Lobster & Chips at Toca in the Ritz Carlton Hotel

The Ritz Carlton Hotel is one of the oldest and most prestigious chains of high-end luxury hotels in the world, so getting one in Toronto elevates our status as a city.  That in itself seemed like a good enough reason to try its signature restaurant "Toca - by Tom Brodi".  So when we read about an item on their menu that was a fusion of two of my favourite foods - lobster, and fish and chips - it seemed like a special way to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

Our favourite way to eat lobster is simply to boil or steam it and then dip it in clarified butter.  Lobster does not need any other spice or flavouring to mask its natural sweet succulent taste.

We find that the Chinese style of cooking lobster which is to chop it up into pieces and then stir fry it with ingredients like green onion, ginger or garlic does just this.  You mainly taste the extra ingredients instead of the lobster itself.

At Toca, the "Fancy Fish and Chips" consisted of sizable chunks of beer battered lobster, frites sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and accompanied by spicy tartar sauce.  Unfortunately this sounded much better than it tasted as the batter overwhelmed the flavour of the lobster.  Again this confirmed that the tried and true method of eating lobster unadorned is still the best.  In addition, the fries were not very crispy and tasted a bit bland.

Despite the prestige and upscaleness of the Ritz and the rather pretentious name of "Toca - by Tom Brodi", we found the food only average for a high-end pricey restaurant.  Ready to be impressed, we admired the beautiful bread basket and butter, which we thought had the name TOCA colourfully etched into it.  It was a bit of a letdown to know that the "engraving" was just printing on a piece of wax paper.

Our salad appetizers - heirloom tomatoes, gouda cheese and greens with a pesto vinagrette, and BC prawns with romaine hearts, celery salt, bacon tuile and horseradish dressing were good, but nothing special.

I hate to be "putting down the Ritz", but it was a bit disappointing that this spectacular looking hotel did not have a more impressive restaurant.

Family Style Dining at Ruby Watchco

Ruby Watchco is the restaurant recently opened by celebrity chef Lynn Crawford (host of Restaurant Makeover).  The unusual name was inspired by the former resident of the building, the Ruby Watch Company, as indicated by the large sign hanging on the wall.

Ruby Watchco is unique in that it offers only one 4-course set menu per day for $49, with the menus for the week described in advance on their website.  There is a vegetarian option if you ask for it.  The food is served family style, giving you the feel of going home to mom's and finding out what's for dinner.  This restaurant tries to use locally grown, organic produce and ingredients.

Our meal started off with a beet and watercress salad with cucumbers, carrots and goat cheese covered in a pistachio vinaigrette.  The menu lists the farms that these vegetables come from.  The main course was grilled Ontario veal chops with a sweet bread lemon caper sauce, accompanied by corn on the cob covered with honey and smoked paprika butter, grilled zucchini with herb pesto and dill potatoes with caramelized onions.

The third course was a soft and aromantic Riopelle cheese from a local fromagerie, served with grilled bread slices and chunks of Ontario peaches with an orange marmalade.  Dessert was a refreshing fruit crisp consisting of blueberries, strawberries, apricots and raspberries topped with a small dollop of whipping cream.  Summer time seems to be a good time to come for dinner, since the local harvest is plentiful.

This was tasty, wholesome,  hearty food with nothing too showy or splashy in terms of presentation or ingredients.  It rather reminded us of a good home cooked meal.  And if you don't like what's on the menu for the day, then I'm reminded of what Rich's father used to tell him when he didn't want to eat his dinner .. "That's too bad, it's a long time until breakfast".

Ruby Watchco
730 Queen St East

Al Fresco Dining at Dynasty in Yorkville

Two experiences that don't usually go together is Chinese food and outdoors dining.  Despite having eaten at numerous Chinese restaurants in Toronto and even throughout China, we had not found many examples of ones with outdoor patios or seating areas.  One exception is Dynasty Chinese Cuisine, formerly located on the 2nd floor of the Colonade building on Bloor Street, but now in its new home in the heart of Yorkville.

While the prices at Dynasty are understandably significantly more expensive than the traditional Chinese eateries, there is something surreal and extremely cool about sitting outdoors watching the Yorkville crowd go by (including the Jaguars, Ferraris, Maseratis) while chowing down on Chinese food.  The strings of purple Christmas lights strung overhead made it feel like you were dining under the stars.

Appetizers of oyster tempura with sweet and sour sauce, and squid in spicy pepper salt, followed by grouper chow mein with vegetables made for a good late dinner/night time snack after watching an outdoor play at U of T's Philosopher's Walk.  However we've had better versions of each of these dishes for more reasonable price at various restaurants up in Scarborough and Markham.  What we were after was the ambiance and the experience, and for that we were quite satisfied.

Dynasty Chinese Cuisine
69 Yorkville Ave

Red Tea Box on Queen St West

The Red Tea Box on Queen St West is a unique tea shop and restaurant that fits well with the other fun and quirky establishments on that street.  The store is at the front and sells tea leaves and teapots as well as sweets (cookies, cakes, chocolates).  There are also a few dining tables and chairs in the middle of the store that hint at the tea salon and restaurant area in the back.  It seemed strange to dine in midst of the shoppers so we opted to have our lunch in the official dining areas.

Walking through the store and then down a narrow hallway adjacent the kitchen, we emerge into a beautiful garden patio that was perfect for a warm summer afternoon.  The decor in the patio complemented the zen feel of the tea shop with a large red Asian parasol, and an ornate metal screen that had Indian motifs.

I was intrigued by the idea of the soup sampler - small bowls of three different types of soup.  Since it was such a hot day, the daily sampler consisted of a set of chilled soups - pea and ginger, fennel vichyssoise, corn and cilantro chowder.  Each of the delicious and refreshing soups had a distinct flavour.  I love the concept of getting to try a bit of everything rather than having to choose from equally enticing options!

The featured lunch bento box of the day included generous portions of moist seared black pepper chicken with brown jasmine rice, grilled octopus salad, and roasted vegetables with a sesame dressing.  The presentation was quite appealing with little cucumber chunks cut in the shape of butterflies and the rice heaped on a porcelain spoon.  The crisp fresh vegetables came as a triangular wedge artistically layered in alternating colours. 

Since we were eating at a tea salon, of course we had to order tea.  Again because of the heat, we opted for iced tea.  While there were over 30 types of hot tea,  the selection of iced tea was more limited. We picked the ceylon tea with kaffir lime which was perfectly brewed, sweetened and chilled.  The taste of the actual tea was evident, unlike most store-bought iced tea.

After such a large lunch, we were quite full but could not resist ordering the gorgeous looking dessert cakes that we saw passing by on route to other tables.  We picked a chocolate hazelnut toffee cake and a pistachio lime caramel cake, then waited to be surprised by the decorative fondant toppings that they came with.  The cakes were almost too beautiful to eat, and in fact when we did eat them, we found them a bit too sweet.

Further back behind the outdoor patio was an enclosed dining area called "The Coach House" that offers a totally different dining vibe than the outdoor patio.  The Coach House has a more European feel with an eclectic assortment of mismatched tables, chairs and chaise lounges.  We will return when the weather is colder and try the "tea bento" in this room.  Served from 2pm (noon on Sundays), you can choose to have either savoury or sweet snacks with your tea.


Red Tea Box
696 Queen St W

Porcetta and Co

If you are only going to sell one item on your menu, then you better make sure that it is excellent. The porchetta sandwich at Porchetta & Co. certainly is.  This pronouncement comes from someone who usually doesn't like pork sandwiches or sandwiches that come on a bun in general, since I find them too dry.

Porchetta by definition is savory, fatty boneless pork, salted and seasoned, arranged with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted.

This porchetta sandwich comes on an extremely fresh Portuguese bun that is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.  The pieces of pork are moist and flavourful and are mixed in with chunks of salty crunchy pork rind or crackling to give it extra taste and texture.  Add optional toppings of truffle sauce and sauteed mushrooms and you've got a heavenly treat.

Other possible toppings include several types of mustard, tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan or rapini.  They do have soup and potato as sides but if I had the room, I'd rather have more porchetta!

Given that there is only one main menu item, you can go up to the counter and say "one with ..." without specifying one what.  Rich was quite amused to try out this theory.

The definition of the Michelin 3 star rating is 1) Stop if passing by  2) Make a detour if in the area  3) Drive out specifically to seek this out.  Given that Porchetta & Co is nowhere near where we usually frequent, and given that we definitely need to come back for more, I guess it qualifies as a 3 star establishment in our books.

Porchetta & Co.
825 Dundas St. West
647- 352-6611

Caplanskys Delicatessen

Caplansky's Deli serves up smoked meat sandwiches reminiscent of Schwartz's in Montreal.  For $12, the sandwich combo consists of mounds of shaved meat, nice fresh bread, coleslaw, a pickle,  and choice of side salad or fries.  Condiments included dijon mustard, which was a nice touch.

The side salad is a good helping of mixed greens, tomato and sprouts that is plenty to share between two people, and the fries are just as I like them - thin and crispy.  Then I saw on the menu my two favourite food words - Mushroom and Gravy!!  Now I am in heaven with savoury gravy containing chunks of mushrooms to dip my fries into.

The already reasonable meal was made even more affordable by a Groupon for $20 worth of food at the cost of $10.   And then final touch that made this an amazing dining experience for me was the bathroom signs.  I have a collection of over 100 sets of photos from around the world of quirky bathroom signs depicting men vs women's bathrooms.. This one featuring owner Zane Caplansky is now up there as one of my favourites since they made me laugh out loud when I saw them.

Caplanskys Delicatessen
356 College St West
416-500-3852

Chocolate Almond Croissant from Epi Breads

Rich and I have had a lot of experience tasting chocolate almond croissants in patisseries across Toronto.  We've tried ones from Rahier, Patisserie Sebastian, Patachou, Nadege, the now defunct French Quarter, among others.  We've even had them in various patisseries in Paris.  Thus far, our favourite is still from Epi Breads at Bayville Ave. and Millwood Rd.

The croissant at Epi Breads has just the right combination and amounts of chocolate and almond so that you get both tastes in every bite.  The almond flavour comes in a rich gooey almond paste that blends in with the creamy dark chocolate that is not too sweet.  The actual croissant is light and flaky as opposed to doughy and is topped with a crunchy almost cookie-like topping, which includes actual almond slivers and is dusted with icing sugar.  This croissant, a cup of bold coffee and a newspaper is the perfect way to spend a weekend morning.

As inferred by the name, Epi Breads also offers a fabulous selection of fresh white, wheat and multi-grain as well as specialty breads.  These include 3 types of cheese bread, pumpkin cranberry, walnut, pecan fruit,  black olive and more.   My other regular purchases include a great artichoke hummus, a tasty mushroom soup and their cranberry lemon loaf cake.

French Onion Soup - Jacques Bistro du Parc

I love french onion soup but find in many restaurants, it is often too salty. For me, a good french onion soup should be slightly sweet, with tender caramelized onions, a crusty slice of french bread and an abundance of gruyere cheese that is nicely browned on top, but gooey and flavourful when you dig into it.

One of the best french onion soups in Toronto can be found at Jacques Bistro du Parc in Yorkville. For $8.95, you get a delicious bowl of soup sweetened with probably a good dash of sherry, and enough cheese to accompany every spoonful of broth. The quality of this soup rivals what we've had in Paris, and the Parisian decor helps you feel like you are actually there. A seat by the window of this second floor restaurant gives you a great view of the ritzy shops on Cumberland Street. The dinner menu looked good as well, but on this occasion, we were just after a quick snack to warm our bones and fortify our bellies before heading back out into the cold blustery winter day.

126 Cumberland Street (2nd Floor)
(416) 961-1893

Lai Toh Heen Tasting Menu

I never thought I'd go back to Lai Wah Heen after the Winterlicious experience several years ago when we went for a $20 dim sum lunch and walked away still hungry and feeling gyped. Many restaurants still don't understand that Winterlicious/Summerlicious is their chance to make a good first impression for new patrons with the goal of turning them into loyal repeat customers. Instead, they dumb down their menus and cheapen the quality and quantity of food provided in order to try to maximize profits during the 2 week window of this festival. Based on this experience, I've shunned this restaurant and refused to try the new Lai Toh Heen sister restaurant that opened in my mid-town neighbourhood. I was sceptical anyways about the concept of expensive "high end" chinese food. This just reaffirmed my opinion that it was all hype and not worth the money.

After several years of boycott, I finally was lured into trying Lai Toh Heen by a Groupon offer of $50 worth of food for the price of $25. Groupon offers discounts to various restaurants and shops, as long as enough people purchase the offering. Still leery and deciding that this might be the only time we'd go there, we decided that we'd go big and try their largest tasting menu of eight sampling courses for $90 to get a good feel of what this restaurant is all about.

The decor was beautiful with deep red hues in the walls, menus and plates. I was struck by the "Citizen Kane-ish" length of the tables which puts you barely within fork range of your eating companion. Luckily they provided unusually long forks too! We figured the table length was to provide room for communal dishes to be put in the centre, which is a typical way of eating Chinese food. However since we were each getting own our personal servings, it just served to put us at shouting distance from each other. I also noticed the bottles of Remy Martin XO Champagne Cognac prominently on display. From Chinese weddings that I've attended, I know that this liquour is considered a status symbol of propsperity.

The first course started with a huge steamed scallop served on its shell, sitting in a flavourful broth with glass noodles, garlic and green onion. Now came the dilema of how to eat this, since the shell was tippy and the scallop too big to stuff into one's mouth in one bite and too firm to sever with chopsticks. Rich valiantly wanted to prove his chopstick skills while I more practically retreated to the knife and fork. It was a funny sight though to see the White guy using chopsticks while the Chinese woman used the western utensils. Guess which one of us did not get scallop broth all over ourselves?

The next dish was the most fabulous both in taste and presentation. It was a perfectly seared piece of fois gras sitting on a bed of shredded duck meat - possibly from a Peking duck, like the ones that were being served more traditionally at other tables. The plate was then decorated with drizzles of plum and sweet and sour sauces, arranged like the petals of a flower.

The third course was disappointingly boring in comparison. It was a bowl of beef wonton consume with bok choy, which tasted not unlike wonton soups that you could get at any Chinese restaurant, or even in the T&T supermarkets. We tried to spice it up with the sauces that they had put before us, including the most authentic and fresh looking "XO" sauce I've ever seen, with the pieces of dried shrimp (one of the main ingredients) still visible.

The fourth course was an improvment - a plate of lobster chunks, cooked just enough to be sweet and succulent and sitting on the tail fin for presentation. Unfortunately it was served again with the same baby bok choy as the wonton soup dish, which made it a bit repetitve. While we were eating it, I was eyeing the crisp and bright green Chinese broccoli (Gai Lan) at the other table, wishing I was eating that instead. The dish also came with what looked like pieces of grilled onion, but the onion also tasted sweet somehow.

The fifth course consisted of two big pieces of chicken drumsticks served in a truffled gravy, with button and king oyster mushrooms. Mushrooms are one of my favourite foods so I heartily approved of this dish. I had previously eavesdropped on the table beside us who were also doing a tasting menu and heard the lady ask for "no mushrooms". I think I almost gasped out loud in dismay! By this point, the waiter had taken away our knives and forks from the previous courses and forgot to replace them. Looking at the size of the chicken pieces, even Rich was not brave enough to try to eat these with chopsticks alone, so we had to ask for more cutlery. It felt like an admission of defeat though.

The sixth course included pieces of beef tenderloin in a sweet sauce with asparagus, served in a "phoenix nest", which tasted a bit like a thin corn chip shell. If you've noticed that I have not been overwhelming you with details about the spices, flavourings and garnishes of these dishes, it's because the waiter only gave us the basics. I'm used to European and Continental tastings where the waiter or sometimes the chef describes in minute detail every ingredient of the dish, including some that you've never heard of before.

The waiter had come around so many times now to ask us how the meal was, that Rich decided it was time to dazzle him with his Cantonese. He replied "Ho sic" (good tasting), much to the waiter's delight.

The seventh and last course before dessert was again quite standard Chinese fare and therefore again seemed unexciting. It was a singapore noodle dish with the typical red and green pepper slices, topped with a large shrimp and a scallop. I've noticed by now that the courses we enjoyed the most were the ones that seemed less traditionally Chinese and were more "Western-fusion". I guess we've eaten Chinese food so often that we expected more unique and innovative dishes.

Now finally came the dessert. When you do a chef's choice tasting menu, they always start by asking whether there is any ingredient you are allergic to or really don't like to eat, so they can avoid it in the dishes (like the lady and her mushrooms!). I took this opportunity to say that I really didn't like Chinese desserts of any kind, so no red bean or sweet tofu soup for me! I knew that they had the option of serving European style desserts from Senses, and I was determined to get one of those. Mission accomplished in spades as I got a beautiful chocolate caramel cake while Rich got an Italian cheesecake.

All in all, it was a good meal and even the lesser dishes were tasty, but just unexciting. I'm glad we did this once but I think I'll return now to my traditional Chinese restaurants, where we could have eaten six meals for the price of this one.

Food sampling in Midtown Toronto

The area around midtown Toronto where we live is abundant with opportunities to be offered free food samples from various food stores and supermarkets. If you know the lay of the land, you can score a nice selection of samplings and get a good walk out of it too. Bring your wallet though, because if the samplings do the job that they are meant to, you might be tempted into making more purchases than you originally intended to. Some good opportunities exist at the following locations:

• Bruno's Fine Foods at 1560 Yonge St. often put out grapes, bagette slices with olive oil occasionally with balsamic vinegar or dips, and slices of banana or even chocolate-banana loaf cake. Sometimes there are cheese squares or meat samplings from the deli section
  
• The Flagship LCBO at 10 Scrivener Square has regular liquor and food tastings, especially on the weekends between 1-4pm. Two main food stands at either end of the store often have small samplings of wines, scotch, beers, coolers, etc. usually with a tray of cheese, fruit or small hors d'oeuvres. Even better is when the Event Kitchen features chefs who prepare food right on the premise in order to promote their restaurants, usually paired with some sort of liquor sampling. Or for a nominal fee from 50 cents to several dollars, on any day you can purchase a sample from hundreds of different wines and spirits in the Clock Tower Tasting room.
• All The Best Fine Foods at 1101 Yonge St. always has some fine cheeses featured for sampling at their cheese counter. If you wander around the store, you'll occasionally find some cake or pastry offerings, as well as their store brand cheese sticks and featured dips including my favourites - Garlic/Dill, Edamame/Miso or Crab/Cheese
  
• William Sonoma at 100 Bloor St. often offer apple cider or hot chocolate in the winter. Throughout the year, if you time it right, there might be some cooking demonstrations in their kitchen which result in samplings of baked goods, soups, or whatever happens to be on the stove. The best sampling I ever got was from this store, when the chef of Splendido was passing out small portions of beef tenderloin with mash potato and aspargus. I have yet to top that one!
• EPI Breads at 1526 Bayview is my favourite bakery in Toronto and sells an excellent selection of freshly baked breads, some of which are always offered for sampling. EPI also sells great hummus and pestos, soups and pastries including a delicious chocolate almond croissant
  

The larger Loblaws stores like the one on 396 St.Clair often offer samples of their new products, especially the new President's Choice items when they put out the Insiders' Report. In the past, we've sampled their Bison burger, Lamb burger, Old Fashioned lemonade, Ice Tea, etc.

Holidays, especially Christmas are a great time to find tasting opportunities as stores put out samplings of chocolates, pastries, Christmas fruit cakes and prepared foods to lure shoppers already in the buying mood. The usual places will put out extra offerings while even unusual places could get into the act. I tried some free chocolate at Shoppers Drug Mart just the other day.

Be careful to make sure what looks like a sample is really a sample though. Once we were merrily tasting mini sausage rolls in a basket when suddenly we saw the price sign which had tipped over. We shamefully slunk away without being noticed and arbitrarily bought something out of guilt. Since we usually spend so much money at this shop, I think in the long run they've come out ahead, but I've been extra careful ever since.

Chinese Dining Experiences

A few things have changed since my first blog article called "Eating Dim Sum with my White Guy Husband" written back in 2005. Rich now considers himself a pro amongst his coworkers in terms of Chinese dining knowledge and leads them fearlessly to Dim Sum in Mississauga. He can order common dishes by their Cantonese names, abet still mangling the intonations even when he nails the sounds. He even has his favourite restaurants where he is considered a regular, almost to the point of the proprietors calling him by name like in Cheers and pre-cooking his usual dishes as he walks through the door.

One of our regular haunts is D&R Wing's Restaurant which makes what Rich considers the best Curry Chicken and Rice in Toronto. Large chunks of breaded chicken with green peppers, roast potato and onions are covered with a thick rich green curry that has a strong spicy kick to it, and comes with a large heaping of white steamed rice. The restaurant serves Hong Kong style fast food dishes comprised of curries, stir fries and baked dishes that can be eaten as complete individual meals that include meat/seafood, vegetable and starch (usually steamed or fried rice, or spagetti). This contrasts with Cantonese or other Chinese style dinner places where multiple dishes are ordered to share. Other choices include the Portuguese Chicken (chicken and onions baked in a coconut cream sauce, Pork Chop cutlet, Black Pepper Beef and a Baked Seafood dish in a creamy sauce with lightly fried and seasoned rice. At around $7-10 a dish, it makes for a quick cheap meal.

Another favourite restaurant of ours is Chui Chow Boy, which serves cuisine from the south-eastern region of China called Chui Chow or ChaoShan (or many other spellings) within the Guangdong province. The food is slightly spicier than Cantonese cooking, but not as much as Szechuan, so it strikes a nice delicate balance with just enough flavour to keep it interesting. We've been here multiple times now, both because we really like it and also since it is close to where my parents live so we can get them there easily. Rich's favourite dish is the pan-fried turnips and crunchy bean sprouts with XO sauce, which consists of dried shrimps and scallops, chili oil, onion, garlic and dry cured ham. My favourites are the perfectly cooked breaded squid, or any of the dishes made with Chinjew sauce. This could be chicken, beef or shrimp stir-fried in a peppery sauce that comes with crispy fried spinach that provides an interesting texture and is reminiscent of the seaweed snacks that you can get at the Chinese grocery stores. This restaurant was recommended by Globe and Mail food critic Joanne Kates as one of her top 5 "under $50" picks.

Recently we went out as a group of 8 friends to a restaurant called Lee Garden. While in the heart of downtown Chinatown and serving authentic Cantonese style food, this restaurant catered to Caucasian clientele in terms of atmosphere as well as price point. It was brightly lit, clean, with English on the menus (also posted on the web) and English speaking waiters. The night we went, it was populated with as many non Chinese patrons as Chinese ones, which is usually a harbinger of North Americanized food - but not in this case. The prices are higher than other Chinese restaurants ($14-22 for meat/seafood, $11-15 for noodles), which is still relatively inexpensive compared to Continental dining but more than many Chinese deem worth spending.

However the food was delicious, well portioned and included many unique choices that are different than the usual fare. Two highlights of the meal stood out for us. The first was the seared beef tenderloin with avocado, sweet red peppers and cashew nuts which delightfully mixed a variety of tastes and textures.

The second was a described as crispy deep-fried shrimp and tofu balls in a garlic mushroom sauce that were crunchy on the outside with delicious steaming hot minced shrimp and tofu on the inside. The savoury sauce was served on the side so that you could help yourself to as much or as little as your wanted. I personally love sauce on all my food, but these balls were just as good without it.

The best way to experience this type of Chinese communal dining is in a large group of 6 or more, so that you can try a bit of many different types of dishes. Even better is if your group includes seasoned Chinese speaking and reading companions who can steer you towards the chef's specialities. This is especially important in some restaurants where the "good stuff" is only shown on the Chinese version of the menu. In this case, all the choices seemed to be represented in English so that Rich and I can go back and order them ourselves. Just in case though, I took a photo of all the food so that in the worse case, I could have showed my photo and said "I want this again!".

D&R Wing's Restaurant
325 Bamburgh Circle - (416)502-0862

Chui Chow Boy
3261 Kennedy Road - (416)355-0336

Lee Garden
331 Spadina Road - (416) 593-9524

Monk's Table - Beer Tasting Mondays

If you would like to try an assortment of exotic beers from around Europe, the Monk's Table is the place to go. Located on Yonge St just north of the Summerhill subway station, it is a pub on the first floor and restaurant on the second floor. You can order from an extremely wide selection of beers and have them described to you in detail by waiters who seem to double as beer sommeliers.

On many Monday evenings, they offer a 5 course beer tasting and food pairing menu for about $50-60. Each course comes with a tasting size of food and a generous amount of beer, considering you would eventually get 5 of them. With each course, the beer sommelier described the nature of the food and the beer, and the reason behind the pairing. Non-beer drinkers like myself could just partake in the food for a discounted price.

Our tasting began with savory blue cheese, pecan and apricot tarts paired with a Twisted Thistle from Scotland. The beer was described as an India Pale Ale which was orange amber colour, with hops prominent in its aroma and flavour. The blue cheese pairing was supposed to bring out the flavour in both the beer and the cheese. Since I was not drinking the beer, I took his word for this and soon stopped paying attention the descriptions after this. In retrospect, I guess Rich should really be writing this article so he could attest first hand whether these descriptions were accurate.

This was followed by a spicy piece of chicken pierced by a cinnamon stick on top of a fig sauce. This came with a glass of Saint Martin Blond from Belgium, which the Internet describes as a hazy gold beer with a creamy white head with a yeasty, slightly spicy and fruity flavour.

The next course was my favourite both from a taste and presentation perspective. It was a called "smoke salmon lollipops" with tuna carpaccio where the lollipops were rolled up balls of smoked salmon and cream cheese and the "stick" of the lollipop consisted of enoki mushrooms. This came with a glass of Hacker-Pschorr Dunkel Weisse from Germany which is a mild hazy brown beer with a malty, nutty aroma. I found it interesting that each beer came with its own shaped glass and coaster that was designed specifically for it. Also each beer so far has varied in taste, colour, and country of origin.

The main course was an apricot stuffed meat loaf with a red-wine infused mash potato and steamed rapini (another course with apricots - must have been on sale that day!). This came with an Abbot Ale from England that has been described to have a toffee or caramel taste to it. Before a dispute amongst the owners led to a change, the original name of this bar was "Abbot on the Hill". I wonder if it was named after this beer?

The final dessert course was a grapefruit pavlova, which was a grapefruit flavoured meringue with whipping cream and an orange slice on top. The beer was La Trappe Quadruple from Amsterdam described as light and fruity with a hint of spice.

It was a good experience for Rich to try so many different types of beers and was fun for him to listen to the server describe each one of them. For me, the food was only average for this tasting - I've actually had better food here just ordering off the regular menu which includes some very traditional British/Scottish fare like the Scotch Egg. But then I guess the beer was supposed to be the highlight of the evening for this tasting menu and the food probably went much better with the beer. All in all, it was a fun night and a different experience and luckily it was only a short stroll afterwards as I guided a slightly tipsy Rich back home.

1276 Yonge Street
416 920-9074