Full disclosure first. Alma y Gil isn’t ours. It’s an independent restaurant owned outright by Gerry and Mandy, and they’re an independent partner and friends of ours in the Toronto food scene, not a business we own. We’re writing about it here because “how do you make two cuisines work on one menu without it feeling like a gimmick?” is a question we hear alot from restaurant owners, and this is the best real example we’ve got.
On paper, a Mexican restaurant in Toronto that’s also a Hong Kong restaurant in Toronto sounds like something a brainstorm spat out at 2 a.m. In practice it makes a lot of sense. Here’s why.
It starts with two actual people
Alma y Gil (it’s pronounced “Hill,” by the way) was founded by Gerry and Mandy and named after Gerry’s grandparents, Alma and Gilberto. That’s not a marketing line, it’s the whole reason the menu looks the way it does.
Chef Gerry Quintero is from Mexico. His cooking is rooted in the flavours he grew up with, and he’s big on fermentation, dry aging and nixtamalization, the old process of cooking corn with lime to make masa. Before Alma y Gil he cooked around Toronto at places like C5, Scarpetta, Yours Truly, El Caballito and Avelo.
Chef Mandy Sou spent years in kitchens like Globe Bistro, Yours Truly, Momofuku Noodle Bar and Linda Modern Thai, and she kept coming back to one thing: the nostalgia of a Hong Kong diner. She brought that love of brunch to life at Pray Tell, and she’s been behind the pop-up sandos and milk teas since 2021.
So the menu isn’t “Mexican plus Hong Kong because why not.” It’s two chefs cooking from there own childhoods, in the same room. You can read the story on their about page if you want it in their words.
Both cuisines are comfort food at heart
A Hong Kong cha chaan tang (tea restaurant) is a casual diner. Milk tea, French toast, egg sandwiches, rice plates, fast and cheap and kind of unfussy. A lot of Mexican everyday food lives in a similar space: breakfast at the counter, tacos on the go, a plate of chilaquiles to fix your weekend.
Both are built around feeding people well without making a big deal of it. That shared attitude matters more than any single ingredient.
The pantry overlaps more than you’d think
Eggs are huge in both. Pork is huge in both. Both cuisines love something crispy, something saucy, and a sweet drink on the side. Corn is the backbone of Mexican cooking, rice plays a similar role in Hong Kong food, and both get treated with serious respect.
You can see it on the brunch menu. There’s HK French Toast (deep fried, with kaya custard milk bread and very dark maple syrup) and Radish Cakes stir-fried with egg, scallion and chili crisp. On the Mexican side there’s Chilaquiles made with house nixtamalized corn chips, salsa, a sunny egg, crema and cotija. And the breakfast sandos kind of sit in between, with cheese chicharron and caramelized onion sauce on brioche.
Drinks do the same thing. HK Milk Tea and Thai Milk Tea next to Xoco Maiz, a purple corn lemonade with Peruvian and Mexican roots.
Is it fusion?
Sort of, but not really in the way people usually mean. If you search Mexican Hong Kong fusion in Toronto you’ll find Alma y Gil, but most of the menu is each cuisine done straight, side by side, with a few dishes where they actually blend. That’s honestly what keeps it from feeling gimmicky. Nobody’s putting char siu in a taco just to get a TikTok.
What other restaurant owners can take from it
This is the part for the operators reading. A two-cuisine concept works when the reason behind it is real and easy to explain in one sentence. “Two chefs cooking the food they grew up with” is a sentence anyone gets. Guests don’t need a lecture, they need to understand why the menu looks like that.
It also helps that the menu dosen’t try to be everything. Brunch is focused, the Tuesday and Wednesday cafe menu is even smaller, and dinner is paused for now. Fewer things, done with a clear point of view, is easier to cook and way easier to talk about.
Go see for yourself
Alma y Gil is at 392 Dufferin St in Toronto. It’s closed Mondays. The laptop-friendly cafe is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Brunch runs Thursday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (breakfast is served 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Dinner is paused for now, but you can email hello@almaygil.com to host a private event.