Update: 2022-Oct-03 - Hot House's Sunday brunch buffet is back (and even more "upscale" at $35 now) so happy to welcome it back to the list!
The Hot House Restaurant & Bar is at 35 Church St. at Front St., in Toronto's south downtown core, across from the famous St. Lawrence Market. It's been open since 1994. Hot House has Wednesday night dinner and Sunday brunch buffets; Mishy and I went for the latter as I had been before and she wanted to try something breakfasty, though we didn't arrive until mid-afternoon.
Hot House is surprisingly large, taking up most of the ground floor of its building. It was also quite busy and full even with so many tables; we had to make reservations. The noise level was quite high, and though there is a jazz band on Sundays (they have been there for almost twenty years every weekend!) we couldn't hear them at all. We'll have to request closer seats next time.
Including the live entertainment, I would describe Hot House's buffet as "upscale".. the price of $23.95 for breakfast/lunch times certainly reflects this. There are gourmet cheeses from large blocks, a huge poached salmon, and a make-your-own omelette station with a dedicated chef. I enjoyed all three of these; the omelette was among the best I have had with ham, bacon, two cheeses and tomato, but Mishy wasn't keen on the poached salmon which she indicated lacked flavour. She did describe the beet salad as "amazing" however, but the tofu stir fry she didn't like at all and complained of a burnt flavour.
Bacon was excellent but, hey, it's bacon and it's hard to mess that up. Scrambled eggs were quite good as well. Sausages are availble in "baby" and larger sizes and were quite good, nicely spiced. Cheese cappelletti was a little salty but otherwise good. Roast beef from the carvery was close to perfect in flavour and tenderness, and Mishy and I both loved it. Chicken pot pie was very good and savoury, as was the wild rice pilaf. Corned beef hash is a hard-to-find dish that was present, but it needed a bit more flavour. Roast chicken was very tasty in a good sauce but was a bit dry.
For dessert there was apple crisp, strawberry cheesecake. White chocolate cheesecake had an Oreo crust and cranberry swirl and Mishy adored it. She's always been a big fan of bread pudding so it was her favorite of the meal as unlike every other place we've been to it's made from raisin bread... the raisins and spicing of the bread add much of the deliciousness.
I certainly liked or even loved most of the items available at Hot House, but many of them had shortcomings. Mishy wasn't overly impressed but indicated she wasn't ever much of a breakfast food person (even in the afternoon.) Unfortunately, it's very expensive, and disproportionately so. I haven't been to there in several years and with the price as high as it is (as much as a full dinner) I probably won't be back for a while. Still, if you don't mind the cost you will probably enjoy it, but I always factor this into the final rating.
Rating: 7.5-8/10.
Hot House is surprisingly large, taking up most of the ground floor of its building. It was also quite busy and full even with so many tables; we had to make reservations. The noise level was quite high, and though there is a jazz band on Sundays (they have been there for almost twenty years every weekend!) we couldn't hear them at all. We'll have to request closer seats next time.
Bacon was excellent but, hey, it's bacon and it's hard to mess that up. Scrambled eggs were quite good as well. Sausages are availble in "baby" and larger sizes and were quite good, nicely spiced. Cheese cappelletti was a little salty but otherwise good. Roast beef from the carvery was close to perfect in flavour and tenderness, and Mishy and I both loved it. Chicken pot pie was very good and savoury, as was the wild rice pilaf. Corned beef hash is a hard-to-find dish that was present, but it needed a bit more flavour. Roast chicken was very tasty in a good sauce but was a bit dry.
For dessert there was apple crisp, strawberry cheesecake. White chocolate cheesecake had an Oreo crust and cranberry swirl and Mishy adored it. She's always been a big fan of bread pudding so it was her favorite of the meal as unlike every other place we've been to it's made from raisin bread... the raisins and spicing of the bread add much of the deliciousness.
I certainly liked or even loved most of the items available at Hot House, but many of them had shortcomings. Mishy wasn't overly impressed but indicated she wasn't ever much of a breakfast food person (even in the afternoon.) Unfortunately, it's very expensive, and disproportionately so. I haven't been to there in several years and with the price as high as it is (as much as a full dinner) I probably won't be back for a while. Still, if you don't mind the cost you will probably enjoy it, but I always factor this into the final rating.Rating: 7.5-8/10.
