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| - Tempted by the recent "Best New Restaurant in Canada" ranking in 2013, I was very excited to try this place. I dutifully made my reservation almost 3 months in advance to ensure I would get a table on my preferred date.
We arrived at around 6:30pm on a weekday night to predictably find the place packed. As was noted in previous reviews, this place is LOUD, and is not suitable for a romantic date. I had heard about this before I made the booking and was expecting it to be loud, but how loud it actually turned out was pretty shocking. This can't be blamed on the restaurant itself, but it is definitely worth knowing before you go.
To start, we had the ceviche which was out of this world. The fish was so tender that it was scarcely distinguishable from the texture of the avocado when a full forkful was put into my mouth. As a whole, the dish simply had a delightful and balanced flavour, and was probably the best ceviche I've ever eaten. We both greedily shovelled the ceviche into our mouths, strategically opting for the biggest pieces left on the plate, casting threatening glares to each other as we got to the end of the dish with the objective of eating the more of coveted fish than the other.
Next we had the peppers, which were disappointing. The salt they used on the peppers was good, but the peppers themselves were tasteless and a bit tough. Nothing special stood out. In fact, I would call this dish quite bland and wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.
Yes, it's true what you've heard: the bread is amazing. Contrary to conventional dietary wisdom of the day, I am an avid consumer of bread. I lived in France where fresh bread is sold in gas stations on the side of the highway, and have made an effort to try most of the best bakeries in Toronto. Surely, this bread is in the upper echelon of the best bread I've ever had, and is worth trying for the carb-crazed like myself.
Next, we had the imperial patatas bravas. The blood sausage was quite nice, and the overall flavour profile of the dish was "good", but I found the fried potatoes themselves to be a bit mealy. As this was the bulk of the dish, it affected our overall enjoyment of it. I would have quite enjoyed a dish like this at an average restaurant, but for a restaurant surrounded by all the hoopla caused by best in Canada rating last year, it fell a little short.
Lastly, we had the sweetbreads. Now, this is my first time ever having sweetbreads, and I am quite the adventurous eater. There is little I will say no to, and have quite the open mind. However, the sweetbreads' texture was just not something either of us found enjoyable. Further, they had a peculiar taste to it that we could just not get over. It's hard to describe, but that taste threw the whole dish off for us.
Although the ceviche and bread were amazing, most of our meal was at or below average which left us leaving a little disappointed. It just goes to show you the folly behind such a rating as the "Best Restaurant in Canada, 2013": these things are highly subjective, and it seems impossible to meaningfully rank all new restaurants in a country within a given year.
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