Charles N.
Yelp
Table Tennis, originally called Ping-Pong is ball game similar to Tennis, and invented in 1905. Growing in popularity over the years, the first World Cup was in held in 1980, and became an Olympic sport in 1988 with singles and doubles competition for both men and women.
Now what does Table Tennis have to do with "TT Café"? Well it's more than just the acronym...
First: TT Café is the culmination and dream of former Pro Tennis Table player Ly Quan passion for Table Tennis and Coffee paired with her father's extensive expertise and experience who's been cooking in restaurants since the 80s!
Second: The café offers enough of space to fit two full length ping pong tables and bleacher seats where anyone can come watch, play, or even get pro tips from the owners!
Third: Similar playing ping-pong, the attention to detail, precision, and speed, Daughter and Father owners infuse those skills into fantastic third wave coffee and Vietnamese dishes!
TT Café selected Dundas (ON) Detour coffee roaster's, backed with a premium water filtration system and San Remo naked coffee machine to satisfy the needs of great coffee lovers, where each cup served is the result of meticulous craft. You can order an espresso, cortado, flat white, cappuccino, latte, cold brew or the "Café Viet" which is fresh take on Vietnamese coffee. No messing around with your cup of java here!
To eat, there are some interesting asian influenced viennoiseries but also more hearty meals such as a Vietnamese Mango and Papaya salad, Fried Rice, Pho and also soon to be on the menu such as Wonton Noodle soup.
I opted to try a half-size portion of the soup and fried rice... drool pause.
The fried rice, oh dear lord, appeared to be deceptively simple but is actually a multi-step process ordeal, and prepared with such care! The secret is in the Hainanese style preparation, meaning the raw rice grains are first steamed in poached seasoned chicken broth, then incorporating fried eggs, sweet peas, shrimp and the most important ingredient of all - bits of flavourful and aromatic (lap chong) Chinese sausage! The result is fluffy grains of rice that is perfectly stir-fried and full of big flavors and irresistibly delicious!
There's something to be said about old school techniques as this is such a refresher from painfully bland, boring, and tasteless stuff you get at other restaurants.
Located right on the border of Ville Émard and Côte St-Paul this coffee shop is welcome addition to the neighbourhood which is slowly gentrifying, and giving asylum to locals, runners, even dragon boat club students looking for a sweet spot to hangout and enjoy a good brew and bite.
The one issue, mostly if you're driving is parking as it is rare and please don't randomly park in the parking lot without a permit as you will be towed.
Anywhoo, I will have to come back to try the Pho, Affogato and other items being added to the menu and perhaps even improve my non-existent ping pong skills (LOL). Hope you'll stop by too!