You generally won’t find a calming and glamourous restaurant within an industrial neighbourhood. During a weeknight visit, we had to dodge cars getting in and out of businesses before arriving at General Public along the busy Geary Avenue. We met an older couple outside who looked confused. Yes, they were in the right place. Once an auto repair shop, it’s now home to Toronto Life’s best new restaurant of 2025.

It’s not exactly the place you’d think to start the meal with a bubbles and a bump ($15), essentially a 2g spoon of caviar chased with 1oz of champagne. While a bit ostentatious, it’s believed that by placing the caviar on the crook of your hand (essentially were you sprinkle salt to chase a tequila shot), your body will gradually warm the caviar to the right temperature. Did it work? Honestly, hard to tell with such a tiny portion.

While I enjoyed the dish, the protein could have been anything in bluefin carpaccio ($29). The strong flavours from the pickled onion and cheddar cheese crisps ended up covering the tuna. Not the greatest if you want to taste the bluefin, but ideal for those who are squeamish about eating raw fish.

Every table seemed to order the chicken wings ($21) given the description of being brined in a Guiness and tossed with a Worcestershire honey butter sauce… now this is different! It tasted like General Tao to me, which isn’t bad but not overly exciting either. At least they were crispy, juicy, and hot, three important components to a good wing.

The black cod ($47) was poached to perfection and covered in an herb bread crumb crust giving the silky fish some crunch. What really made it shine was the buttery parsley sauce that tasted like a creamy bisque. Why the dish isn’t served with toasted bread to allow diners to wipe up every drop of this sauce is a mystery.

We made our own “fish and chips” by pairing the cod with English chips ($13). These were so crispy and the potato nice and fluffy. I just need to tone down the salt.

Often an after thought at pubs, the desserts at General Public stole the show. The banoffee pie ($16) incorporates a thick ganache base in a lovely graham crust, so much chocolate that it could have been described as a chocolate tart. Layered with banana, caramel, and whipped cream this is a rich dessert that must be shared.

Consequently, it went perfectly with the lemon posset ($15). I wasn’t going to order this but after Corey, our server, described it as the best lemon dessert he’s had for a person who doesn’t like lemon desserts, I knew I had to try it.  

He was right. Covered with a short bread cookie, you need to break through it like a crème brûlée to get to the luscious creamy lemon pudding. The flavours were well-balanced, not overly sour or sweet, but as the Three Bears would say… just right. It was delicious on its own or mixed with the chocolate or whipped cream from the banoffee pie it worked as well. Teamwork makes the dessert dreams work.

Despite the swanky décor, General Public doesn’t take itself too seriously. I was curious about the furry mascot printed on the menus. Corey explained it was GP, a sidekick to Hammy the Hamster in a program called Once Upon a Hamster shown in the 90s on YTV. The initials GP spells out General Public so the obscure reference works.

And it certainly does for those who were born before the millennium. Upon reference to Hammy, my husband’s eyes lit up as he recounted the strange show that only broadcasted for two seasons. General Public is more than just a restaurant or pub. It’s a conversation starter, from the quirky guinea pig mascot to its odd location amongst repair shops.   

Visiting Halifax in July means a greater chance of good weather and lobster season. The time when these tasty crustaceans are at their prime and the reason Café Lunette offered a special Ooh La Lobster ($54) three-course menu.

But to start, an oyster ($3) to sample Nova Scotia’s array of seafood. It had a sweet finish, the restaurant using a lemon herb mignonette studded with chives, which wasn’t too pungent and just lightly flavoured the oyster.

It was a much better starter than the lobster bisque that had a bitter aftertaste. At first, I thought the bitterness stemmed from the Pernod, an anise liqueur, used in the soup but finally tracked it down to the crackers of all things. Once you scoop those out, the remaining soup was a bit salty but edible and incorporated a lot of lobster throughout.

The lobster spaghetti uses thicker strands of pasta and sauce, so everything sticks together well. The spaghetti had a great chewiness and while it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of lobster, the seafood was cut into small chunks and sprinkled throughout so each bite had a bit of lobster. It was a great main.

You can see the seafood in the truffled lobster and mushroom roll, but the truffle oil was too overpowering. I only had one bite and already my mouth was flooded with so much flavour that I can’t imagine having an entire sandwich. If you love decadence, you’ll want to try the lobster roll.

No lobster was used in the dessert but there was seaweed in the lemon posset. While it’s an interesting maritime addition, the seaweed does add an earthiness to the posset that’s an acquired taste. The consistency of the dessert was nice, almost like a panna cotta but thinner since it doesn’t incorporate gelatin.

The sea salt caramel crème brûlée was very rich and somehow both very sweet and salty. It’s a bit much on its own but when combined with the lemon posset the tanginess earthiness of that counteracts the flavours of the crème brûlée nicely so we ended up eating the desserts together.

Café Lunette’s cute atmosphere made us feel like we wanted to stay there and chat forever, the dining room is open and airy but there’s still a sense of privacy as ample space is given between tables. They are also so friendly – much like Halifax’s general populace – our waiter coming by to say goodbye as they were handing off shifts for the evening. We had a wonderful night and what a sad ending when we finally had to bid the café and its delicious lobsters au revoir.