Yes, you'd expect to find a decent selection of burgers at a joint called Burger Bar. And probably gourmet-ish burgers of the bespoke kind, considering the place is owned by the same person who owned Rice Bar in the space before it. Indeed, Brock Shepherd’s retooling of his Kensington Market noshing spot shows that something quite different is happening here. With rice firmly out of the way, Shepherd (former owner of The Chelsea Room, Azul, and, yes, a former martiniboys.com scribe) has rebranded his Rice Bar space, temporarily shelving the bespoke rice bowl offerings (more on that later) - and the derivative sandwich division (the affixed Wich?) - and jumping onto the suddenly hip gourmet burger shop bandwagon.

For those who frequented the space in its earlier incarnation, Burger Bar, which opens at today at noon, comes with a few surprises. Shepherd’s well-edited menu offers up not rice, but quintessentially Canadian burger fare, with entries like the organic Alberta-raised Wagyu burger and home-crafted veggie burger (this is Kensington Market, after all) plus – yes, this too – poutine. More specifically, Saag poutine (Indian Paneer cheese and spinach gravy) and Toronto Island fries (homemade chili)!

But, digging deeper into the menu uncovers more interesting options, like Eggs Beni (the jewel of the brunch menu), baked brioche, meatball sliders, and cheeseburger spring rolls. There's will also be a focus on cocktails (Shepherd is a competition-tested mixologist), with options like The Sour (made with vodka, gin, rum, bourbon, pisco, cachaca, sake, or sogu) and a collection of bourbons and craft microbrews.

Shepherd has whipped the space into something of a humble UK burger-and-beer urban saloon — content, comfortable, devoid of pretence. The room - populated with happy yet harried staffers ("More coffee?") and loyal hungry locals who breathe in the sizzle of Cowpoke Burgers on the grill – sports a solid wooden bar, with a dozen tables dotting the room. Cardboard trophy moose heads are mounted on the walls, while Edison light bulbs hang throughout the room. All this makes a cuddly little eatery that transports us back in time, but sticks closely to the Kensington market ethos. It is the anti-McDonald's, the anti-Burger King.

As for Rice Bar, Shepherd promises us it will reopen in a sized down location elsewhere in Kensington. Now where's my burger?