toronto has seen its fair share of new indie coffee spots open in the last few months. especially in the king/queen/old entertainment district vicinity. sense appeal opened just north of king on spadina, lit espresso opened its third location in the burroughs building at queen/bathurst & little nicky's took over a small retail space just south of queen on peter street (building right behind the gap).
what drew me to little nicky's were rumours of a tiny tim's-like mini donut machine. walking through the shop's doors, the donut machine is hard to miss, it's front and centre at the bar and the smell of warm deep-fried dough & sugar hits you right away. couldn't pass up the chance to relive our childhoods of gorging on mini donuts at the CNE, we ordered a half dozen ($2.75) but probably should have ordered a dozen ($4.00).
they tasted like little clouds of doughy heaven and melted in your mouth. also ordered double espressos ($2.62) and i must say it was probably one of the best i've had in the city (other than lit's stumptown hair bender). the creme on top was delicious and the espresso had a very smooth, not-bitter taste.
upon repeat visits, i've grown to love the ambience of the shop and their espresso. little nicky's is open monday to friday 730 to 600 & saturdays 930 to 600.