Cooked over fire, served among friends.
A short menu that changes with what the market has, in a room built for long dinners.
- Open Tuesday to Sunday
- Everything from the wood oven
- Walk-ins at the bar until close
- Charred octopus24
- Wood-fired flatbread19
- Ember-roasted beets16
- Oysters, half dozen22
A few plates from this week's menu.
Smoked paprika, potato, salsa verde.
Stracciatella, hot honey, oregano.
Forty-eight hours, bone marrow butter, charred onion.
Wild mushroom, thyme, aged parmesan.
Forty-five days in the fridge, then straight over the coals.
Roasted grapes, olive oil.
Sixty-four seats on Ossington.
The kitchen is open to the room, so you can watch it from the bar. The back room seats twenty-two.
The other ways to eat with us.
Private rooms, buyouts, the chef's table and catering, all out of the same kitchen.
The private room
Twenty-two seated or thirty standing, with its own door onto the lane and no room fee on a set menu.
Full buyout
Sixty-four seated, ninety standing. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the nights we can give you the whole room.
Chef's table
Six seats at the pass, seven courses, and a running commentary from whoever is on the fire that night.
Set menus
Three courses at $65 or five at $95, written around your table rather than pulled off a laminated card.
Catering off site
The wood oven travels. We cater weddings and parties within an hour of the city between May and October.
Gift cards
Any amount, sent by email or picked up at the bar, and they never expire.
One fire, no gas, no shortcuts.
Everything that leaves this kitchen has been near live fire. The oven is fed with maple and oak, it runs from three in the afternoon, and it's the only heat we cook on.
The menu is short because the fire only holds so much at once, and it changes on Tuesdays because the market does. If something ran out on Saturday, it ran out.
Parking, prams and the dress code.
How far ahead should I book?
Weeknights are usually fine on the day. Friday and Saturday go about two weeks out, and we release a new week of tables every Monday at nine. The bar keeps eight seats for walk-ins every night.
Is there parking?
Green P on Ossington just south of Dundas, about a three-minute walk, and it's free after six on Sundays. Ossington itself is permit-only on the side streets, so the lot is the safer bet.
Do you cater for dietary requirements?
Yes, with a day's notice. Vegetarian and gluten is straightforward, and we can usually do dairy-free and shellfish-free too. Tell us when you book so the kitchen can plan rather than improvise on the night.
Can we bring children?
Of course. There are high chairs, and the kitchen will do a plain pasta or a piece of the market fish for a smaller appetite. Prams fit through the front and live by the coat rack.
Is there a dress code?
None. People come in from work and people come in from the park, and the room takes both.
Do you take large groups?
Seven or more goes to the private room or on a set menu, and it's booked by phone rather than through the form so we can seat you properly. Call the restaurant between two and five.
What people say when they get home.
Six hundred reviews, and the fire comes up in most of them.
“The short rib had been in there two days and you can taste it. We sat at the bar and watched the whole thing get cooked.”
“Fourteen of us on a set menu and everything came out at once, hot, with no fuss. The room felt like ours for the night.”
“Turned up at seven with no booking and got two seats at the bar in ten minutes. Ended up staying for three courses.”
“Seven courses and the chef talked us through every one. Best money I've spent on dinner in this city.”
“The short rib had been in there two days and you can taste it. We sat at the bar and watched the whole thing get cooked.”
“Fourteen of us on a set menu and everything came out at once, hot, with no fuss. The room felt like ours for the night.”
“Turned up at seven with no booking and got two seats at the bar in ten minutes. Ended up staying for three courses.”
“Seven courses and the chef talked us through every one. Best money I've spent on dinner in this city.”
“The short rib had been in there two days and you can taste it. We sat at the bar and watched the whole thing get cooked.”
“Fourteen of us on a set menu and everything came out at once, hot, with no fuss. The room felt like ours for the night.”
“Turned up at seven with no booking and got two seats at the bar in ten minutes. Ended up staying for three courses.”
“Seven courses and the chef talked us through every one. Best money I've spent on dinner in this city.”
“The short rib had been in there two days and you can taste it. We sat at the bar and watched the whole thing get cooked.”
“Fourteen of us on a set menu and everything came out at once, hot, with no fuss. The room felt like ours for the night.”
“Turned up at seven with no booking and got two seats at the bar in ten minutes. Ended up staying for three courses.”
“Seven courses and the chef talked us through every one. Best money I've spent on dinner in this city.”
“Told them it was our anniversary when I booked and they'd written it on the menu at the table. Small thing, and I still think about it.”
“Vegetarian in a fire-cooked place is usually an afterthought. The pappardelle and the beets were the two best things on the table.”
“Nine thirty on a Friday, still busy, still calm. Whoever runs that floor knows what they're doing.”
“Booked the whole room for thirty on a Tuesday. They wrote a menu around a shellfish allergy without making a production of it.”
“Told them it was our anniversary when I booked and they'd written it on the menu at the table. Small thing, and I still think about it.”
“Vegetarian in a fire-cooked place is usually an afterthought. The pappardelle and the beets were the two best things on the table.”
“Nine thirty on a Friday, still busy, still calm. Whoever runs that floor knows what they're doing.”
“Booked the whole room for thirty on a Tuesday. They wrote a menu around a shellfish allergy without making a production of it.”
“Told them it was our anniversary when I booked and they'd written it on the menu at the table. Small thing, and I still think about it.”
“Vegetarian in a fire-cooked place is usually an afterthought. The pappardelle and the beets were the two best things on the table.”
“Nine thirty on a Friday, still busy, still calm. Whoever runs that floor knows what they're doing.”
“Booked the whole room for thirty on a Tuesday. They wrote a menu around a shellfish allergy without making a production of it.”
“Told them it was our anniversary when I booked and they'd written it on the menu at the table. Small thing, and I still think about it.”
“Vegetarian in a fire-cooked place is usually an afterthought. The pappardelle and the beets were the two best things on the table.”
“Nine thirty on a Friday, still busy, still calm. Whoever runs that floor knows what they're doing.”
“Booked the whole room for thirty on a Tuesday. They wrote a menu around a shellfish allergy without making a production of it.”
Come and eat with us.
Tables open two weeks ahead, and the bar keeps eight seats for anyone who just turns up.
Call the restaurantFind us
Ossington at Argyle, three doors north of the bakery.
- 118 Ossington Avenue
- Toronto, ON M6J 2Z5