run by the Regulars (Chef Nuit and Jeffrey Regular) the restaurant is anything BUT...regular.
The flavours are what I like to believe is authentic, but would not know having never been to Thailand. The cold spring roll served with the upgrade of soup had us confused as to whether cold rolls are a Thai or Vietnamese traditional.
Our service is friendly and efficient enough for us who are not worried about the time. The couple beside us however, freaked out about getting back to work. You have to understand that the kind of ingredients used here (aka FRESH) are not rushed.
We were feeling brave (and Brown) and ordered our pad thais (chicken and shrimp) THAI SPICY = HOT.
My dining partner AMat likened the heat of our dishes to walking a block in sky high stillletos: semi uncomfortable but totally worth it.
Shrimp Pad Thai (Street style, but not on the lunch menu so was $15 from the dinner menu)
Chicken Pad Thai (Street Style from the lunch menu $10)
Upgrading to include soup ($3)
Coconut tapioca dessert ($5)
Our coconut tapioca dessert was ordered mid-way through our meal as our mouths were on fire. Served slightly warm, it felt different than at Sukho Thai where we remembered it being served cold and with more texture. Still, we were happy to take the rest of it to go and eat it later, cooled. (So. amazing).
Although the dishes are significantly more expensive at KSR, you're paying for the location and for the freshly prepared, authentic flavours.
It's a small price to pay for a taste of Thailand.
Afterall, it would be far more expensive to go to Thailand.
NEW: Sukho Thai's SISTER Resto
Have you heard?
Zimbel's Cafe
Location:
410 Adelaide Street West
In place of Mosaic, there now is Zimbel's Cafe! It must be hard for them to get everyone's attention being hidden away in such a quiet street as Adelaide especially with Timmy's on the other corner and Le Gourmand and Starbucks dominating the Richmond/Spadina area. However, I think business will pick up 'cause they're really good!
They've done a great job with the interior design - love the Eames furniture - and photography on the walls. They also are a catering company and cater all sorts of events from Weddings to Corporate Lunches to Film Sets and have been in the business since 1981.
(Above photo courtesy of Andrew Zimbel)
The teas are from Language of the Leaf and yummy (pricer than Le Gourmand though but it's loose-leaf and Le G is known to mix up my Earl Grey with Earl Grey Green tea and not have the water hot enough sometimes).
The food is tasty at Zimbel's, as well. From the muffins, croissants and the banana bread (with sunflower and cranberries = excellent!) to their lunch menu (I had the salad with grilled chicken once), it's all very fresh and good.
And the service, although still novice, is getting there.
Great place to try out instead of your usual coffee/tea train destination!
***My friend who recently tasted the "knee buckling" brownie had this to say about it:
"To classify its deliciousness and sugar power, I'd say it was a spectacular punch to the back of the head, kapow!" - Mack Carruthers
Ravi Soups
Location:
322 Adelaide St W, Toronto
Cost: $10.99 (used to be $9.99) for combo (soup & half wrap)
Soups shouldn't cost more than a few bucks, right? Wrong where Ravi soups is concerned! But, consider it the HIGH end of soups where your soup eats like a meal...isn't that what Campbell's Chunky soup advertisers want you to believe?
At Ravi Soups your soup contains ingredients fancier than basic peas, noodles and chicken broth....instead, you will find wild rice, curried lentils, thai basil and lemongrass. 
It's ironic that we should have ended up at RaviSoups the day after my Mildred's Temple Kitchen mishap, 'cause as it turns out Ravi Kanagarajah is the former Mildred Pierce soup guru! However, here there is none of the snootiness that MTK expansive temple was festooned with.
There is a bit of a line-up but it moves quickly as the 'to-go' soups are packaged into brown paper bags and delivered to the eagerly awaiting.
Back at work, our soups and wraps are still piping hot and ready to be devoured.
My porcini mushroom and wild rice bisque (the only non-dairy soup on the menu) was a bit greasy looking with all the truffle oil, but looks are certainly deceiving 'cause it was deeeeeliiiiiicious! 
Very hearty with all the chunks of porcini mushrooms; overall a really nice flavour. A little hard to digest for some me, they say porcini mushrooms can have that affect on people.
My "roasted free-range chicken with roasted yams, baby spinach, caramalized onions, tomato chutney and chipotle mayo" wrap was divine! The combo was certainly a lot of food; I saved half my wrap for later. 
The Chicken hot pot soup - a winner according to my friend who had it.
The Corn Chowder, garnished with crab, crispy shallots and thai basil:
I have not heard a single negative thing about RaviSoups! If you want soup, this is where to get it - it's really worth the $10-13 for lunch. If that's a bit steep for you, I hear everything (incl. the combos) are half price on Fridays between 5 and 6pm.
Hey, Soup's on!
