Got to try out a couple great restaurants in the past few weeks, partly because it was my birthday and partly because my several month unemployment is ending and I feel comfortable blowing through some cash and treating myself to a vacation at home.
1. Bar Raval http://thisisbarraval.com https://instagram.com/bar_raval/
This is the new venture by Grant Van Gameran of Bar Isabel fame. The concept is an all day to late night Spanish style snack bar that turns into a cocktail bar with food at night. Seating is very limited and most of the patrons are intended to stand at the bar countertops surrounding the bar and exterior walls. Grant put a TON of money into this and it shows - the concept was to build an interior that would be preserved long after the place itself is gone. Expect this to be on best-of lists soon. It's open from 8am to 2am and almost always packed. I went for breakfast this morning and was blown away - need to try the dinner options soon. The best part? It's 5 houses down from me on what is quickly becoming the best restaurant strip in Toronto! Waiting list? No problem just have a few drinks in my living room.
One of the features I haven't tried but am excited to is canned fish products from Spain - they are the only importers in Canada. Not cheap but worth it apparently.
The interior:
Not my pic - from Now Toronto magazine
My pic - the ceiling and woodwork is out of control.
Breakfast round one - two of the pintxos dishes they feature along with some charcuterie. On the bottom is blood sausage with quail egg, the top is octopus. Unfortunately I cannot remember the type of meat, but it was delicious. The barista chose to bring in Phil and Sebastien beans from Calgary which makes an excellent americano. One interesting thing is that for most of the day they display the majority of dishes you can get on the bar counter so you know what you will be getting into. It helps since the menu is pretty much entirely in Spanish.
Round 2 - that's a mini-croissant with salt cod in it (paging SHH!) and a corn tortilla with chorizo, quail egg and hot peppers. Both were out of control. I also got a dulche de leche donut to go as they do baked goods in the morning.
I may have to go back next week before work starts…
2. Hanmoto http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/hanmoto-toronto
This is a new snack bar featuring Japanese influenced food, opened by the same owners who have a snack bar down the street featuring Korean influenced food. Went as a pre-dinner on my birthday and enjoyed it so much went back again next weekend with a friend who needed some cheering up. The space is tiny and doesn’t face a main street and with no signage is hard to find. Because of this we didn’t have too much trouble getting in – however that will probably change with the glowing blogTO article posted above… At least I got in early!
We stuck to the hot food but they also feature a fair amount of raw fish based dishes. Will probably try them at a later date.
Katsu bun – featuring fried pork belly in a deep fried coco bun. This is as heavy and delicious as it sounds.
Fried shisito peppers – probably the healthiest thing I ate there…
Chicken wings stuffed with dumpling meat which were massive. Yeah.
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Moto eggs, which were basically deviled eggs with roe and fried salmon skin. I’m a sucker for deviled eggs so it’s hard to disappoint me on this front (and they didn’t).
3. Fat Pasha http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/fat-pasha-toronto
Was taken here later on for my birthday – it’s a bit more of a modern take on Middle Eastern / Israeli food. A lot more straight forward than the other places but very solid. Surprisingly filling for the price too as I was able to bring home quite a bit of leftovers. Over half the bill was cocktails, and we didn’t have that many…. (worth it though). Not sure I’d go back with friends but I may actually take my mom there in the summer – it’s a good mix of creative cuisine with more familiar staples.
Flatbread and assorted dips – you have about 6 to choose from. Can’t remember what we chose exactly but one was labneh and the other two tahini based. You need to order extra bread which they apparently gave to us for free???
Squid with fried chickpeas and rapini. One of the better squid dishes I’ve had lately. We also ordered falafel (not pictured). Saw someone eating a lamb steak which looked incredible, and also cost $40.
4. Porchetta and Co.
I have listed this place as one of my favourites before but they are constantly branching out and expanding their menu with weekly specials. The latest is ribs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They slow cook them over Monday to the point where the meat almost falls off the bone if it weren’t for an almost candied crust. The sides vary from week to week. I’m excited for their new venture teaming up with Pizza Libretto (best thin crust in TO) for a Neapolitan street food restaurant. Not sure what that entails but I’m sure it will be good. Also a 5 minute walk from me.
Sides this week were baked beans, kosher pickle, hush puppies (fried on the spot!) and fried brussel sprouts in a honey garlic sauce
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