Summerlicious Lunch 2016
Booked a day off to take a friend from out of town to this place for the Summerlicious lunch. Read many promising reviews and had been looking forward to it since last week, but was met with disappointment.
Started off with some crispy crab cakes that was only jammed with mashed potatoes. It was nice, perhaps the tastiest out of everything on that menu. Only drawback was that there were absolutely no crab meat; only potatoes.
Thinking the first dish was a hit-or-miss, maybe the main would be better? Nope! But let's start with the positives first. The waiters were very attentive and polite, so that earned a star. Mushroom risotto came out piping hot. Smell of mushrooms and herbs were aromatically mouth-watering. Expecting the first bite to be al dente; discovered under-cooked arborio rice instead. Could literally feel the uncooked grains lodged into my molars and had to rinse with water a couple of times to dislodge the hard centres. Would also like to add that the menu mentioned "truffle butter" but there was no truffle flavour at all. Ended up finishing all the mushrooms instead and left the rice--so wasteful. There were very few people at 11:50am, so quite sure why the quality of the food was sub-par.
For dessert, the caramel flan is highly recommended for people with a sweet tooth. The fruit acidity of the strawberry (coulis?) complimented nicely with the creamy texture of the vanilla custard. Thought it worked really well on a white chocolate base. But alas found it was too sweet and only half was consumed.
This restaurant had a lot of potential and was my first Portuguese restaurant in Toronto, so my expectations were similar to that from previous experience in the Azores. $23 + tax + tip was not too bad but probably won't come back.
Feedback: Please please please ensure the risotto is thoroughly cooked through for future customers.