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| - This was one of the first reservations we made for Summerlicious this year because we had this restaurant as one of our picks for our upcoming reception next year. I had the highest expectations and overall, my expectations were met.
Parking is easily accessible, I believe $10 for underground before 5pm (complimentary after 5pm) but we managed to find $4 flat rate parking on Sat afternoon literally 2 min walk from the restaurant at the York Mills TTC station. When you first walk in, the restaurant looks clean and upscale. You see a wall of red and white wine selections. I'm not much of a wine person, so I wouldn't know whether they had good wines here.
Most of the patrons here seem to be dining for the Summerlicious deal like us. Mostly couples and some large groups. We were seated 5 min after our reservations on what seemed like a busy Saturday lunch. We were seated in the back area with a comfy cushion for me and a comfortable chair for my fiance. This area seemed to be more of the intimate and romantic area for couples since the lighting seemed to be a bit darker. I honestly liked the decor with the brick walls and biege/yellow colour scheme.
Our waiter was attentive and polite. As a table service, they brought us freshly baked (so it seemed) dinner rolls (French bread?) with a delicious dip. I had to ask the waiter what was in the dip and he replied, "Roasted artichoke, olive oil and salt and pepper. That's it!" That definitely made me think I gotta make this at home!
We both started with the Watermelon Gazpacho. In my opinion, the portion was a big larger than I would've liked for a gazpacho, but the watermelon soup was chilled perfectly, there were large chunks of watermelon and cucumber which added texture, little bits of Feta cheese which added a nice rich salty taste, foccaccia crouton to add crunchy and salt texture, and minced mint leaves. I would've liked the mint leaves left out but it added a nice freshness to the soup. Overall, nice flavour. I couldn't finish it due to its large portion. It seems like one of those chilled soups you want to have a few "bites" and then move on.
For our mains, we chose the Chicken Corden Bleu and the Crispy Fish Brandade. My first bite of the Chicken Corden Bleu was nice. The chicken was cooked well, the overlying crust wasn't overly oily and added a nice crunch. My idea of Corden Bleu was with a slice of meat (like proscuitto) and cheese. All I got was cheese. Also, the chicken wasn't seasoned at all. I realize there was some mustard vinaigrette and smoked bacon jus but that was underneath the bed of a bean salad (which was seasoned and cooked well and was tasty) which totally got lost with the protein. The sweet onion soubise was delicious. A touch of sea salt or lemon would've brought it over the top but I'm not complaining. My fiance's Crispy Fish Brandade was much better. I called it the snobby fish cake. The breaded outer part was delicious as well was the inside which seemed to be combination of fish and mashed potato. The portion for this seemed small. The side salad with whatever salad dressing was a nice compliment.
Finally, the dessert came. For whatever reason, until the dessert portion of the meal, I commented that the service was quick but the dessert took a very long time. We ordered the Olive Oil Cake and the Ice Cream Sandwich. The Olive Oil cake was interesting. Not overly sweet, with a lemon curd that wasn't too sour or sweet. The cake was moist to akin of a sponge cake. The macerated blueberries were interesting as were the candied lemon zest. Eaten altogether, the moist cake with the lemon curd and blueberries was nice. The one thing to point out was there was some saltiness somewhere in this dessert. That little punch of saltiness added an unforgettable part to this dessert. I'd eat this one again. I had the Ice Cream Sandwich, which was nothing special but done well. Three small ice cream (tasted like cookies & creme) sandwiches with okay chocolate chip cookies and candied hazelnuts, which was the highlight of this dessert for me. I've always loved hazelnuts and carmelized sugar on top made it even better.
Overall, a nice Summerlicious experience. The service was good. I've had effy Summerlicious experiences but this has to be one that shouldn't be missed if you live uptown. I'd come back again! Perhaps we will book it for our reception!
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