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| - I don't give 5/5 ratings. I blame it on my years in the academy: scholars are trained that near-perfect anything is, effectively, an Platonic ideal that will never be achieved in the real world. The Monk's Table challenges that basic academic presupposition but, unfortunately, falls short of successfully overturning my scholarly resistance to awarding perfect scores.
I came to the Table because I wanted some decent European beer. It's bloody hard to get a good selection in Victoria (where I'm usually based these days) and so I was excited to get past the 'typical' beer lists that you get a so-called Irish and Scottish bars/pubs. I was not disappointed. The list is regularly changing, with selections from Scotland, Ireland, the UK proper, Germany, and (though not technically on the menu) France. It's a good sized list - about 15 different items on tap - but admittedly is selective rather than excessive.
The Monk's Table sells itself as a British pub and it comes close in most regards. The food menu generally features fare that I find when travelling through Britain though (fortunately!) the food is better spiced than what you normally find in the UK. I ordered the shepherds pie with cheddar cheese topping for lunch, and my dining partner a chicken sandwich and green salad.
The pie was excellent; it's been some time since I've had an authentic version of the dish, and this was about as authentic as it comes. The lamb was moist and the vegetables that were included were diced to an appropriate size where you saw them for what they were without them ever dominating the fork. Also, the veggies retained enough 'crispness' that they nicely balanced the softness of the mashed potatoes and were large enough that they visually set themselves apart from the ground lamb. So, what went wrong? Not much, but the two pieces of bread that were served with the pie were accompanied by a very cold ball of butter.
Little balls of butter annoy the living sh*t out of me. It sounds small, but when I want to add some butter to bread I don't want to have to fight with the freaking butter, and bread, and have a part of the bread that has an entirely uneven distribution of butter. Thus, all butter ought to be served should be at least at room temperature. (This rule really should be a Kantian imperative of bread and butter serving.) The Monk's Table doesn't serve butter at room temperature, alas, which weakened my overall happiness at the meal.
Another thing that upsets me: when cook or wait staff fail to listen to people who make (minor) substitutions. In this case, my partner was lactose intolerant and so asked for no cheese to be put on his sandwich. Unfortunately, this communication was lost somewhere and his sandwich came with cheese. Now, he didn't see this as a big deal because *this kind of thing happens all the time*.
Accidents like this SHOULD NOT happen so often than diners just get used to being given incorrect meals. Bad form Monk's, bad form.
Now, this said: the sandwich was excellent. Big pieces of chicken, beautifully cooked onions, and a plentiful green salad (though without any oils or dressings being offered). On the whole, it was great, though the price for adding bacon to the sandwich was steep at a few dollars.
After we'd been there for a while - three drinks in, after lunch - we decided to get the drumlettes. You get about 8 of them, plus veggies and dip, as well as some fries. I was impressed with the drumlettes; they were large, juicy, and had a nice BBQ flavouring to them. The fries could have used some salt, though that was easily added. The veggies and dip were exceptional in their lack of exceptionality. While a bit steep at $15, I certainly didn't feel ripped off when I ordered this post-lunch appetizer.
The staff was acceptable, though the two servers seemed to have problems coordinating things between them. Once we had a single server our experience was much improved; water was topped up regularly, he was there whenever drinks were getting low, and had helpful suggestions for our post-lunch snack.
Would I go back? Yes: The Monk's Table has become what I consider an essential drinking space in the city of Toronto if you're anywhere near the area. The beer selection alone is worth the trip, and the food only makes it that much more interesting. They do the British Pub tradition proud, and the fact that they have *so much* imported European beer on tap that isn't the crap (*cough* Stella, Heineken, etc *cough*) you get everywhere else really makes this place special.
In short: Come for the beer, enjoy the very good food, and then enjoy some more beer!
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