Baba

What is Baba? Occupying the corner of Yonge and Woburn in Yonge and Lawrence, Baba is a day-to-night room from hospitality veterans Michael Medeiros and Kevin Chen. The intimate 40-seat space blends rich dark wood with blue-and-white accents, a seven-seat cocktail bar, and an original 1920s bank vault lined with candid photography. By morning it serves as a sunny neighbourhood café and brunch counter before dimming the lights for an evening driven by charcoal grills and house cocktails.

Baba Menu & What to Order The kitchen leans on live-fire grilling and inventive Toronto comfort food that balances Western bistro staples with punchy East Asian profiles. Order the mapo bolognese over house-made rice tofu noodles, charcoal-grilled Ontario lamb skewers, tuna ssam bop, and the coffee-marinated Canadian striploin. During daytime service, do not miss the house-cured pastrami on Tre Mari rye or the char siu breakfast sandwich, paired with Library Coffee espresso or Nick Hao-curated cocktails.

Know Before You Go Seating is walk-in only, meaning prime dinner and weekend brunch hours fill quickly, though large parties can call ahead to coordinate space. The restaurant is an easy five-minute walk north from Lawrence subway station, with metered street parking along Yonge. Keep the split service in mind: brunch runs through the early afternoon before the kitchen flips to the evening snack bar at 4:30 p.m., with no Sunday dinner service.