There’s something satisfying about stumbling upon a place you weren’t meant to find. In a city obsessed with hidden gems and speakeasies, this new restaurant hides in plain sight. Disguised as Martian Business System Consulting Inc. at 1031 Gerrard Street, it delivers one of the city’s most transportive dining experiences.
Welcome to Eastend Pie & Mash, a hidden-in-plain-sight Leslieville spot from chef Davy Love that, since opening in January, has been acting as a portal to the U.K. The shop marks the latest chapter in a career long shaped by that pull. A Toronto native with roots in the city’s music scene — he founded Britpop nights after years in radio — Love has spent decades translating British subculture for Toronto, first through radio waves and Britpop nights, and now, through shortcrust pastry.
The beating heart of the menu is the classic pie and mash: a savoury meat pie with a hefty scoop of mashed potatoes, finished with gravy or parsley liquor — a true British staple. It’s what you’d expect to find in a decades-old London pub, with tiled walls and regulars ordering the same thing every Sunday.
Chef Davy Love was chasing that exact feeling and went to unusual lengths to get there. The pies and pasties are made with imported flour from a 400-year-old, family-run mill in Burbage, England — a detail that goes beyond a good story and gets to the core of the dish’s authenticity, and arguably, the reason the restaurant exists at all.
The pastry strikes a balance between familiar and foreign, with a sturdy yet flaky texture built to hold the hearty fillings of decades past. Take the traditional Cornish pasty — one of the shop’s staples — a half-moon shape with thick, crimped edges. Originally designed as a portable lunch for workers, it was meant to be held with dirty hands, eaten, and the edge discarded.
Inside, it’s a choose-your-own adventure of comforting fillings like beef, swede or onion. But this east-end pie shop doesn’t stay stuck in the past. Alongside traditional pork pies and classic fillings, the team leans into a more modern, street food-leaning approach. Think chicken tikka masala pies, doner kebab pies and mac and cheese pasties — a nod to the multicultural influences that now shape British cuisine. Round it out with a sausage roll, a Scotch egg or a sticky toffee pudding tart, and you’ve got a deeply satisfying comfort meal.
What makes Eastend Pie & Mash stand out isn’t the disguise or the modern touches, but the honesty in the food. It feels like a neighbourhood spot, a proper home away from home with better dinner options. It also runs on its own schedule — open Friday to Sunday from 11 a.m. until sold out.
While the rest of the city is busy sanding down global cuisines to suit ‘local tastes,’ Love is doing the opposite. By importing everything from the history to the literal flour, he isn’t just serving a menu — he’s providing a direct line to the U.K. that hasn’t been diluted for the Canadian palate
