House Bread & Cultured Butter
Baked in-house daily. Order it before you look at anything else.
Canadian · Leslieville
Avling
A Leslieville brewery with a rooftop farm and a kitchen that takes it seriously
CanadianLeslieville, Toronto$$Details being confirmed
The review
Most brewery kitchens exist to keep you drinking. Avling's exists on its own terms, which is unusual enough to be the reason to go. There is a farm on the roof, the bread is baked downstairs, and the menu changes with whatever is ready.
Start with the house bread and cultured butter, which is a small thing done exceptionally. The rooftop salad sounds precious and is not — it is the best argument the place makes. The grain bowl shows the kitchen's fermenting habit at its most useful.
Honest notes: the menu is short and moves around, it is closed at the start of the week, and food prices sit slightly above what a brewery usually charges. The beer is worth staying for.
What to order
Rooftop Salad
Whatever is growing upstairs that week. Sounds twee, eats brilliantly.
Grain Bowl with Pickles
The kitchen’s house style in one dish — fermented, sharp, satisfying.
What works
- Kitchen is far better than a brewery needs to be
- Beer and food actually designed together
- Excellent for vegetarians
What doesn’t
- Menu is short and changes without warning
- Closed Monday and Tuesday
- Beer-forward pricing on the food
Verdict
Bread and butter, rooftop salad, whatever is on tap. Closed early in the week.