White Lily Diner

White Lily Diner is a small, bright yellow diner on Queen Street East that has been serving comfort food made with local ingredients since 2016. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Michelin Guide Canada, which describes it as an old-school diner set apart by its attention to ingredients.

Breakfast is the main draw, though the kitchen serves food all day. The diner smokes its own bacon, makes its own donuts and bottles its own hot sauce, and sandwiches are served on bread baked in-house. Buttermilk biscuits are a signature, served either with jam and butter or with sausage gravy, and griddle cakes are another house speciality; the diner even shares its recipes for both on its website. Green salads are made with farm-fresh vegetables.

The diner's own line is that it is slinging quality comfort food with integrity and quality local ingredients, and the approach shows in how much is made from scratch, from bread to bacon. Prices are at the budget end of the Michelin Guide's scale.

Opening hours are from 9am to 5pm on Monday and Tuesday and from 9am to 10pm from Wednesday to Sunday, so it works for a late breakfast, a weekday lunch or an early dinner later in the week. The diner runs a waitlist that you can join online, so you can add your name before you arrive.

White Lily suits brunch lovers, couples, families and anyone wanting a filling, carefully made breakfast. It is at 678 Queen Street East. The bakery side of the business is a real strength, and the Michelin Guide classes the cooking as creative as well as bakery-led. The diner serves brunch, and the hot sauce and other house products show a kitchen that likes to make things itself. Credit cards are accepted, and the house hot sauce is bottled. If you enjoy the biscuits or griddle cakes, the recipe posts on the diner's website let you try making them at home after your visit, which is an unusually generous touch for a restaurant.

Order a biscuit with sausage gravy and something with the house-smoked bacon, and save room for a donut. Pets are not allowed, and the room is air-conditioned in summer.