Music Garden Cafe Breakfast Sandwich
The ubiquitous fast-food bacon and egg English muffin perfected.
We’ve all been there. You’re hungover and you have no food in the fridge. You’re late for a meeting and you didn’t eat before the gym.
What do you stoop to? A McDonald’s Egg McMuffin or Tim Hortons Breakfast sandwich. The ubiquitous, not-very-healthy, cheap-and-fast way to get breakfast into your stomach.
On one such particular day, I ventured out to the local Tim Hortons but upon looking at the door and feeling a mix of both personal disgust and perhaps self-preservation, I decided to walk intuitively towards the life-affirming lake (Ontario). Upon reaching the end of Spadina Ave., my hunger reaffirmed its potency and I pulled out the phone to search Yelp for an alternative breakfast.
Queen’s Quay is a food wasteland, so I was surprised to see the top listing 50m away for Music Garden Cafe—currently rated 3.5 stars. 3.5 stars, for Queen’s Quay. “Won’t kill me”, I thought.
Like most cafes, Music Garden is still takeout only due to covid, so I ponied up to the door-counter and ordered the Breakfast Special, not having any idea what it was. The sole employee working said “It will take about 6 minutes. Is that alright?” Liking the precision of his timeline, I said “absolutely” and sat on the patio gazing out into the sunshine and the lake. 6 minutes later the Special showed up.
I commenced to unwrap the little package.
“Ahhhh, the 6 minutes is how long it takes the guy to walk down to Tim Hortons,” I thought!! My hunger not deterred, I decided I might as well eat it.
Well, hot dang, if it wasn’t the best damn egg-bacon breakfast sandwich I’d ever eaten! I kind of peered at it, and I swear it was as if it was smiling at me. Can you see that happiness in the cheese?
“What, pray-tell was going on here?” So, I began to dissect each element individually. The first part was the English muffin. Perfectly toasted. Not too crispy, not too soft. Right in the middle zone. And, still quite warm. You never get that at Tim Hortons or McDonald’s.
Next, what is that flavour on the muffin? Is that butter?? Not hydrogenated palm oil from a 2 gallon plunger-dispenser? Yes, I do think this might be butter, or at least something resembling butter. Delicious.
Then, what is impregnated into the cheese itself - bacon? Thin, just-crispy-enough bacon. Not-falling-out-the-side, not chewy like it came out of a no-refrigeration package in aisle 3 of the grocery. It might damn well be real bacon. And the heavenly mixture between that butter and the bacon and the cheese all melding together at temperature!
I’ve always hated Kraft cheese slices. Was this a Kraft? Certainly doesn’t have that plastic taste. Colour is different too. And the temperature of the cheese was slightly warm. Is this warmed separately and then put on, or does it get warmed from proximity to the egg or by putting the whole thing back in the oven afterwards? I don’t know. But whatever little order of operations they do, it’s perfection.
Lastly, the egg. It’s a real egg. Not overcooked. Not undercooked. No errant shells which befall too many mainstream sandwiches. I felt almost healthy. I felt good.
CONCLUSION
Let’s be clear. This is not a Michelin restaurant. But this is a perfect example of what 25% improvement in all aspects of a design will yield. 25% better toasting, 25% better butter, 25% better bacon placement, 25% better cheese and temp, 25% better egg, 25% better integration of elements. Is that 150% better than your standard egg McMuffin. Yes. Yes it is. For $5 you owe it to yourself to get the better alternative. Throw in the much more relaxed morning that being by the Music Garden at the lake gives you and it’s a no-brainer, guaranteed hangover-fighter. I went back the next day and experienced the same process from a different employee. Same taste. Now that’s something!
To satiate some readers’ curiosity, the pastries and coffee are not the same magic as the sandwich. They’re fine. The Special is special.
PRICE
$3.95 USD
AVAILABILITY
Music Garden Cafe
466 Queen’s Quay West, Toronto, Canada
THE RATING
4/10 Absolute
10/10 Relative
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