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| - As the name suggests, Speakeasy21 is first and foremost a pub - popped in for a quick, drink-free work lunch so am judging this place in the view restaurant food and keeping in mind that food was never meant to be the main draw. On pure conjecture, the close second draw would be for this place to serve as an after-hours meat market for the financiers & salary men/office ladies.
That being said, I'm reviewing this place with the mindset that I'm not expecting a majorly deep or thought-provoking meal here, just some tasty, unpretentious, heavy-duty food meant to provide a tummy-nest for the imbibements. So here goes: I think this place is OK, although I agree with other reviews that this place is rather overpriced, but I feel like Speakeasy pays steeply for their prime location (prime location...meat market...*ba dum tssss*).
The small menu is split into two styles: Shared Plates and Mains. Our table opted for the shared menu, choosing: Eggplant & Pepper Tapenade, Fried Cheese Curds, Beef Tartare, Three Layer Dip with tortillas, Baja Fish Taco, Butter Chicken Balls, Buffalo Chicken tacos and Popcorn Chicken.
The fried cheese curds are like a Canadian take on the fried mozzarella stick. Fun, lacks the ooey-gooey appeal. Beef Tartare tastes strongly of Parmesan, so go for it if you're a fan of this cheese but you'd better abstain otherwise as the force is quite strong in this one. Baja Fish Tacos are served with a cute and miniature plastic squeezie bottle of (not spicy) hot sauce. Popcorn chicken isn't the Taiwanese/KFC type of popcorn chicken - these are chicken fingers with a popcorn crust (tbh, I thought it was just breading cause you can't really tell they're popcorns). If I recall correctly, butter chicken golf-ball sized meatballs come in a set of 3 - not as much flavour as you'd get from butter chicken at an Indian place. Can't really expect too much of the food though - meh, it's a pub.
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