Queen West's plant-based diner — Mythology takes the American diner format and applies it to entirely vegan cooking: vegan eggs benedict, plant-based BLT, chickpea scramble with potato hash, and oat milk lattes. The food is genuinely diner-level satisfying without any of the meat.
Neighbourhood: Queen West · Address: 1265 Queen St W, Toronto, ON · Hours: Mon–Fri 9am–4pm | Sat–Sun 9am–5pm · Price Range: $$ · Phone: (416) 792-7000 · Editorial status: Not yet verified
Mythology Diner reinvents classic greasy spoon fare for plant-based eaters, serving up convincing vegan versions of brunch staples like eggs benedict and BLTs. It’s one of the few spots in Toronto where vegans can satisfy nostalgic diner cravings without compromise.
Unlike most vegan spots in Toronto, Mythology leans hard into full-on comfort food, with an all-day breakfast menu and unapologetically hearty portions. The vibe mimics a classic American diner—but with none of the animal products lurking in the kitchen, right down to the creamy oat milk lattes.
Toronto's vegan brunch specialists — the restaurants that have committed to the full brunch format (eggs benedict, pancakes, French toast, scrambles) using entirely plant-based preparations — represent one of the most technically demanding areas of the plant-based food sector. The eggs benedict is the most demanding: eggs (or their substitute), Canadian bacon (or its substitute), English muffin, and hollandaise sauce (the classical emulsion of egg yolk, butter, and lemon) must all be replaced without losing the characteristic richness, texture, and flavour that makes eggs benedict compelling.
Cashew hollandaise (blended cashews with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, turmeric, black salt, and an emulsifying agent like aquafaba) achieves the richness of hollandaise through cashew fat (saturated fat with a neutral flavour), the colour through turmeric, and the eggy flavour through black salt. The emulsification is more stable than conventional hollandaise (which breaks readily if temperature fluctuates) because the cashew fat is solid at room temperature and doesn't separate. The result is a sauce with the visual presentation of hollandaise and a flavour that closely approximates the original.
The chickpea scramble (chickpea flour or whole chickpeas cooked with turmeric, nutritional yeast, black salt, and vegetables) is more versatile than tofu scramble for brunch applications — the chickpea's own flavour adds earthiness that tofu lacks, the texture is more varied, and the protein content is similar. Well-seasoned with cumin, smoked paprika, and black salt, the chickpea scramble satisfies the eggs-for-breakfast craving more completely than it should.
The oat latte (espresso with steamed oat milk) has become the default dairy-alternative choice at serious coffee-forward vegan brunch restaurants — oat milk's higher sugar content and carbohydrate structure steam more similarly to cow's milk than almond or soy milk, producing microfoam that holds its texture through the drink.
Cashew hollandaise is made from blended cashews with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, turmeric, and black salt. It approximates hollandaise's richness through cashew fat and its flavour through black salt's sulfurous notes. The best versions are surprisingly close to conventional hollandaise; the texture is more stable and less prone to breaking.
Chickpea scramble uses chickpea flour or whole chickpeas cooked with turmeric, nutritional yeast, and black salt. The chickpea's earthy flavour and the black salt's sulfurous notes combine to approximate scrambled eggs better than plain tofu. It's one of the more successful egg substitutions in vegan brunch.
Oat milk steams more similarly to cow's milk than most alternatives — its higher carbohydrate and fat content allows it to form stable microfoam with a texture that holds through a latte. Almond milk tends to separate and not foam; soy milk works better than almond but less consistently than oat.
At the best Toronto vegan brunch restaurants, yes — the format (shared table, multiple courses, sweet and savoury) is the same, and the food quality at places that have invested in proper technique approaches conventional brunch quality. The expectation adjustment from convention to innovation is the key shift.
WTF Toronto creates guides using independent editorial research, official sources, local knowledge and firsthand experience where available. Commercial relationships are disclosed where applicable.