George Restaurant

Date Visited: Late Dinner on Wednesday June 3, 2015
Company: AJ's Convocation dinner for 6

Last week, +Will invited me to dinner with his family to celebrate AJ's convocation from Queen's U. They had recently found out about my food blog and Will advised me I would enjoy the restaurant they chose for dinner. He gave me the link and told me to check out their interesting cocktails. The location was walking distance from Will's and had a very cool exterior with large tall door. Upon entering, the decor was a bit more fancy but with a modest atmosphere. They had an open kitchen which we were seated right next to with a mirror on the ceiling to see the chef's working stations. There seemed to be a lot of students in the kitchen learning as well.

We were explained a bit about the difference between their five-course and seven-course tasting menu, each contains an amuse bouche, 1 or 3 appetizers, fois gras, a red-meat course, a cheese course and dessert. The Seven-Course Tasting Menu was decided upon and I also got the George - 75 Cocktail for a drink. The cocktail consisted of Tanqueray Gin, Aperol, St. Germain Elderfower Liqueur, Champagne, and a dash of fresh lemon juice. I hadn't really had anything similar to it before but it was very delicious, not too sweet and a bit tangy. We also got some interesting bread for the table to start with some crisps that were very oily but delicious and different breads on the bottom.

Our first dish was the amuse bouche, a bite-size hors d'oeuvre. Mine kind of fell apart while they brought it out so AJ switched so my photo would look better :) It was a mushroom puree on top of grilled eggplant and chipotle mayo with Plum relish. Everyone enjoyed the flavour and it got our taste buds ready for the rest of the meal. This is also when we realized that we'll have to take notes of our dishes as they were way too complicated to remember. Most of the table received wine pairings for each dish so it was interesting to hear the sommelier speak to each of them.

So when our first dishes came, we knew we were in trouble for remembering ingredients as they decided to do two different dishes for our table of 6. The plus side was that that we were able to try even more dishes by sharing. We received a Potato wrapped Tuna and Sesame Crab Cake with Lentil Salad. I'm not usually a fan of Tuna but this may have turned me into a fan, the middle was so soft and the potato exterior provided a crispy edge, great textures. The crab cake was not like anything I'd had before, very rich in flavour while the lentil salad provided good balance.

Next, we had Salmon Tappanyaki with Saffon in the front and White Asparagus and Peas in the back and Steelhead Trout with grilled white Asparagus. The Trout had an mild flavour as I've never had it before but I definitely preferred the Salmon, it was cooked perfectly and was presented with interesting ingredients. I was surprised how un-fishy all of the seafood tasted as they were mostly raw.

Our last seafood dish was an Octopus Carpaccio over a Radish Carpaccio and Butter Lobster with Sesame Soya Noodles and Tempura. I adored the presentation of the Octopus, it was like a drawing on paper, the flavours were light and refreshing. I was happy to see an Asian inspired dish with the Soya noodles, it was the heaviest of all our dishes so far but have a variety of textures to keep it interesting. 

Next would be our Fois Gras plates, and once again our Chef decided to be creative and make two separate dishes. One was the Duck in a Mint Crepe with Buffalo Mozzarella with Fois Gras on top and Tomato Foam and the other was a Fois Gras on Sweetbread. So I read and seen a lot of videos about fois gras before so I was both nervous and excited to finally try it. So the duck was basically raw which made it very difficult to cut through and chew. It was probably my least favourite dish of the night, there was just a lot going on on the plate. The fois gras specifically was extremely tender and melts in your mouth, it tasted pretty much how I'd expected. It made it a bit harder to eat just knowing so much about the controversies over it. A few bites were do-able but I didn't think I could eat it all. The second dish was served over sweetbread, which I just Googled now to find out what it was. I definitely thought it was just chicken and sweetbread was the coating they used over it. It tasted very good though and I'm glad I didn't know what it was when I was eating it.

Our peak of the courses were the red meats, I received a Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Asparagus and Sweet Potato while Will got the Beef Tenderloin with Cheese and Peppercorn. There was also some Pesto and Gnocci on the plate for sure but our waiter kind of stopped after the first part, I think he forgot what it was. Will and I were both happy with what we got so we weren't sure if we were going to do halfsies on this one. The Lamb was spectacular, pink on the inside but subtle flavour and so tender. The sweet potato were in sheets and stacked on each other, so creative and fun to eat, not to mention it accentuated the flavour. Will cut me off a piece of his steak, it was too rare for my usual liking but tasted pretty tender. The gnocci was an interesting addition but tasted great.

Our second last plate was cheese which is something I've never experienced before. This time they gave us three different types instead of two. I had the Pasturized Cow's milk with Apples and Pecans. The cheese was very creamy and thick almost like brie. The flavour was very tart so it was nice to pair with the other various things on the plate which were all generally sweet.

And finally, our desserts! We got three different ones again this time. Both Will and I were lucky to receive the Chocolate Souffle with Mandarin Tea! I thought at first it was Lava cake but once you broke into it, it was so soft, creamy, and held together. The Mandarin flavour was quite sour, all the sweetness was left to the chocolate. I didn't really enjoy the texture the cookie crumbs added to the plate, a bit unnecessary for me. I also tried some of AJ's Lemon Pie, it was so sour but actually tasted really good as it had equal sweetness, very lovely.

As an end note, I think everyone had a fun and enjoyable time at George Restaurant, I love discussing food over a meal and we were able to do that with this tasting menu. It offered so much variety and I don't think anyone wouldn't have enjoyed it! A foodie's dream meal :)

Food: 4.5/5 - Experienced so many new flavours and all done brilliantly.
Decor: 5/5 - Very classy, interesting decor and views into the kitchen.
Service: 4/5 - Mostly knowledgeable, a few staff weren't very detailed with their descriptions of the food.
Willingness to go back: 5/5 - Great experience and would love to return.
Overall: 4.5/5

Website: http://www.georgeonqueen.com/

Cali Eats: Old Fisherman's Grotto

Date Visited: Lunch on Tuesday April 15, 2014

Company: Walk-in for 5

One of the most recommended stops people told me about for the drive along Hwy 1 in California was Monterey Bay. It's a small coastal city with tons of boats docked and a very popular pier, Fisherman's Warf. We parked by the Warf and decided to take a walk around and check out the views before grabbing lunch there. The day we went was pretty cloudy and a bit colder but there was still tons of people there. All the restaurants had displays of their seafood dishes outside and were giving out samples of clam chowder and yelling about their specials to compete with the other restaurants for patrons. It was kind of cool to get the first sample but literally every restaurant afterwards also had a sample, it was a bit unbelievable. Eventually we just picked a place to go into which happened to be Old Fisherman's Grotto which was a bit more of a up-scale place and even had a sign that no crying children were allowed.

There were tons of fresh seafood options, pastas, and meats alike. I ended up choosing one from the Daily Specials menu which had many variations of all their seafoods. I ordered the Seafood Combo because it had a variety of seafoods, and consisted of 1/2 Lobster Tail, Grilled Prawns, Glazed Salmon, Sweet Corn Risotto, and vegetables. While we waited, we got 2 types of bread to start one white and another sourdough.

The restaurant is very large with multiple rooms. We were seated in the one downstairs with a beautiful view over the Pacific ocean. The decor is very classy and chic, even upon entering you can tell it is a fancier restaurant compared to others on the pier. When our dishes came I thought the portion size was a bit small but expected I guess from this type of finer dining restaurant, beautiful presentation though. 

I wasn't blown away from my meal but it was definitely good still. It was the first time I had Risotto and I really enjoyed the texture and flavour of it. It was like mushy, creamy rice and full of flavour.  I thought that the Lobster tail was a bit hard and over-cooked, it was still easy to chew but grilled a bit too much. The Prawns were quite large and good. The Salmon filet was pretty small and I didn't think it was very fresh. There was a sweet sauce drizzled on half my plate which was extremely delicious paired with the salmon and vegetables.

Food: 2.5/5 - Overall not a bad plate but a few misses for the price I paid.

Decor: 3.5/5 - Beautiful view and classy decor.

Service: 3/5 - Very professional and decent wait time.

Willingness to go back: 1.5/5 - Would probably check out some other place on the pier unless we were looking for a fancy place to go to.

Overall: 2.5/5

Website: http://www.oldfishermansgrotto.com/ 

HUSH Restaurant, Patio & Bar

Date Visited: Dinner on Tuesday Jan 21, 2014
Company: Reservation for 5 ladies before seeing Les Miserables

There was a group of us going to see Les Miserables at Princess of Wales Theatre on Tuesday night and I wanted to find a place to have a quick dinner beforehand. There are a ton of restaurants in the area of all different types of cuisines. HUSH was a reasonably-priced, American restaurant that I've heard of through the -licious' events that seemed like the perfect place to go for a casual dinner. 

I made a reservation for 6PM and hoped that I could make it down from Oshawa in time after work, which we did... (that's if we didn't have a few wrong turns downtown). We parked at the Princess of Wales underground parking which was across the street and a few restaurants down from HUSH. Our table was right near the window and gave us a view of the lively King Street West. The lighting was very dim but the decor was very classy and urban which livened up the place. We had two different servers oddly, which was mentioned to us by the first one. It appeared that one took care of us in the beginning and then they switched but the first one was still around in the area (maybe they share the area?). 
There were a lot good choices on the menu and it was hard to decide! Their sandwiches and burgers all seemed delicious but I decided to go for the Seafood Linguine consisting of shrimp, lobster, baby spinach, grape tomatoes, fresh herbs, sun dried tomato pesto, broccoli & roasted garlic aioli, a classic choice for me. Our orders came surprisingly fast after they were placed, great for us because our show was at 7:30PM. Everyone's food looked amazing, we all got different things and the presentation for all of them looked spectacular. The Linguine had huge pieces of shrimp and lobster sticking out and lots of veggies mixed in the sauce. The sauce was very thick, almost like chowder, but I thought the flavour was great. I really enjoyed the tomato-y addition with the pesto, definitely different from other Seafood Linguine I've had. I also tasted some other veggies in the mix, like zucchini but all of the flavours blended together nicely. The pieces of toast were awesome for dipping in the excess sauce. The pasta also was cooked perfectly. 

As we were having our meals, we noticed someone else ordering a dessert that looked like fondue. We checked the dessert menu and found out they have S'mores, to share between 2-5. We had about half an hour before our show and asked our waiter if they would take more than 15 minutes to prepare and eat and he said no (of course), so we got them! He wasn't lying because he came out right away with them! They were such a cute idea. The waiter light the burner and the flames immediately shot up a brilliant blue. We each got our own poking stick with Marshmallows, Graham crackers, Caramel sauce, and Lindt Chocolate to share. We had a lot of fun cooking/burning our marshmallows and creating S'mores. My sweet tooth had its fill for a while after that though. I wasn't impressed that they didn't fill our water once or really check on us throughout the dinner. All our waters were empty and I wanted a drink after the dessert. 

We got our bills though and I mentioned in the reservation that we needed separate bills which they accommodated and even split up the dessert evenly for us. :)

Food: 3.5/5 - Really enjoyed everything! Their dishes offer a lot of variety and creativity with quality ingredients.
Decor: 2.5/5 - Very typical King St W decor... dim and chic at night, I'd like to see it in the day and apparently there's a patio in the summer!
Service: 2/5 - Not the best service but the food came very timely.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely! So many things to try there, great reasonably priced spot in the area.
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://www.hushrestaurants.ca/

Buster's Sea Cove

Visited: Late lunch on Saturday June 15, 2013

Company: Take-out with +Will Ives 

On the beautiful Saturday that just passed, +Will and I decided to go biking around the city with Bixi's. In trying to find the station where you pick up these bikes, we stumbled into St. Lawrence Market to take a look around. I spotted people eating lobster rolls outside and remembered that Buster's Sea Cove was here and that I wanted to try it out! So we noted to return after our ride for a mid-afternoon lunch. 

Upon entering St. Lawrence, Buster's line was pretty noticeable among the traffic of people. We were pretty surprised that there even was a line at 3PM, but it was a Saturday in Toronto where people are always about, especially in the nice weather. Luckily, there's server taking orders in line (with a huge east coast accent, mind you) which does speed up the process noticeably as you just go up to pay and wait on the side for your food. The debit machine has a charge of 25 cents though which they don't have signage anywhere about.

Buster's was the first seafood food truck in Toronto and is famous for their lobster rolls and seafood tacos. At this location in St. Lawrence, they have an extensive menu with various fishes and sandwiches but no tacos. Their 'Special of the Day' was the lobster roll so I assume that that's usually the case, since it's their signature food truck order. You have the option of fries and coleslaw or salad for the side. I, of course had to go with Lobster Roll with Fries and Coleslaw for my order which was $15. We got our orders and headed to Will's to enjoy the food outside on the balcony. With food like this, there's just a sense of 'you need to eat this outside' kind of feeling attached to it.

I had seen shows on the Food Network about lobster rolls before and I was always skeptical because they use this small hot dog bug and then they stuff a ridiculous portion of lobster in it... was it for real? I wouldn't say that that they overstuff the roll, but theres a good proportion of lobster to bun, and the meal definitely fills you. The lobster roll it's self was extremely delicious, the bun is toasted on both sides with butter and the filling is just a lovely chilled creation of lobster, celery, and who knows what else. I'm a huge lobster fan and I've never had it in a salad-like form before, it's nice to see lobster in a less-classy way. I'm usually not a fan of coleslaw but theirs was really good, nice and flavourful. The fries are small-cut and had no salt, but there's a station with salt, vinegar, etc for them. The pickle they included though, was the worst pickle I've ever eaten! It was so sour and had no crunch. I was surprised how even though they squished everything together on the plate, the different items didn't combine, the coleslaw didn't make the roll soggy and the fries didn't heat up the lobster to a gross temperature! Nicely executed.

Food: 3.5/5 - Lives up to the popularity.
Decor: 2/5 - Pretty nice nook in the market but definitely squishy
Service: 3/5 - Pretty quick, food-truck style for sure.
Likeliness to come back: 3/5 - If you don't mind the prices, there's a nice variety of seafood to try here! I don't think it's something you crave like sushi though.
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://bustersseacove.ca