This little restaurant has been attracting a lot of buzz in Toronto in the past few years. The chef, Grant van Gameren, is a veteran of Lucien, Canoe and Amuse Bouche and is very adamant about challenging his customers’ taste buds with cured meats and offal. His restaurant is always packed, they don’t take reservations or credit cards aaaand they’re doing so well, they’ve opened a cafe across the street for breakfast and lunch.
Ok, so now that you have a general idea of what Google says about the restaurant, I’ll present you with my opinion. It was a dark and gloomy Friday night when two very hungry foodies decided to experiment with their dinner. We arrived about 10 minutes before the restaurant opened and there was already a line-up. Within 30 minutes the restaurant was full and people were straining their necks and eyes to see the daily menu. First strike against them was the fact that there was no printed food list and everyone in the restaurant had to stare at two shabby looking blackboards posted on the wall. It made for a very awkward eating experience for those tables sitting right underneath. Having ordered and changed our table for the bar in order to get a better glimpse of the tiny kitchen area, we had time to take in our surrounding. The decor is very cheap, the restaurant is not cozy in any sort of way, which to me is a very important element. The room has high ceilings with exposed pipes, walls that are painted a chocolate brown with matching tables and chairs. The dining room has no decorations other than two very narrow (most likely IKEA) mirrors running along one wall and a blackboard in the corner. The bar area is done is a baby blue with matching chairs and tiles. There’s a giant mirror above the bar where the bartender (and co-owner Jen Agg) scribbles and showcases her latest concoctions. And last but not least, tucked away in between the bar and the dining room is the little kitchen where three cooks test their abilities to work in uber tight spaces. The most disturbing element of all was the cheap and plain white electric stove that stuck out like a sore thumb. Their idea was very neat trying to show the diners the simplicity of their food and not spending money on posh things such as fancy stoves. However, since the decor overall was very lacking, the cheap stove only added to that look and didn’t seem to be making the same statement as was intended.
Anyways, we’re here to talk food. So here goes:
– We shared the charcuterie plate for two ($16) which was made up of 8 different elements ranging in spiciness and complexity. We enjoyed horse salami, white chocolate crusted duck pate and other meaty offerings that simply weren’t memorable enough for me to recall. It was slightly disappointing since all the items were slightly salty (ended up downing several glasses of water just to stay hydrated during the meal) and fairly greasy. The worst part of it all is that they charged $4 for a bread basket of walnut crap not made in house. WHO charges for bread anyways?
– Although our server (and bartender and co-owner) got our order wrong, we ended up with a scrumptious array of their abilities. We had crispy pork belly(around $14), a very asian inspired dish showcasing the phenomenal textures of the crispy outside and buttery inside of the pan fried pork belly. Our second dish was something neither one of us had tried before…. heart and frites ($11). We were presented with an obscene amount of this very tender and very beefy steak sliced into bite sized morsels and topped with super skinny fries and a tarragon pesto. The two dishes helped us forget about the disappointing charcuterie plate and decor and might have changed my mind about ever returning to that place!
Overall, I would recommend that whoever wishes to venture out to this little venue should save their money and not invest in the charcuterie plate and bread basket but to please their palate with their scrumptious offal.
938 Dundas St. W., Toronto
416-551-8854
*I’m attaching pictures that I could find online since I didn’t remember to take any of my own…. so thank you blogto.com and torontoist.com for your images!
Thanks for the heads up about the charcuterie plate… i was planning on going and since they are all about the charcuterie there i thought i would but now i’m giving it a second look. I’ve heard the same thing from other about the atmosphere at the place but the food was worth it anyway.
Al: try the charcuterie plate… its worth it. They have some neat items that really showcase the kitchens passion for food… I suppose that when you experiment, sometimes it does not always turn out the way you want – as was the case with some of the items we tried.
Having eaten there I have to agree, the food was bang on. Really creative dishes cooked perfectly. Considering the space that the chefs work in, it was an impressive feat. They banged out food like mad and it all looked amazing coming off the line.
That being said, the whole event seemed a little lacking. I left feeling a little disappointed. The plate sizes were a little big to be shared and little small to be single servings. The atmosphere was a little cold and even after a couple of years the cracks are starting to show in the decor and the place could use a little love.
All in all, worth the adventure and I would recommend the food whole heatedly. I’m just a little disappointed that the space feels so unloved. It could be so much more.