Hrvati Bar
European diners like Prague European Kitchen and Country Style Hungarian Restaurant have long sated famished souls, both gastronomically and emotionally. These no-frills fueling stations are testament to the restoring effects of good simple eats and the oft-underestimated appeal of frank and unpretentious kindness. Endearingly démodé, these places are perfect for students and bearded Czech or Hungarian elders alike. For Toronto’s Eastern European community, these restaurants — and others like them — hold an obvious appeal.
But even if you know little about the finer points of separating Croatian and Serbian cuisine, the timeless warmth of Eastern European restaurants and bars make them perfect places to hole up and ride out the winter. Better yet, a new breed of Eastern European outposts is popping up around the city, catering to a younger, thirstier crowd. While tied to tradition by a penchant for the undeniable irresistibility of cured meats, pickled vegetables, and strong drink, the new wave exemplified by Hrvati Bar, Pravda Bar, Rakia, and Rasputin incorporate all the latest requisites of Toronto’s evolving nightlife scene. Here are a few of the best places to wait out the cold with a beer, vodka, or some hearty food.
Check out the map below for the location of the bars and restaurants we reviewed
View Eastern European Bars in a larger map
COUNTRY STYLE HUNGARIAN RESTAURANT
450 Bloor St. W.
One of the last remaining vestiges from a time when The Annex was a predominantly Hungarian neighbourhood, Country Style is a living relic. Despite its increasingly trendy surroundings, this old-fashioned diner carries on, uncompromising in its warm, homelike character.
The staff, menu and atmosphere are as down to earth as its wood-paneled walls. Red and white gingham tablecloths quickly become laden with Eastern-European staples such as goulash, cabbage rolls, and perogies topped with crispy fried onions.
Groups of friends and family ought to dare one another to try the establishment’s towering meat platters. These daunting selections of schnitzel and meats are brought out almost ceremoniously, in a carnivorous ritual that won’t disappoint.
For dessert, the strudels are fresh baked and flaky, just light enough not to compound the meal’s heftiness too severely. You may recognize these meals from having grown up with them, or you might simply enjoy them as a reminder of what it means to be truly full. Either way, Country Style serves up the comfort food needed to beat cold winters, whether stewed on a stovetop in Budapest or in a charmingly outdated nook in Toronto’s slushy landscape.
HRVATI BAR
690 Euclid Ave
Hrvati Bar is one of those little places you wish you frequented enough to be a regular, where the staff know your name and reflexively ready your usual. As a relatively new and unimposing addition to Koreatown’s bibimbap houses and groceries, this Croatian gem may not yet be intimately known to many, but it sure feels like it.
A communal-style banquet table extends the length of the bar’s interior, lending the room its hospitable character. The walls are furnished with antique photographs of women clad in embroidered linen dresses and men decorated for military service, imparting a vague sense of nationalist camaraderie.
Perfect for conversation and close gatherings, Hrvati features a wide array of beers from around the world. Among the extensive offerings are Irish, Polish, Czech, and of course, Croatian brews. Accompanying these specialty imported beers is a concise assortment of Eastern European classics, such as chicken paprikas, pljeskavica (a Croatian-style burger stuffed with mozzarella) and cevapi (a platter of handmade sausages). Intended for sharing, these finger foods come with sides of fresh cut Yukon gold fries, plus satisfyingly-briny slaws and assorted pickles. The traditional menu is playfully equipped with a glossary of ingredients, while the earnest staff welcome newcomers as though to their own kitchen table.
PRAGUE EUROPEAN KITCHEN
638 Queen St. W.
Queen Street’s Prague European Kitchen has long been lauded for its traditional home-style Czech and Slovak foods and casual atmosphere. It remains a favourite for those seeking old-fashioned dishes, stacked deli sandwiches and classic soups.
This past year, however, the four-decade old deli underwent some changes after it passed into the hands of new owners. The rustic has been done away with in favour of a more polished and trendy setting. While the veteran deli has undergone a few superficial changes to its façade and menu, its charm remains intact.
It seems the new owners are attempting to push the old Prague (formerly named Prague Fine Food Emporium) into the same league as some of the city’s more trendy European upstarts. Whether the subtle transition takes, or pales in comparison to its antiquated former self, you’ll need to decide for on your own.
PRAVDA VODKA BAR
44 Wellington St. E
Named for the Russian Communist Party’s official newspaper, Pravda Vodka Bar gingerly straddles the line between charm and kitsch. Planted in the St. Lawrence Market community of shops and artisanal restaurants, Pravda transports diners to a space outside historical time or place. Swathed in luxuriant curtains of red velvet, ornately upholstered couches, gilded columns, propaganda posters, and a wealth of hammer and sickle symbolism, the experience is amusing even if a little contrived.
An array of vodkas are divided up into ‘New’ and ‘Old World’, and martinis such as the ‘socialist lychee’ or ‘Trotsky Lemon Berry’ offer brief educational blurbs on introductory Marxism. Given how heavy-handed the Soviet allusions may be, it stands to question whether this pricey vodka bar caters to the blue-collared revolutionaries it takes its name from, or their bourgeois counterparts. Strictly 25+, this haughty Russian daydream might best be left to slick-suited thirty-somethings.
RAKIA BAR
1402 Queen St. E.
Popular throughout the Balkans, rakia are strong alcoholic brandies made from various fruits and meant for sipping — or so the waitress at Rakia Bar in Leslieville tells me. The restaurant, which opened this past summer, is the Toronto satellite of a Belgrade bar, and it seems to be creating a new class of hardy rakia-swilling Europhiles.
The comprehensive menu of plum, prune, apricot and pear brandies is charmingly organized from glow-inducing to flame-igniting, represented on a mustache barometer ranging from thin to bushy. Each drink is served accompanied by a small tasting plate of goat cheese, olives and cured meat selected to accentuate its flavour profile. Plush bench seating and a communal-style tapas menu lends the bar its friendly feel, while eclectic music and expanses of fuchsia-coloured velvet and painted brick maintain its urbane vibe. An authentic Serbian drinking experience rendered palatable for the unaccustomed, Rakia Bar offers a distinctly European interpretation on the beloved cocktail bar.
RASPUTIN VODKA BAR
780 Queen St. E
An ideal spot to visit for drinks with friends, Rasputin Vodka Bar combines an irresistible blend of Russian sophistication with an intimate and relaxed ambiance. Host to some very affordable bar rail and happy hour specials, the stylish space and variety of vodkas often come cheap.
Cocktails are accompanied by pickles, olive and rye to accentuate the flavours in the vodka and the bar’s own Russian flair. Fabergé eggs and Matryoshka (Russian nesting dolls) line the length of the bar, while yesteryear figureheads and propaganda posters are displayed in ornate gilded frames.
On Saturdays the inviting dim room comes complete with a live dj. The funky music creates a laid-back and exciting feeling. Assorted charcuterie and cheese platters pair nicely with the vodka-focused drink menu, are easily shared amongst friends and lay heavy sandbags against the alcohol.
An excellent and too often overlooked treasure of the Leslieville neighbourhood, Rasputin is just as intriguing as the mysterious monk it takes it name from, and fortunately, perhaps a fair bit friendlier.
