| rev:text
| - Apparently, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, making a weekend dinner reservation in the city last minute is silly. & apparentlyyy, trying to make a reservation for a group of 10 during this time is laughable - oops! But procrastinators of Toronto, it appears all hope is not lost. In trying to secure a rezzo for a Friday evening just a few days prior to, Beast was not only able to accommodate such a large group (and provide an extra spot at the last minute), but times were flexible too. I think Beast's tucked away location perhaps makes it lesser thought of but the dining room definitely filled up the night of. Servers were super friendly and didn't get frustrated at our indecisiveness, and they easily accommodated food allergies. But - annoyingly/understandably/forewarned, they don't do separate bills.
Once seated, our server advised that dishes are small and you'd need 2-3 to fill you up. So for groups larger than 6, they suggest the family style tasting menu (~$40/pp) of 12 or so courses of whatever the chef's heart desired that night. And man, Scott Vivian - your heart knows tasty food.
There were dishes on/off the menu, including:
- FRIED PICKLES - thinly sliced & served with a buttermilk dip; like hot salt & vinegar chips!
- MUSSELS - escabeche-style: chilled and vinegary; not bad, but nothing special
- GNOCCHI POUTINE WITH TURTLE RAGU - crispy pillowy gnocchi as fries + cheese curds + turtle ragu as the gravy. every single person at the table thought we heard wrong but we ate turtle! yum - just like beef.
- SMOKED TROUT WITH BEETS & QUAIL EGG - topped off w/ dollops of greek yogurt and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds; immensely satisfying on all levels of smell, taste, & texture
- VENISON STRIPLOIN - so damn tender and not a hint of gaminess.
- SQUID W/ POMELO & VINAGRETTE - squid was cooked well but seasoned a bit too intensely with the vinaigrette; left my palate still burning as i dug into the next dish
- FRIED PORK CUBES - by now the meat was getting to my head a little, so i thiiiink it came with kimchi & peanuts (and a special plate for the individual with the peanut allergy). the perfectly cubed pork reminded me of Chinese roasted pork belly: crispy & fatty.
- STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING - this was the show stopper grand finale when we were all droopy-eyed and so full. the first person who dug in literally shot up in excitement - it was that. good.
there were many more dishes but most were forgettable (i.e. the vegetables, ha). unfortunate that the bone marrow wasn't part of our tasting; the menu changes on a weekly basis, so no guarantees it'll be around on my next visit. the beast 120 happy hour intrigues me (who doesn't like good eats for cheap) and i'm looking forward to trying the brunch offerings.
Eating a zoo never tasted so good.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)