Restaurant Review: The Amazing Ted’s Restaurant
THE AMAZING TED’S RESTAURANT
404 Old Kingston Road Co-Diner: Tim Golem
There isn't anything much better than an old school diner serving a solid breakfast - and that's exactly what The Amazing Ted's is. blogTO named them the #1 Best Cheap Breakfast in the city and the words "cheap" and "breakfast" in the same sentence are exactly what I like to see. You'll find Ted's out in Scarborough, holding down the fort in the exact same location since 1954. You'll recognize this greasy-spoon right away by their green awnings and the claim right on their sign that they're "a great place to meet your friends." I visited fairly early on a Saturday morning and had no trouble seating myself at a booth among the other early-risers. The interior of Ted's is exactly everything that you want it to be. It's straight out of the 50s and I love that they haven't messed around with it too much. There are old school menu posters all over the walls, the best retro exposed brick, and plenty of tacky wood-style laminate. Those stained glass hanging lamps? Oh yeah, they've got 'em. The place is definitely a bit of a time machine and it's incredibly endearing. And don't forget to check out their bacon shrine - because they have one and it's pretty impressive. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is served at Ted's, but with all of this cheap breakfast talk, that's what I went there to try. In fact, they serve breakfast all day but if you arrive before 11am everything is a dollar cheaper. Our friendly server was happy to take our order and returned with our food in only a short while later. I started with a basic black Tea ($2.00), my standard go-to since I don't really drink coffee.
I liked that the tea was served in a personal-sized teapot and my piping hot mug was perfectly comforting. I put a little bit of milk and sugar in there and it was exactly the way that I like it. The breakfast menu is fairly short with some special combos, omelettes, and pancakes or french toast. The combos sound interesting; such as Ted's Special Breakfast Combo or the 222 Combo. They also come with TONS of food! They basically include every meat that's on the menu and they pile your breakfast dreams up really high on your plate! Not feeling quite monstrous enough for this, I opted for the (slightly more sensible) Three Eggs with Peameal Bacon ($7.50). Three eggs alone already seemed like a lot!
The eggs are prepared exactly the way that you want them, and for me that's always over-medium. Better than over-easy in my opinion, learning about over-medium eggs many years ago was a breakfast revelation for me. The yolks are just as runny and you never get any clear, jiggly egg whites (the worst!). These eggs were cooked to a perfect over-medium and tasted great with a bit of salt and pepper on top. Of the available breakfast meats at Ted's (bacon, ham, sausage, peameal bacon, ground beef and striploin steak) I had to choose the peameal. I'm kinda way into peameal bacon these days, especially since moving to Toronto. Why? Because it's probably the most "local" thing that you can get in this city. It's Toronto’s most original food. Often confused as "Canadian bacon," peameal bacon is a wet-cured pork loin that has been rolled in cornmeal, creating a yellow crust. Toronto earned the nickname "Hogtown" back in the early 1900s because of its pork production at the time and peameal bacon has remained the city's most notable food item ever since. The version of this iconic meat at Ted's is very good! I loved the lean, juicy cuts of pork and appreciated the distinct light briny flavour. I picked white bread, which was toasted and buttered nicely. And their home fry breakfast potatoes were acceptable and cooked well. I enjoyed them with salt and ketchup. Ted's is pretty amazing if you're in the mood for a solid breakfast at a reasonable price. There aren't any bells or whistles here and no one is whisking up a hollandaise in the kitchen. But sometimes you just want the classics and this is the perfect place to fill those breakfast desires.