Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Canteen

Date: May 27, 2012
Location: 330 King St. W. (west of John St.), downtown Toronto
Meal: light dinner

My thoughts:
My friend and I were wandering somewhat aimlessly when I caught sight of this restaurant and instantly recognized it as a member of the Oliver & Bonacini family. (FYI: The founders are Michael Bonacini and Peter Oliver, not Jamie Oliver, in case you were wondering.) 

I ordered the organic leaves & herbs salad ($7) with grilled chicken ($9 extra). The salad itself was really good, but small (I suppose this should have been expected, seeing as how this wasn't an entree salad). The glazed nut topping was very good - I wish there was more of it! (Be prepared for a lengthy discussion on the chicken now. Feel free to skip to the last line, haha!) The chicken, however, was evidently undercooked. Our waitress brought me a new piece of chicken, but it was still slightly pink. This time, I asked to have the meat cooked a bit longer rather than disposed of. The chicken was cooked through the third time around, and the waitress told me the chicken would be taken off the bill because of all the hassle. Now that's good customer service!


My vegan friend ordered the mixed grain salad ($8) with chickpea fritters ($7 extra). The grain salad consisted mostly of quinoa and chickpeas. It was a light yet flavourful salad. The chickpeas were fluffy and evidently fried but didn't seem oily.


Would I come back? Because I'm always looking to venture to new restaurants, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to come back. But I would recommend this place, if not for the extensive patio or the light fare, then for the good service, which is a rarity in my experience and it just makes for a more pleasurable dining experience!

As an aside, I found their drinks menu kind of neat and creative. Take a look:

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