Date: October 7, 2011
Location: 2448 Bloor Street West (west of Jane), Toronto
Meal: dinner
My thoughts:
Strolling along Bloor, this restaurant's classy lounge-like ambiance and festive fall decor (actually, it was more like a small collection of fall gourds and pumpkins strewn on a pillar) immediately drew us in. We were greeted by a friendly patron and asked if we would like to sit in the dining area or wine bar, and we chose the former.
Our waitress, who was very cordial and polite, explained the daily dishes of the day. We ordered our meal and were subsequently given a plate of freshly made scones. I had about half of one, and while it was very good, it filled me up a
lot. (I should've known better than to have one knowing how dense scones are, so a word of caution.)
Our food arrived in a timely manner. I found the
east coast lobster bisque to be quite watery in consistency, but quite greasy. There were a few chunks (give or take 5) of moderate-sized lobster. Flavour-wise, I thought this was just a bit salt-laden. This definitely doesn't come anywhere close to The Lobster Trap's bisque. It did, however, serve its purpose of warming me up on a chilly night (the restaurant's doors were kept open and we were sitting fairly close to the door).
We shared 3 sides, which were served in three tall bowl/cups on a serving/platter plate. I'm pretty sure the cook forgot to put anything on the
chili honey glazed broccoli because there was no honey, no chili, no
nothing. The
steam whistle baked beans tasted a bit like your typical canned beans in tomato sauce with a generous splash of wine or vodka that had not dissolved properly - harsh, but true. I was just not a fan. The
spiced mashed pumpkin was by far my favourite; it tasted like a less-desserty version of pumpkin pie. I really enjoyed the spices, raisin and walnut pieces. The problem was that it was
very buttery/creamy/rich. As if the scone and bisque (and cream-filled crackers that I couldn't resist sneaking just prior to dinner) weren't already filling enough!
Then our mains came. I ordered the
seared scallop topped on bak choy, and my first observation was that despite the nice presentation of our plates, the actual food quantity was quite small (mind you, I was already stuffed, so the the quantity worked in my favour in that sense, but I was expecting something a
bit more
substantial). Anyway, did the taste of the food make up for this? I thought that while the
scallops, which were pan-seared, were good, they were slightly overdone, and that the bak choy (this wasn't actually bak choy, but I don't know what it was) was too salty. There was a dilute, milky broth, but it didn't add any flavour to either the scallops or bak choy.
My friend decided on the autumn tian, essentially is a vegetarian quiche, minus the dairy/eggs, wrapped in a wonton sheet with chili oil drizzled over top. It was interesting and frankly, I liked it better than mine. I think I wanted something light and healthy after my filling starters. It was also just really neat to look at; it looked like a giant vegetable dumpling. There was also a little pear-walnut-greens "salad", which paired well with the chili oil. My friend really liked his dish. (Apologies for the shadow in the following photo.)
So my final word, would I recommend this place? I really liked the decor and ambiance, and would probably only come back for drinks. Also, I think they could have really worked on the "earth" aspect. Maybe a lot of the ingredients were locally-sourced, but because this wasn't really elaborated on in the menu nor by our waitress, the whole "think global, eat local" idea seemed like a marketing gimmick. My friend brought up another very good point: because this is a "green" restaurant, why not have more options - vegetarian, vegan, etc.?
