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| - Coming from the entertainment masterminds which brought us Colborne Lane, Spice Route, Koolhaus/Guvernment, and Ultra Supper Club (and a long list of others), one would expect a well-crafted dining experience, and Figo largely upholds this expectation. Among its family, Figo is equally self-assured, but a much more poised, light and airy sibling thanks to its high glass walls and penchant for off-white + clean-line decor, though some bold flair is found around the restaurant - from the bright pink bathroom tiles, rose-printed ceilings, to the broad checkered arches which frame the open kitchen.
As my party of four arrived for lunch on Saturday, the restaurant was only 1/5 full and very low-key - I can't even recall any background music playing.
To start, we ordered a bottle of '14 Tenuta Santome Sauvignon Blanc, which was pleasantly fruity and robust, but disappointingly served too warm. The ricotta and truffle honey crostinis were loved by all - simple but thoroughly stimulating on the palette.
As mains my fellow diners had the soppressata pizza, bucatini with wild boar ragu, and burrata, while I opted for the seared snapper. I can only comment on the snapper. Beautifully presented, the star of the dish was actually the fresh mixed herbs and bed of sauteed black kale, which was fresh and simply prepared - in true Italian spirit. Unfortunately, the snapper was just not fresh and the quality / aroma of the fish fundamentally let its execution down. Given the snapper was not as sweet as it could have been and the greens were already quite meaty, I would design the dish with cod rather than snapper to create wider spectrum of texture, rather than relying too heavily on the quality of the fish as the signature. Knowing that excellent seafood is hard to come by in Toronto, I probably should have mentally prepared myself for the slight let-down on this very reasonably priced dish. Everyone else at the table was very pleased with their dishes, although I did make a mental note that the bucatini's plating seemed a bit sloppy.
Service was very attentive and non-intrusive through-out, and our laid-back server took good efforts to connect with our table. Though we sat at a table right next to the open-concept kitchen, noise was not noticeable at all. What was noticeable, however, was the constant draft coming from a high vent above. Oh well, nothing a good cocktail won't fix (which I'm told are all designed by the bartender in-house).
So, to end the meal a couple of us opted for cocktails and another tried the Panna Cotta. The Tequila-based Trans-Atlantic was very enjoyable - an earthy, herbaceous remix of the classic margarita, and fondly reminded me of freshly cleaned carpet. The Jet Lag, however, was not my cup of ... cocktail .... reminding me of dark and dingy convenience stores (my friend suggested it was the bitters I didn't like - fair enough).
As we got the bill, I asked our server what "Figo" meant. Turns out, Figo translates to the equally homonymic english word "cool". Ahhh - makes sense now doesn't it.
In sum, I would consider this a fine establishment to bring my visiting parents for lunch, or colleagues for civilized after-work cocktails. Fine-dining foodies should already know... being Figo sometimes means sacrificing substance for style.
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