Toronto restaurant recommendation - Page 47

Pakistani food is much better than Indian food.

Had Kultura's tasting menu this past Saturday, and the salad aside, everything else was delicious.

Just got back from Enoteca Sociale. Someone earlier said they went there and enjoyed it and I second that. Wasn't that impressed at first, but the cornish hen was great (along with wine pairing), and the semifreddo for dessert was good as well. Very friendly service, and the waiter surprised me with a complimentary digestif which was also quite nice.

Have a dinner coming up at scaramouche. Any suggestions for must have dishes?

Also recently visited george and had a great meal. It was a modified tasting menu. Best thing is that they accommodate specific tastes and provide distinct menus for each person.

Had dinner at George twice. Awesome.
Had dinner at Scaramouche twice. Meh.

Friends swear by the Lobster and the Pasta Bar. FYI. YMMV

Had dinner at Colborne lane on Saturday night. The scallops were absolutely delicious. Everything else was decent to ok. Service was great.

Was at my usual haunt this weekend-- Bistro 990. Filet came out a little undercooked (rare, not medium). Steak Tartare (extra spicy) was excellent with spicy dijon mustard on the melba chips. I had it once before there made "regular" and was unimpressed, but we tried it again and asked for extra spicy and it was excellent with the spicy dijon. They had mushroom and ginger based soup, a clear broth which was different so I tried it, and I ate it all up. I can't stress enough how I don't eat mushrooms (I get them in and on top of dishes but I never actually eat them), but this soup was so excellent I actually ate them. Service and atmosphere was excellent as usual. Just wish that they had BYOW or a better wine list.

Is bring your own wine ever good in Toronto? I find the corking fees are outrageous. I only had time to stop at Japango. 2:30 on a Sunday and it was still pretty full. I always feel and the place turns over tables like a factory. Sadly I'll be on the road the next two weeks again. I wanted to try Liberty Belle Bistro and that beer hall that is opening up.

I think it is only worth while if you have something rare or expensive and how much of a mark up on teh wines on the menu are. There are places that have specials on corkage.

My meal at scaramouche this week was well executed and tasted good, but was not at the same level as george.

BYOW is worth it when you have something nice. I had a bottle of early 2000 Dominus I wanted to bring last weekend and I would have paid a 50 dollar corkage fee to consume it at the restaurant considering what they would have charged for something like that if you purchased it from the wine list.

Has anyone tried this place? Worth it?

Goodnight Bar

It's the one down the alley with the marked up graffiti.

I went to La Fenice this week. I'd read it was pretty good, and i went in on a whim as i was walking down King, but I was underwhelmed. The service was relatively good, but overall it was pretty average. I ordered beef carpaccio as an appetizer. The good thing is that they were generous with the parmigiano-reggiano, but the lemon juice/oil balance was off. The bread was as afterthought. It didn't have a good crust and it was way too mushy. The butter was served much too cold to even spread it. They served bruschetta as an extra, but it was merely average. Seasoning was off and the juice from the tomatoes had already made the bread a little soggy (it needs to be served FAST to be good imo). I had roasted quail with mushroom risotto. The risotto was good, but the quail only so so. Dessert was something i'd expect at a chain restaurant. The dining room itself lacks any soul imo. I don't think I'd go again. For Italian in entertainment district I prefer Verona a couple of doors down. The food isn't spectacular there either, but neither are the prices high, and the atmosphere is warmer, and the service usually spot-on. I need to find a place like Il Mulino or Zucca right downtown.

Monday evening: Patio outside BCE place is absolute rubbish for service. This is the Marche one. And the sad thing is you can't walk up to the bar to get drinks so you have to wait for them.

Tuesday lunch, went to Fune for the rotating sushi bar. I kept picking all the $5.50 and $6 items and racked up $61+tip in 40 minutes for 2 people.

Tonight, I'm going to see if I can make it to Wvrst.

Never made it to Wvrst since it was too busy. We went to Le Select instead. I had some seared tuna entree and my cousin had steak & frites. For a Wednesday night, it was pretty booked up and busy. I kind of wish I could sit at the bar instead of the table for two in the middle. Glass of wine + some scotches, $117 + tip. My cousin wanted to go to the bar at Sen5es next. Since the Bollywood stuff is in town, plenty of chances to look at Indian women dressed up. This bar is pretty funny. You ask for Lagavulin, and they go and they come back and say no. You ask for Laphroaig, and they go and come back and say no. They also had to double check whether straight up was the same as neat. I wish they would just tell me what's there. Anyway, the waitress ended up being quite nice. We had two dessert cakes (coffee + mousse) too but I didn't find them spectacular. $90 + tip. In the end, we got some free double shots for a price of a single, which was agreeable.

Ate at Gabardine. Grabbed a big table by myself at 4:30pm and I didn't get any flak for it. Shared a ploughman's platter, some cod cakes, two orders of mac and cheese, devilled eggs, a risotto (sent to us in error), mussel and frites, plus alcohol for 5 people, ended up being around $248 + tip. Service really dipped as they entered the busy period but they didn't charge the risotto. As always, an interesting crowd with some eye candy for SF.

Also ate at Liberty Belle Bistro. I had steak and frites and my friend had some crepe that was sweet. We did dinner at 11:00pm so there was only one server left. Took my scotch away with a little bit left at the bottom (scotch neat, not on the rocks where you can make the mistake). Oh well. $78 + tip. I rather thought this would be a family type brunch place but seating is a bit tight for the wee ones. I would consider it if I'm in the Liberty Village area but wouldn't go out of my way to go here.

For lunch, did some sashimi a la carte and chutoro at Take - my share being $30 + tip. I never knew this was a sister restaurant to Nami. Then I read there were a million sister restaurant partnerships in Toronto for Japanese places.

I went to Yuzu today to try their sushi and sashimi combo for 2 for $43. I definitely should have stuck with either sashimi or sushi and not both because the portion was huge. The sashimi slices are smaller than most other places but quite fresh. Similar to Japango, they sear some of the items to give it a sweeter or smokier flavour. The place was pretty empty today and had a dank musty smell emanating from the downstairs washroom (unused by me). I also managed to cut my hand on something on the table that led to a bit of bleeding. Altogether it ended up being $48 + tip. Waitresses were literally anonymous but frequently topped up the tea cup.