Beer Bistro (Toronto)

Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 18 King Street East
Website: http://www.beerbistro.com/
Type of Meal: Lunch
Beer Bistro, located in Toronto’s Financial District, is a great option if you’re looking for a  reasonably priced menu, good food and efficient service.  Although their signage isn’t very prominent, those who live and work in the area certainly know about it judging by their busy lunch services and even busier after work drinks crowd.

Having been on numerous occasions, what keeps me going back are their fries and mussels. Sure, I’ve tried other things on their menu (pizza and various small plates that they change on occasion) but nothing is as memorable as their fries and mussels.

The Belgian frites ($6) arrive in a large cone with a light Dijon mayonnaise and smoked ketchup. Almost every table in the restaurant orders them (especially after seeing them walk by in all their glory) and are perfect for sharing amongst a table of 3+ individuals. Of course being cooked in beef and duck fat makes them delicious, but being served piping hot and fresh to order certainly helps. Just eat them quick, otherwise the ones on the bottom get steamed and become soggy (although still not bad and edible).


Their menu offers five flavours of mussels, but the one I continuously order is the Spicy Red Thai ($18). It’s a simple tomato and beer broth (Maudite), but then is spiked with lemongrass, coconut milk, chili, lime leaves and cilantro to give it spice and richness. There is just enough heat in it so you really taste it, but still doesn’t overwhelm the mussels.


But, what impresses me the most is how they serve the mussels.  The pot it arrives in has a mesh net so that once you remove the mussels in the net, it allows you to easily dip your bread and soak up the delicious cooking liquids (each dish arrives with a crusty soft sourdough the size of a large Kaiser bun). After all, the mussels are good, but what I really like most is dipping fresh bread into the hot fragrant broth.


Additionally, the staff will bring out three bowls with each order.  As empty shells are discarded into the bowls, staff members will come around to whisk away the top bowl so you’re never trying to balance empty shells on top of an overflowing pile. This is but a small example of how Beer Bistro has perfected its service to ensure the meal is efficient and all a diner’s needs are met. Our waitress was friendly and attentive allowing our meal to be ordered and paid for within an hour – great if you’re looking for a quick weekday lunch.

So, if you’re ever in the mood for mussels and frites, Beer Bistro is one of my top choices. Now if only I can smuggle one of these ingenious mussel pots out one day…

Overall mark - 8.5 out of 10
Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

CLOSED: Graceful Vegetarian Restaurant 法海素食軒 (Markham)

Posted on Monday, April 28, 2014 by
Location: Markham, Canada
Address: 7131 Kennedy Road, Unit 8 (located in Market Village)
Type of Meal: Dinner
Sometimes vegetarian cuisine can be sort of bland and too heavily weighted with vegetables and tasteless tofu. Enter East Asian Buddhist cuisine which is packed with flavour and has even evolved to offer a variety of mock meats. These imitations are sometimes made from bean curd sheets but more often wheat gluten. Its texture resembles meat closer as it can be made to become chewy and even stringy to rip apart. Once flavoured with sauces, seasoning or artificial tastes, they can look and sometimes even taste fairly close to the real thing.

Graceful Vegetarian Restaurant has been around for many years and one of the better East Asian Buddhist restaurants in the GTA. Their menu offers the traditional items as well as everything else in between. One tried and true favourite is the assorted gluten platter ($7 for small and $11 for medium; medium pictured below). Graceful’s has so many things! Aside from the typical curry flavoured and sweet & sour flavoured oil fried gluten, there’s also mock BBQ pork, fried tofu, mock intestine (essentially a deep fried tube of soy bean sheets),kao fu (a baked spongy gluten which is soaked in a sweet soy mixture) and some other items. If you want to try all that flavours and textures that gluten can offer this is the dish for you.


The pan fried bean curd sheet rolls ($3.50 for small and $6.50 for medium; two mediums pictured) is one of the must have dishes when visiting. A great alternative to spring rolls, the filling is comprised of chopped vegetables, mushrooms and water chestnuts all wrapped in bean curd sheets and pan fried until they are crispy on the outside and piping hot inside. Served with Worcestershire sauce, to cool it down and enrich its flavour, they can be sometimes be found during dim sum but freshly made ones at vegetarian restaurants are so much better.


Although they are a bit oily for my tastes, the deep fried wonton with sweet & sour sauce ($9.50) can be a crowd favourite – especially amongst children. Unlike the soup based wontons, there is no shrimp or pork filling inside; rather they are simply deep fried wrappers. Served with a side of sweet & sour sauce, Graceful’s contains wedges of pineapple, bell peppers and slices of mock chicken and squid.


A healthier option is the steamed soya sheet wrapped chopped vegetables ($16.99). The thin tender soy bean sheet cocoons finely chopped vegetables creating a cushion, which is then topped with fat choy (a dried Chinese desert vegetable which is rehydrated and cooked in an oyster sauce) and sits on boiled broccoli. The dish has a nice combination of textures and flavours and certainly provides an adequate serving of vegetables.


The assorted low-han style vegetables ($11.99) is a popular dish that could also be called Buddha’s delight. Essentially a mix of items, every restaurant customizes their ingredients with Graceful’s having yu choy, bean sprouts, baby corn, black & white fungus, water chestnuts, carrots and assorted mushrooms. Cooked in a thick soy sauce it’s a simple but decent dish.


Next came the deep fried taro fish with sweet and sour sauce ($10.99). Inside the light crispy crust is a thick taro (root vegetable) which has been molded into the shape of fish. By itself it can taste pretty bland, but with the addition of sweet and sour sauce it becomes more flavourable. As a warning, this dish should be ordered amongst large groups as even a small piece can be quite heavy and filling.


The spicy eggplant with mock minced beef in hot pot ($10.99) is a great combination of spicy, sweet and sour flavours … a bit like a thick sweet and sour soup broth. Asian eggplants, which are less seedy and not as spongy as the regular variety, is quickly fried and then stewed in this spicy savoury sauce.


Last to arrive were the rice and noodle dishes. So, if you prefer to eat your carbs with other dishes than consider asking the waiter to change the cooking order. The Fukin mushroom egg fried rice ($15.99) may sound like a swear word but is actually a city in China. Although not as popular as the Yueng Chow fried rice, it is nonetheless offered at many places. The base is a simple egg fried rice, but then a thick savoury sauce is added on top and filled with various ingredients. Another one of my favourites, Graceful’s doesn’t disappointment containing mock sausage which actually tasted extremely close to BBQ pork.


Another popular but oily dish is the Cantonese style egg crispy noodle ($14.99); it’s the one to order to taste and see mock meats in their entirety. Containing chicken, BBQ pork, squid and shrimp (along with black mushroom and vegetables) there’s almost all the imitation items you can think of. Esthetically, it looks much like what is found at non-vegetarian restaurants, although the toppings have a softer texture compared to the real thing.


The braised vermicelli and bean thread noodle in satay sauce ($12.99) has a great aroma from the sauce. Even though it’s a relatively simple dish, with some finely chopped peppers and bean sprouts, it’s tasty and flavourful. I enjoyed the addition of the bean thread noodles (which has an almost elastic texture) mixed with the softer vermicelli that soaks up the liquid. Despite being described as “braised” the noodles are actually dry and not saucy at all.


Lastly, came the fried rice noodle with mock beef in XO hot sauce ($12.99), which was very delicious and my favourite carb dishes for the night. The noodles are stir fried quickly so they retain an al dante bite, but still soft and chewy. Admittedly, the sauce doesn’t have the richness of real XO sauce (typically contains dried scallops and shrimp) but is a good substitute and has a nice amount of heat to it.


After reading this, I hope I’ve inspired you to go out and be vegetarian for a meal. Don’t worry, you don’t need to sacrifice taste and choices; as you can see East Asian Buddhist cuisine has many delicious items to offer.

Overall mark - 8 out of 10
Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!



ChekPlate (Product review)

Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 by




Imagine entering a restaurant and not knowing what to order. If only your foodie friends were with you – after all, you trust and would love their opinion! Sure, you could contact each of them individually and ask them what they’d recommend, but if you were all part of ChekPlate the task would be so much easier.

ChekPlate is a new free app that allows users to quickly review restaurants from their phone. How it differs from Urbanspoon or Yelp is you can limit your search to reviews from “Friends”, “Friend’s of Friends” or “All Users”. So, nagging doubts about the validity of the opinions of strangers can be filtered out leaving you with only the opinions of those you trust and value most.

It was easy to sign up and start using, the entire process took less than five minutes to find it on the App Store, download, sign up and start. Since I used it during its launch phase, ChekPlate didn’t automatically find my friends, but there are options to search through you phone, Facebook or Twitter contacts to add them quickly.  So, though the app I sent out an invite to several of my friends and once they were registered ChekPlate instantly recognized them and allowed me to connect with them.

The user interface is simplistic with a similar layout to the tiles on an iPhone making it intuitive to use. In the end, if you have any technologically challenged friends or family members this may be an easier system for them to figure out.


Personally, I found the app worked best when you were at the restaurant and found the establishment using the “Nearby” option. The system would list restaurants in the area usually with the one I was visiting found first given its closest. Whereas, trying to review a restaurant by “Name” was sometimes unsuccessful especially when visiting a newer establishment – I guess it’s similar to other rating sites where you are relying on individuals to update the search results.  Moreover, even if the restaurant doesn’t show up in the list when using the “Nearby” search, the app allows you to add a restaurant and it will prefill the address portion of the listing on your behalf.



Adding an opinion at the restaurant didn’t take much time given you really just need to choose a rating out of 5 for food, service and price.  Then, if you want you can include comments (I found this was useful for listing dishes that were good or horrible) or a picture - the amount of time to spend depends on you. All in all, I’d say the average review took about three minutes so I normally did it while waiting for the bill.


ChekPlate does have limitations. Firstly, since it can’t be accessed through a computer (unless I couldn’t figure out how) the post relies on your phone to type up entries; so, it’s not conducive to long detailed reviews.  Similar to other sites, you can add photos but can’t put the photos directly into the review itself. Consequently, when a restaurant has multiple reviews it gets hard to decipher which photo goes with which post. Lastly, as with most social media, it relies on the network effect where individuals will want to use it as more of their friends join. At this point, given only a few of my friends have downloaded the app (but aren't active users) ChekPlate's benefit of getting their opinions is limited. But, if you join and want to follow someone please feel free to add gastroworldblog@gmail.com to your contacts and we can connect!


In the end, ChekPlate appears to be better suited for quick reviews that are short and sweet (well maybe not sweet if it’s a bad one). Think of it as the Twitter of the review world, where you do a short blast to your friends and family. I used ChekPlate to simply tell my followers what my favourite dishes were and what to avoid but the rationale to my choices were left out. Who knows, maybe sometimes people don’t even care about the painstaking details I write about. With so many articles reporting on how attention spans get shorter with every new generation, perhaps ChekPlate will become the next phase on how we rate restaurants? 

Disclaimer: The product was complimentary basis and this is a sponsored post. However, the opinions expressed, as always, are honest and my own. 

Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog


CLOSED: SpeakEasy 21 (Toronto)

Posted on Monday, April 21, 2014 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 21 Adelaide Street West (street level)
Type of Meal: Lunch
Newly opened in Scotia Plaza (street level by the Winners), SpeakEasy 21 is a welcomed addition and hopefully a worthy replacement for the South of Temperance, which has closed with the construction of phase 2 of the Bay Adelaide Centre. With its central location and accessibility through the PATH, it will likely become popular with the corporate crowd.

Our first visit for Thursday drinks (and potential dinner) gave us a taste of the "Liberations" portion of the menu. Indeed, their specialty cocktails are not cheap ($14.50), but with an entire page dedicated to them it's also hard to pass up.

The Mercier is great for those who like easy going fruity drinks without the sweetness. The Eristoff vodka is barely noticeably once the mango puree, tart lemon juice and lemongrass cordial is added. Topped with soda water and spiked with a bit of grated ginger it’s a refreshing and energizing cocktail. 


Meanwhile, the Sister's Shadow is a tad sweeter (not overly so) and packed with pear flavours from the Grey Goose pear and pear juice. The addition of elderflower liqueur adds a nice floral contrast that gives the cocktail a nice twist. 


Unfortunately, they were overcrowded during our opening week visit so service was painfully slow and it ended up taking almost 45 minutes to get our first round of drinks. To be fair, our waitress was friendly and did warn us that the bar was backed up. But really, 45 minutes is a bit excessive, so much so that some of our fellow diners refused to stay for dinner and we left to eat elsewhere.

Luckily, I understand that every restaurant needs to work out its kinks, especially during their soft launch period. So, I went back for a weekday lunch when there was less people and hoped for a better experience. 

During this visit, we ordered off of the much smaller "Fares" side of the menu. Despite the limited selection, we had no problems finding something appetizing sounding. The pressed short-rib sandwich ($17) sounded interesting with slices of beef, caramelized onion, confit cabbage, gruyere cheese and pickles packed into a bun and toasted. The sandwich is flavourful and ends off with a light zing from the horseradish – a great addition, if only there was more of it!


A more elaborate version of pulled pork, it’s a tender, saucy and indulgent sandwich. For me, the beef slices could have been thicker as they became somewhat lost under all the gruyere and toppings. Additionally, it was a bit heavy and could have benefited from a splash of something fresh to cut through the beef and cheese (perhaps arugula). But, these are some minor nitpicky detail for my tastes; I still enjoyed the sandwich.  Served with a choice of side salad or kettle chips, the portion size is quite substantial leaving me full and satisfied.

My coworkers opted for the whitefish and bulgogi tacos which arrived packed with ingredients and accompanied by a miniature hot sauce. Although I didn’t get a chance to try it, my coworkers said they were delicious and I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.


The media has been reporting a 3,500 square foot patio is slated to open when the weather warms up. There’s no doubt I’ll be back for more drinks and perhaps a taste of tacos as well.

In May I returned for a taste of their new lunch menu, read about this new experience on my revisit post. 

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

CLOSED: Ryoji Ramen & Izakaya (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, April 20, 2014 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 690 College Street
Type of Meal: Dinner
Toronto’s love for Japanese food continues with another ramen house/izakaya on College. Ryoji is the first North American offshoot of an Okinawa chain and proclaims itself as the first Okinawan-style izakya in Toronto. When my friend heard about a special tasting menu being offered ($26 with taxes and gratuities included), we thought it’d be a great opportunity to see how Ryoji would differ from all the competition.

Esthetically, Ryoji is much larger than other izakayas boasting a prominent store front and spacious interior. A mirrored ceiling cleverly gives the illusion of high ceilings so makes the dining area seem larger than reality. Ryoji also has two large tables (one by the entrance and another near the kitchen) that offers great eating areas for big groups. The one by the kitchen has a much better view, in my opinion, and was where our tasting was held for the evening.



To begin, we were offered a choice of hot or cold sake or a non-alcoholic drink. Sake was the popular choice and I got the cold one which was fairly smooth and easy going. The portion sizes were impressive, enough for about two and a half shot glasses. 



The first dish was a cold appetizer consisting of Ji-MaMi, pickled vegetables and cucumber wasabi. The Ji-MaMi was quite interesting, a peanut tofu with a smooth texture and a consistency between silken tofu and buffalo mozzarella. The tofu didn’t have the typical bean taste but not quite peanut either, most of its flavour came from the thick sweet sauce and was quite enjoyable. Although the cucumbers appeared to be lightly blanched in salted water, the addition of freshly grated wasabi added a nice contrast to make an otherwise simple ingredient interesting.



Next, were slices of sashimi - lean tuna and mackerel – and were good, with the mackerel being one of the better ones I’ve tasted (slight smokiness and very tender). But, what made the sashimi different were the dipping sauces – an emulsified soy sauce (akin to foam), matcha salt and sumiso sauce (a thick sweet miso glaze). I loved the various blends that could be used to complement each of the fishes. My favourite combinations were the soy foam & wasabi with tuna and the sumiso sauce with mackerel.



Skewers of chicken and beef yakatori arrived next with more freshly grated wasabi. I’m quite happy that everything arrives with wasabi and the beef really required it as was fairly bland. Maybe it was just the cut of meat received as certain more marbled cubes were an improvement. On the other hand, the chicken was much better, likely aided by a liberal brush of teriyaki sauce and pieces of skin laid in between each cube to add flavour and keep the meat tender.



Normally, I’d say you can’t go wrong with a platter of deep fried food. However, my first bite of the fried ball was a disappointment. I was expecting it to be takoyaki (a deep fried octopus ball) but it was closer to fried mashed potatoes with a small piece of octopus inside; the texture was too soft and overall wasn’t hot enough. The shrimp coated in a miso mayonnaise and tartar sauce was decent, but a bit heavily battered for my liking.  Surprisingly, the best part of the dish was the zucchini fritters which had a nice dusting of garlic powder and parmesan cheese mixed into the batter and served with a cool tangy sour cream dip. I would have definitely preferred more of those.  



One of the most anticipated dishes of the night, by my friend, was the miso braised pork belly. Having been slowly cooked for four hours, it arrived tender with the fat melting away without being overly heavy. It may be shocking, but I’m not a huge fan of pork belly (perhaps its why I don’t enjoy bacon), and the piece I received was just too fat for my preference. Even so, I enjoyed its flavours and admittedly found it to be one of the nicer non-crispy pork bellies eaten; thus, if you enjoy fatty meats I sense you’ll love it.  



Last to arrive were pieces of albacore tuna (?) and scallop sushi. The tuna appeared to have been marinated to ponzu making it very flavourful (accented by the crunch of soaked red onions), but made the fish’s texture a tad rubbery. Remarkably, the scallop was more of my fancy; Ryoji chopped up the scallops and mixed it with Miracle Whip (?) so that it was well flavoured and helped to mask any strange textures. The crisp piece of nori wrapped around it also rounded out the sushi nicely.



On a subsequent visit, my husband and I were in the area and stopped by for a drink. We were in luck and ventured in on Thursday when Ryoji offers pints of Sapporo for only $5. While enjoying our drinks, we started talking to Matt Knight, Ryoji’s friendly bartender, who introduced us to an amazingly crisp sake “Morning Dew”, made from mountain water and newly imported into Canada. 
For a place that is imported from Japan, Ryoji is surprisingly “un-Japanese” – top 40 blares from the speakers, the staff is notably diverse and there’s no screaming entrances & exits (thank you!). But, it still offers diners a chance to enjoy something different – the peanut tofu is definitely worth a try. All things considered, I’d say it’s one of the better izakaya’s I’ve been to - no crazy line-ups, I believe takes reservations and above all provides the ability to actually hear your fellow diners. It’s a place that’s just a bit more refined and for that I like it.   

Overall mark - 8 out of 10
Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

CLOSED: Craft Dogs (Toronto)

Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 95 King Street East
Type of Meal: Lunch


 If you like hot dogs, then Craft Dogs is the place for you. With a menu focused solely on these wieners in a bun, you’ll find interesting combinations with a variety of meats and toppings. If nothing catches your eye, the naked dog is also an option allowing you to customize to your heart’s content. Or if you like secret menu items then ask for the “Crack Dog”, essentially a hot dog topped with poutine.


The Chicago shout out ($6.69) is the closest to what a typical hot dog would be - made from a beef chuck and pork shoulder wiener, then topped with a tart pickle, hot pickled peppers, yellow mustard, raw onions and diced tomatoes. I’d like to think I enjoy trying new and interesting things, but it seems for hot dogs I like the tried and true combo the best as the Chicago was my favourite of the day. The juicy tender wiener was able to shine through and allowed me to try the condiments they had available – curry mayo, red pepper mayo and smoked ketchup.


A close second was the pork belly BLT ($9.50) made with berkshire pork belly and topped with crispy thick bacon, tomatoes, mayo and lettuce. Not normally a huge fan of bacon, it actually worked with this hot dog adding that hint of smokiness to counteract the “porkiness” of the plump wiener. But, the wedges of tomatoes made it difficult to eat given they just kept falling off.


The grand poobah ($9.56), the one I chose, caught my eye given it’s made from longhorn water buffalo. This wiener was much leaner, denser and had a stronger taste to it (not necessarily gamier just more flavour). The black mustard mayo that topped it was spot on and went great with the bed of peppery arugula. For me, I wish Craft Dogs just stopped there. The tomatoes, onion and roasted garlic were unnecessary and overpowered the meat itself and not to mention left your breath as a force to reckon with afterwards.


Overall, I enjoyed the artisan wieners and could taste the quality ingredients used in them. But, they needed to be hotter as once the plethora of toppings were added the wiener arrives lukewarm. Perhaps it’s due to the meat being cooked ahead of time and then warmed up when an order is placed – which is understandable given a lot of individuals are looking for something quick to grab-and-go. Personally, I think Craft Dogs should offer the customer the option to wait longer and cook one fresh. After all, if you’re going to use such quality ingredients, it’s a shame when they’re not presented at their best.
Overall mark - 6.5 out of 10
Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!





CLOSED: Envers (Morriston)

Posted on Saturday, April 12, 2014 by
Location: Morriston, Canada
Address: 42 Queen Street
Type of Meal: Dinner


Envers is a popular restaurant near Guelph that has been in business for over 30 years. During our return visit, the restaurant has expanded to include a patio (unused as we went in the winter) complete with a new dining room and bar area downstairs. Located in a historic house, Envers has charming surroundings, with a cozy warm fireplace if you eat in the basement. Despite its antiquated dining area, its menu is rather eclectic with a mix of offerings from all over the world.
My starter of grilled octopus ($13) incorporated Mexican spices and a creamy Thai inspired sauce. The wedges of tentacles were very tender and resembled the texture of chicken. I enjoyed the spicy rub and grilled smokiness of the octopus that contrasted well against the cream coconut sauce on the bottom.

In my opinion, the dish would have benefited from something lighter than sweet potato fries sitting at the bottom as it was a bit heavy for an appetizer. Maybe a typical but delicious corn salsa or vinaigrette based slaw would have helped. The cornbread was dry and tasteless so needed something mixed into the batter (such as corn or roasted peppers) and/or a brush of compound butter on top. All in all, a decent start but not something I’d order again.
Italian and French influences made up my husband’s gnocchi with duck confit ($14). Soft pillows of ricotta gnocchi were flavoured with duck jus to keep it light. Pieces of tender duck confit, shaved foie gras and crisp brussel sprout leaves made this a pretty substantial starter and really could be a great main in a larger serving.


We both ordered the braised beef shortrib ($32) as we didn’t want to risk the other not sharing in the event it was as delicious as it sounded. As expected, the short rib easily broke apart from being cooked for hours in a red wine sauce. Sitting below, soaking up all the rich meat juices, were roasted carrots & parsnips, more ricotta gnocchi and crisp rapini. Chef Ken Hodgins should be commended for adding the shavings of pickled fennel on top which went so well with the dish; the otherwise stick-to-your-ribs meal really helped get a fresh punch from them.

To end, we shared a fairly large cheese board ($14), which was beautifully presented with
tons of fixings – nut and fruit crackers, tart apple slices, sweet black berries and rehydrated apricots that were moist but not syrupy. The four cheeses we received consisted of blue cheese, parmesan and two softer ones (perhaps gouda and swiss)? If only there was a drizzle of honey for the blue cheese it would have been perfect.

Envers continues to be a good place to dine at while making visits to Guelph. I’m sure their patio would be beautiful in the summer time that it may warrant a return meal.


Overall mark - 8 out of 10
Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
    • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
    • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
    • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
    • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
    • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
    • 10 - absolute perfection!

    CLOSED: Mangia & Bevi (Toronto)

    Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2014 by
    Location: Toronto, Canada
    Address: 260 King Street East
    Type of Meal: Lunch
    As a warning, Mangia & Bevi's may be a bit difficult to find given it’s not directly off King Street. Once you get to a series of office buildings, you’ll have to go into a parking lot and at the back find a door with a decorative “260”. Go up the stairs, through the door directly facing the parking lot and once you enter you’ll find the restaurant in the lobby.
    Once you find the hidden gem, your nose is greeted with a wonderful doughy essence captured in a comfortable café like environment. Mangia & Bevi’s décor mixes exposed ducts and brick walls with plenty of artwork; a giant rattan ball light fixture beside the bar is particularly striking. If you don’t want to be disappointed, I suggest you reserve a table. During our Friday lunch visit, the restaurant was bustling and someone had to be turned away given all tables were spoken for.

    Known for their pizza, my friend and I stuck to the crowd favourite and shared the patata & pancetta ($15) and Capri ($16).  The patata & pancetta, a white pizza, topped with potato, pancetta, onions, rosemary, mozzarella and parmigiano is favourite combination. 

     M&B does not disappoint with the pizza chocked full of ingredients and tons of fresh rosemary to really bring an earthy herb smell and flavour to the pizza. For a Neapolitan crust it was toasted quite well on the bottom so that you could easily hold each piece without any drooping or ingredients sliding off. However, given the white pizza doesn’t have any sauce (instead relying on olive oil) the crust began getting hard after eating the first slice.


    Whereas, the Capri ($16) with the tomato sauce base stayed softer throughout the meal. Topped with ham, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and smoked provolone this is a flavourful pizza filled with tons of flavours and gooey cheese. This pizza also went particularly well with the selection of hot sauces and red pepper flakes brought to the table.


    Pizza portions are large and can easily be shared if you add a salad. Given its popularity and freshly made pizzas, it does take a while to get an order – especially if you don’t beat the initial rush; our meal ended up lasting almost 1 hour (after ordering) despite not having any appetizers or desserts. However, service was pleasant and our waitress did come by to update us on the status of the meal. All in all, it was a wonderful lunch and I can certainly see how Mangia & Bevi earned its accolades amongst the Toronto pizza market.
     
    Overall mark - 8.5 out of 10


    Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

     ____________________________
    Gastro World's Grading System
    • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
    • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
    • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
    • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
    • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
    • 10 - absolute perfection!

    Is That It? I Want More!

    Other Gastro World posts similar to this:




    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)