Posted by Megan Jamieson in grocery, shops on October 18, 2007 at 8:19 am

The Kitchen Table
705 King Street West (and others)
416-703-0893

At first glance The Kitchen Table may seem like just another downtown convenience store, but upon further examination it’s clearly so much more. When looking for a good "cup of joe", a quick and healthy lunch, some local produce, or a bouquet of flowers, this place delivers in a way that is uniquely Toronto.

As a convenience store it serves up the customary TTC passes, lottery tickets, newspapers and snack food. And, snack food it has aplenty! Every imaginable type of jujube, nut, chip, bar, and beverage can be found. But their selection goes beyond the usual convenience store fare. The Kitchen Table sells produce, flowers, dairy and bread at prices comparable to mainstream grocery stores, which is a godsend for Toronto’s urban dwellers that are hard-pressed to find full-sized grocery stores in their neighbourhoods. While it’s not the place to regularly shop for dry goods like cereal or laundry detergent, items like this can be found at a premium price when in a pinch.

With seven locations around Toronto’s core, The Kitchen Table tends to situate itself in high-density areas, most accessible to condo dwellers and business people. When these people crave a caffeine fix, The Kitchen Table delivers. Albeit they're not nearly as slick or sophisticated as the other coffee houses in Toronto, The Kitchen Table serves at least 6 different roasts and flavours of Van Houtte coffee. This brand may be new and unfamiliar to Torontonians, however it is quite popular across Quebec with more than seventy cafes. There’s no barista behind the counter pouring the coffee, but the self-serve option keeps the costs down and rest assured there are plenty of biscotti, muffins, and cookies to accompany that coffee.

The stores located in Toronto’s business district also tap into the hungry and busy lunch crowd with their self-serve salad bars. Customers can fill their styrofoam containers with a bed of mixed greens topped with any matter of vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, dressing and more. When that’s not enough, there’s soup, pasta, bread and plenty of freshly baked sweet desserts to take back to the workplace.

The Kitchen Table fills a niche like no other store in Toronto. It’s part convenience store, part grocery store, part lunch-spot, part coffee house, but it is all Toronto. Leave the city boundaries and there will be no Kitchen Table like this to sit around.

Megan’s obsession with food continues on her blog: www.meganthevegan.blogspot.com.