416 532 2222  |   $5-21 Sharing Plates  |   797 College St

A restaurant heavily-inspired by a trip to Spain, France and Italy from two former head chefs at Black Hoof with an ingredient-first approach and an emphasis on simple, delicious sharing plates…how could this not interest you?

Clearly, this place needed to be tried, so I went with five hungry friends to taste as much as we could handle.

Image credit: blogTO

Food

Generally, a menu with this many items and diversity of ingredients would throw up a red flag, but there’s a really solid level of continuity and cohesiveness here. A lot of respectable riffs on traditional Spanish tapas dot the menu, alongside European staples (roasted marrow, arancini, blood sausage), and a healthy dosage of offal (horse, tripe, tongue, pig ears, etc).

Before beginning the meal, a drink from the cocktail menu sounded like a good idea. Grabbed a Pimm’s Cup (above), and they do quite a good one here.

The first dish to hit the table was boquerones (anchovies) with piquillo peppers and pickled jalapeno, served along side some spiced chips as mini vessels. Great start to the meal, nice mix of acid, heat, and brininess. 

Next up was the devilled duck egg, salt cod, morcilla (black pudding) and hollandaise. While generally pretty tasty, found nothing really stood out. Thought the mix of salt cod and pudding would be more pronounced, but think the hollandaise may have muted it a bit too much.

We also decided to get the raw horse with hot sauce - you’re not going to find this on many menus, so why not? 

I would say the horse was more about texture and less about taste. Very tender, a pleasant level of ‘chew’, almost like tuna. The hot sauce also grew on me and became progressively tastier the more I ate.

Following the horse came the beef tongue on brioche (a Black Hoof menu staple). My two favourite parts of this where the mound of thinly-sliced tongue and a terrific whole-grain mustard served alongside. You’d never know this was tongue, which for a lot of folks is probably a positive.

For vegetable content, we got the romaine with smoked ham and quail egg escabeche. The flavours made sense, but this dish was loaded with fresh dill, which I found a little overwhelming personally. I’d dial it down quite a bit, but some folks in our party liked it so keep that in mind if you’re a dill lover.

This dish was my guilty favourite of the meal. Honey-drizzled crostini topped with chunky slices of sobrassada, not to be confused with the Italian soppressata. This meat was a lot more like the dehyrdrated summer sausage you might find at a Mennonite market - another favourite of mine - but with paprika and other Spanish spices. Just delicious.

On the lighter side, we also ordered mojama (traditional salt-cured tuna loin from Spain) with blood orange, olive oil and marcona almonds. This dish was really nicely balanced and a good contrast to a lot of the richer/fattier dishes.

Speaking of richer and fattier, I present the roasted bone marrow. This dish was very bare bones (no pun intended, but sort of) with no accompaniments. On one hand, this presentation gave you a very good understanding of the distinct taste of marrow, but I think some balance could have been achieved here with fresh herbs or something pickled.

Next up was the salt cod arancini in tomato adobo (above on the left). One hell of a tasty dish, and a much more successful use of salt cod than the first. One of the better and less conventional arancini I’ve had in the city for sure.

The dish on the right was the marinated swiss chard with raisins and anchovies. I wasn’t particularly fond of this one. Thought it would be served hot, and I found the sweetness a little off-putting. 

The next vegetable dish - broccoli, turnip, cabbage, yogurt and ginger - was more appetizing than the swiss chard, but again, thought it was out of place on the menu. 

The tide quickly changed though when our fried chicken with sticky eggplant arrived. Your just KNOW that this was good. Perfect crispiness, juicy chicken and satisfying eggplant. Really simple, but a good combination I hadn’t seen.

The chicken wings escabeche (above) may have been one of the best dishes as well. While the chicken skin was a little mushy, the homey quality of the dish and subtle acidity of the sauce was hard to forget. We would have ordered more, but clearly had ordered our fill of food.

This whiting dish with brown butter was also stellar. The cripsy skin and perfectly cooked fish were paired nicely with a measured use of brown butter.

Our final savoury dish of the night, was a suitable topper to this part of the meal: stewed tripe, crispy tripe, chorizo, and a gooey egg. This is another case of an obviously tasty dish on paper living up to it’s description. Note: the chorizo in here was especially good.

Our two dessert options were the salted chocolate mousse (above) and the basque cake & boozy cream (below). Of the two, I think we were more satisfied by the firm, spongy texture of the cake. The flavours were pretty mild (booze included), but definitely inspired exaltation around the table.

Service and Ambience

I was a big fan of the inside of this place, mostly because I found it so unpretentious. The trend of awesome food in a comfortable setting continues to make me happy.

The dining room itself is pretty roomy for 75 seats and there’s a lot of unique features like the convex green walls, mosaic-style floors, red lighting and heavy use of wood. It’s both bare bones and charming in a strange way.

From a service perspective, we quite enjoyed the night. Our servers were friendly, knowledgeable and usually close by, while the multitude of dishes came out in good time.

We initially tried to order pretty much the entire menu save the bar snacks, and a la carte cheese/cured meats. Guy Rawlings came over to us afterwards and recommended we abandon that approach and order fewer dishes with enough for everyone to have a bite. After a bit of discussion, he talked us off the ledge, and I think by the end of the meal our stomachs were better for it.

The Reco?

Bar Isabel is one of the rare restaurants in the city whose slate of dishes can be very eclectic and yet still quite successful; the reason for this is clearly the skill and the creativity in the kitchen. I didn’t like every dish, but I loved at least five of them and that counts for a lot in my book. 

Other Reviews? 
 blogTO     |      Urban Craze

 Posted by: Jacob, Visited Apr 12, 2013

647 748 4272  |   $5-13 Small Plates

I’ve read some polarizing things about Hapa thus far. Before it opened, people lauded it as another hiqh quality izakaya in the mold of Guu, but more recent opinions have labeled it more pedestrian and used the dreaded word: ‘fusion’. I decided to drop-in anyways and give it a shot.

Food

The menu is basically split into three parts: cold tapas, hot tapas and the fresh sheet, an assortment features, rolls and desserts. There’s a ton of variety and you could probably eat all fried things or all sushi if you felt like it. Naturally, I mixed it up for the sake of the review.

Before eating, I began with a Shiso Mojito that sounded like a clever shift from the usual. I’ll say it might be tough to pick it out blindfolded, but I think it’s good value for $9. There’s also a heck of a sake selection (if that’s your thing) and some good beer if you’re a fan of Blanche de Chambly and Amsterdam brews.

Our first dish was the Salmon Yukee (above) topped with a raw quail egg and some nori chips. The tartare was clean, the egg for richness and moisture, and a nori chip that added a unique twist. It’s definitely fusion, but it worked for me.

Next up was the scallop tartare with bacon, mustard mayo, and some wontons. I think the bacon, mustard, scallop flavour combo made sense, but perhaps a bit heavily dressed for something that’s generally a little more delicate.

I think this was my favourite dish of the night. Beef tataki, quickly seared, sliced thin with an addictive sesame-chile topping, crunch, lemon for acid, and a good amount of raw red and green onion. It’s clearly not rocket science, but it’s well executed and hits on all the things I was looking for in a bite.

One of the few hot tapas we ordered was the Ebi Mayo: a very simple preparation of tempura prawns and some ‘spicy mayo’. Outside of the fact I’d call the mayo more ‘zingy’, that was a perfect tempura prawn. Really juicy and tender with a nicely crisp batter made me wish we’d ordered two.

This next plate, the Aburi Saba, is what everyone will tell you order - both for the show and the taste. Your server will bring out a blow torch and give the raw mackerel a quick 5-10 seconds over top. Mackerel is already fairly fishy and the torching brings that out, provides some novel temperature contrast and a slight char flavour. If you like mackerel (I do), you’ll really enjoy this. If not, steer clear.

If you had to nominate one dish you’d find at Joey’s, this halibut taco dish would be it. It’s tempure halibut with bacon bits topped with shoestrings served with a roasted jalapeno tartar sauce. I know it sounds pedestrian, but the sauce packs a good punch,the fish is ruined and the grilled taco is actually tasty. I didn’t want to like it, but I couldn’t help myself.

The last dish we shared was the tuna carpaccio with yuzu dressing. It looks simple, bright, moist and pure, and accomplishes all those things when you drop it in your mouth. Another successful fish preparation.

QUICK NOTE: This is a tapas restaurant, so if you’re not looking to spend big, you’ll likely come away hungry if you entered with an appetite. Luckily, it’s surrounded by super cheap pho places, so keep that in mind.

Service and Ambience

One thing you’ll always get at Guu is an unrivaled ambience. It’s buzzing, borderline too loud, and the kitchen greets you with joy and fervor. Something about the room feels less authentic and more ‘Milestones’ (flat screen TVs will do that), so even a similarly joyous greeting just seems out of place.

Service throughout the night was attentive and helpful, with our server recommending sake for the newer drinkers at the table and delivering all the dishes promptly and as ordered. No complaints here.

The Reco?

Like a lot of pretty well-executed ‘Asian fusion’ restaurants, Hapa probably has taken more heat than it deserves. I almost think of it more as upscale comfort food in some ways, and try not to hold it to the standard of other ultra-authentic alternatives. If you walk in with the same mindset, I’m pretty you’ll come away feeling similarly satisfied.

Other Reviews? 
 Globe and Mail  |      Kat Can Rawr

 Posted by: Jacob, Visited Oct 28, 2012

416-792 6002    |    $16-26 mains

To say there’s a lot of buzz for Acadia would be a gross understatement. Chef Matt Blondin and the staff have received a ton of critical acclaim over the course of its first year and the concept is unique enough to distinguish it from the increasingly crowded new TO resto scene. Thankfully, they put their hand up for Dish Duel, and I had the chance to drop in.

Food (all the food pics are from Jess, although I did edit a bunch)

The menu at Acadia is quite succinct: five starters, five mains, four sides. The mixed drink menu on the back is actually more extensive (this is a good thing). Each dish is framed by the restaurant as “Acadian and Lowcountry cuisine utilizing hand selected, sustainable agriculture.” We noticed there’s quite an emphasis on seafood with 7/10 dishes (not including sides) including fish/shellfish, so naturally we went in that direction.

Our first dish showcased perfectly seared scallops with chicken crackling, parmensan crisp, pickled watermelon rind, and basil (leaves and gelee). This was probably our favourite of the night. Flavour-wise, crackling is almost like cheating, but the presentation was also really cool. Almost like scallops swimming up a river (not that scallops swim…but you get the point).

Next up we went with blue cornmeal crusted cod cheeks accompanied by some small pieces of pickled prawn, sugarcane chow chow, mirilitons (also known as chayote), and whipped buttermilk. Cheeks and prawns were good, the rest of the dish was mainly for diversity of texture and temperature, not necessarily flavour.

Then came the Dish Duel nominated grits and prawn sausage, hedgehog mushrooms, pimento cheese and a smoked ham consomme. Won’t say much here except for I’d order it repeatedly. See the description on Feb 18 on the Dish Duel site once the competition kicks off.

For our main, we shared the steelhead, which comes rolled (looks like a maki roll) and topped with caramelized fennel, pickled persimmon, almond mayonnaise and andouille jerky. The highlights here: delicious fish, almond mayonnaise and fennel. The crisp goodies on top were good for texture, but wish one of the jerky or persimmon would been more assertive flavours.

For dessert, we finished with a really fun dish that I’d label as deconstructed carrot cake. Essentially, it was crispy pecan streusel in a bowl, topped with maple sugar, coconut cured, and  ice-cold carrot and buttermilk snow. This snow must have been some kind of liquid nitrogen creation, because it was JUST LIKE SNOW. Clearly enjoyed it.

An aside: great selection of mixed drinks and beers. Had the Beet Generation: gin, beet juice, black pepper, and champagne. Was really tasty. Also, they have Blanche de Chambly on the beer menu if that’s your cup of tea (it’s mine).

Service and Ambience

So we came the same night as Super Bowl Sunday, and there were still some folks having dinner (testament to how much people like it). I’m sure it’s awesome busy. The room has a bunch of down-south, homey touches (cutlery/china housed in a big wooden dresser on the right below), and big windows that make it an ideal spot in the summer I expect. Also, the entire kitchen is completely open: no doors, no walls. It literally is in the room with you.

Photo Credit: Renee S.

Our server was attentive and friendly all the way through, and food came out beautifully every time. I thought it was everything you could want in a solid service: knowledgeable about the food et drink and talkative when we felt like chatting. Kudos.

The Reco?

Go! The food is elevated, interesting, and simultaneously accessible. Most the things we ate were really enjoyable, and we had a satisfying experience despite the restaurant being more or less empty. Enjoy.

Other reviews:
National Post     |     Toronto Life      |     Globe & Mail 

 Posted by: Jacob, Visited Feb 5, 2012