Toronto Tasting
A friend asked me if I had dream job, what would it be? Sadly, I couldn’t come up with anything, except that if I was to be a mom, I’d be a good one (and it’s not like I want kids!).
So I’ve been thinking that if I had the talent, the time, and the funding, I would like to be a photographer, capturing candid expressions of the moment and making still life come to life. Better yet, combine it with my foodie tendencies and out comes a food critic! Too bad everybody these days are photographers and foodies.
Anyway, onto my recent Toronto adventures…
Grace and I had two nights to try some local eats around the Yonge/Eglinton area. We were going to try Lime (pan-asian fusion) but after having Spring Rolls at the Yonge and Eglinton location, I had no desire to eat anything like it for awhile (and if that was my first time at Spring Rolls, I would not have gone to any of its other locations – let’s just say that the pad thai was unnaturally pink/red).
Our first stop:
Quince
2110 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
416.488.2110
Date of visit: June 1, 2009
Restaurant
Quince is a little restaurant on Yonge just beyond the busy strip. They’re famous for their homemade gnocchi, the quinoa salad and their wood-fire oven. The menu isn’t too extensive but the food is worth trying, especially if you like gnocchi (I think Grace will now compare gnocchi everywhere else against this).
Meal Choice, Food Quality
A basket of bread is served as a complimentary starter, with a hummus style dip (with cilantro and what tasted like cumin). Both the gnocchi and the wood-oven chicken dishes were under $20, and portion sizes are reasonable. I’m always wary of ordering pork and/or chicken as sometimes, the middles are dry, bland, or both. Surprisingly, despite the size of the chicken, the white meat wasn’t dry (though it was less flavourful than the dark meat); I enjoyed the seasoning and did not find it too salty.
We completed our meal with a warm apple tart tatin and a iced passion fruit mousse ($8 each). However, I found that because the mousse was iced, it kind of tasted like ice cream, and the dark chocolate was slightly overpowering the passion fruit taste.
Conclusion
Their sample Summerlicious menu looks appetizing and I’m glad we tried this place over Lime, but if I was to pick to visit a restaurant in this area again, I’d choose Le Gourmand (LG3) for their uniqueness in food choice instead – our next adventure.
Your food pictures always look great! Especially seeing that restaurants often have bad lighting, your photos come out pretty good
thank you sajoy! my l’il secret is to try and get a seat near the window :) *shhh*