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| - I hosted an Unofficial Yelp Event (UYE) at Beast as part of my mission to try all the restaurants listed in the Toronto Star's "7 Meals in the GTA worth the wait."
I had made reservations 3 days prior, and they were able to accommodate our party of 10. They call the day of to confirm your reservation.
Beast is tucked away on a side street at King and Bathurst and is easily overlooked unless you know its there.
We were provided 3 "bottles" of water for our group which was much appreciated because I don't think playing "pass the dutch" with such a huge group would've been fun and could've led to spilling accidents.
Beast is a house-converted restaurant with two pieces of interesting art on the wall. Think Minotaur but more vulgar. On one side you have a man with a rooster's head and feet and some foliage to cover up the private parts. On the other side you have a woman lying on her belly with the head and feet of a doe. I think the artist is trying to play up the phrase "You are what you eat?"
After a short while, the waitress came to take our orders. Once all the orders were scribbled down, we got presented with bread. One was a harder bread with poppy seed, and the other was much softer, almost like a brioche. The butter was spreadable. Bonus points!
We ordered several dishes to share:
Duck Hearts - served on skewers with pickled radicchio & olives and eggs.
I don't think I cared much for the texture of the duck hearts as it was sort of rubbery and just didn't tickle my taste buds. I am still trying to figure out what type of egg they used as it did not appear to be a chicken egg. The radicchio mélange was quite tasty, although the olives were a tad bit salty.
Farinata - wild speckled trout served on a naan-like bread. It was also adorned with radish, pesto, and goat's cheese.
This was a very tasty item. The trout was very savoury and the goat cheese was creamy. Mmmm...
Fried Chicken Livers- served with fennel, beet root, and ranch dressing
Its deep fried, its liver... need I say more?
Poutine - made with gnocchi, wild boar and creme fraicheWho says poutine has to be made with fries? Gnocchi is also made with a potato base but is more commonly seen as a pasta. Here, it is slightly floured and then pan-fried and topped with wild boar and creme fraiche. This was one of my favourites of the evening because what Toronto doesn't need is another joint claiming to serve the best poutine; sorry folks but we aren't in Montréal and none of you hold a flame.
Charcuterie - pork terrine, foie gras, elk rissolo(sp?), wild boar mortadella and duck prosciutto served with a grainy mustard, olives and pickles.
This was my favourite dish of the evening. There was not one item on this charcuterie board that was not good. My favourite, however, would have to be the foie gras. It was smooth like a baby's bottom and went extremely well with bread.
Sweetbreads - served on a bed of collard greens
Again, anything deep fried always tastes better. The collard greens were very flavourful.
Other items that were ordered but that I didn't sample:
Crepes - chocolate crepes with a white chocolate buttercream served with oranges.Farmhouse Burger - served with peameal bacon, a fried egg, and tater tots.
Verdict:
Beast is a restaurant that will take you outside your culinary comfort zone. It is a great place to order a variety of dishes and sample, sort of like dim sum. The food is not for the faint of heart or for vegetarians. While the food itself was interesting and savoury, the service was lacking. The pace that the food went from kitchen to table varied and I had to ask twice for the server to bring me milk for my coffee.
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