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| - The wifey had mentioned that this restaurant was featured on "You Gotta Eat here" and boy should you ever want to eat here! (Disclaimed - I haven't researched whether or not it was actually on the show".
We ate here on a Saturday at 2:30pm so the afternoon rush had cleared out but there were still a fair share of patrons seated. We were greeted at the door immediately and told that it would just be a couple of mins before we could sit.
As promised, a table was ready within minutes. Menus were provided immediately as were two cups of water.
The Menu - the menu contains small plates, pizza's, salads, and vegetable plates. Initially I was really interested in the Vegetable Quinoa Crust Pizza but the lady sitting next to us had ordered the last one. Thankfully we were close enough to see the dish and it was appropriately served on a cast iron skillet garnish with Arugula (couldn't see what was hiding on the inside). It smelled amazing.
We ended up ordering the eggplant bruschetta, wild mushroom soup and the lamb merguez pide.
Now here's the only bone I have to pick. We waited almost an hour for the bruschetta, pizza and a soup when the restaurant wasn't even that busy. To me, that's way too long. To make it worse, there was no bread provided to make the wait easy . The owner, Domenic (who's name I learned towards the end), did visit the table several times to apologize for the wait, which was well received. While I have to admit that the wait was long - and as it was my first time I don't know if this is common or not - the food was absolutely exceptional.
A) Wild Mushroom Soup - it's served exactly how a French onion soup is served. A creamy, rich delicious blend of mushrooms, topped with a crusted cheese (gruyere) layer. It was divine. Loads of flavour and a generous serving that can be shared between two.
B) Eggplant Bruschetta - apparently this was the dish that caused the delay. I've roasted eggplants loads of times and I know that they take forever. However, if a dish is going to take 45 mins, I'd let the customer know in advance. I would imagine that the eggplant would be acceptably prepared ahead of time to reduce wait time, however, if it had to be made from scratch - I would definitely forewarn the customer - of at least ask if they'd want another dish to arrive first to reduce the perceived wait time. With that said, when the eggplant finally arrived it was delicious. Some might call it a eggplant parmesan, while others might call it a bruschetta. I'd say it's somewhere in between. Beautifully charred cherry tomatoes sat on top of delicious fresh eggplant that was baked in a wood fired oven for a generous amount of time. The tomatoes exploded when the butter knife made contact. It was absolutely delicious and perfectly made.
C) Lamb Merguez Pide - this dish is astounding. And by that- I mean it's art. The platter it's served on is perfect. Perfectly thought out, measured and executed. The dough was perfectly cooked, (picture a perfectly cooked calzone meets a croissant), with an open face and delicious ingredients tucked throughout. The first cut from the edge revealed the home made tomato sauce and goats cheese. As you move closer to the centre, you experience the kale, lamb, olives and all the other delicious ingredients.
What a work of art!
When the meal was done, I called over who I thought was the owner and asked him if he owned the joint. He said 'not today' as he probably felt our pain in the long wait. Dominic is a humble, friendly and excellent executor who will make sure you have a great dining experience. I've only met one other operator who gives as big of a sh*t about their restaurant - which I let Domenic know.
The wait times may be long but the food is absolutely worth it. I'd go here again, knowing to have a snack beforehand, based on my experiences. This could be mitigated by a generous and complimentary servicing of delicious home made bread with their already delicious olive oil.
All in all this place is top notch for the money paid and despite the wait, the food is stupidly good.
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