Some restaurant openings feel like business plans. This one feels like a homecoming. On Sunday, October 25, 2026, Jeanne Chai and David Burga open Kiss the Beast, a Singaporean chicken rice shop at 713 College Street, in the very room where their first food venture, Kiss My Pans, once stood.
It is a full-circle story. The couple returned to Toronto in 2020 after 12 years in Singapore, where they worked in technology and tourism. They opened Kiss My Pans as a cheese shop; it evolved into a Singaporean restaurant. They went on to open Agak Agak. Both businesses have since closed. Now they are back with a sharper idea and a single dish at the center of it: Hainanese chicken rice.
The timing could not be better. College Street is in the middle of one of the most exciting runs of openings the strip has seen in years, with new dining rooms, bars, and cafes arriving almost monthly from Bathurst to Ossington. Into that wave comes a small, founder-driven shop built on a cuisine the street did not have.
What makes it special
Hainanese chicken rice is one of those dishes that looks simple and punishes shortcuts. The classic plate is a quiet study in precision: silky poached chicken with skin like satin, rice cooked fragrant in chicken fat and stock until every grain shines, cool cucumber to cut the richness, a small bowl of clear soup, and the essential trio of condiments, fiery chili sauce, pungent minced ginger, and dark soy. Get any element slightly wrong and the whole plate falls flat. Get it right and it is one of the great comfort foods of the world.
It is also Singapore’s unofficial national dish, and genuinely great versions are hard to find in Toronto. That is what makes Kiss the Beast interesting: not another broad pan-Asian menu, but one dish, done with obsession, by two people who spent 12 years eating it in its homeland. Focus is a form of respect, and in a city full of restaurants trying to be everything, a shop that chooses to be one thing well stands out.
There is also the personal weight of the address. Opening in the former Kiss My Pans space means Chai and Burga are not starting cold; they are returning to a room and a neighborhood that already knows their names. Regulars from the Kiss My Pans years will recognize the room. Newcomers will find a shop with a story already built in.
What to expect
The soft opening runs Sunday, October 25, from noon to 9 p.m. Expect a tight menu built around the namesake chicken rice, served counter-style in an intimate room. A traditional Hainanese chicken rice plate arrives as described above: sliced poached chicken over or beside fragrant rice, with chili, ginger, and soy on the side so you can season each bite your own way. If you have never had it, the move is a little of everything on the fork at once.
The opening-day deal is generous and worth planning around: the first 50 customers receive a free curry puff and the next 50 receive a free drink, each with the purchase of a main dish and limited to one per receipt. If the freebies matter to you, go early; a soft opening with this kind of hook can draw a line down the block.
One honest note: a soft opening is a preview, not the finished product. Menus, pacing, and hours tend to settle in the weeks after day one. Treat October 25 as a first taste, be patient with the team, and follow the shop on Instagram for updates as it finds its rhythm.
Practical details
Kiss the Beast is at 713 College Street, Toronto, on the College Street strip west of Bathurst, served by the 506 Carlton streetcar. The soft opening is Sunday, October 25, 2026, from noon to 9 p.m. Regular hours have not been announced yet. No menu prices have been published; the opening-day giveaways require the purchase of a main dish, one per receipt. Follow Kiss the Beast on Instagram for opening details and announcements.
Who it is for
Bring the friend who plans trips around food. Bring anyone who has been to Singapore and still talks about the chicken rice at the hawker center. Bring the College Street regular who likes being able to say they were there on day one, and the curious eater who believes the best restaurants are the ones with a short menu and a long story. This is comfort food with a backstory, at exactly the kind of small shop that makes a big city feel personal.
When does Kiss the Beast open?
The soft opening runs Sunday, October 25, 2026, from noon to 9 p.m. at 713 College Street.
Where is Kiss the Beast located?
713 College Street, in the former Kiss My Pans space. Founders Jeanne Chai and David Burga return to the room where their first food venture stood.
What does Kiss the Beast serve?
One dish, done with obsession: Hainanese chicken rice, Singapore’s unofficial national dish. Expect silky poached chicken, rice cooked fragrant in chicken fat and stock, cucumber, clear soup, and the essential trio of chili sauce, minced ginger and dark soy.
Is there an opening-day deal at Kiss the Beast?
Yes. The first 50 customers receive a free curry puff and the next 50 a free drink, each with the purchase of a main dish and limited to one per receipt. Arrive early, and check the official channels before going in case details change.
