Portland Variety is aptly named: serving a menu that
well ... has variety. Although mostly dominated with Spanish offerings such as pintxo surtidos there’s also Turkish
influences with the baby eggplant byaldi or
fusion dishes like the warm mushroom salad with yuzu dressing.
The mushroom and arugula salad ($15) looks deceptively
plain when presented – a mound of barely plain leaves dotted with dressing and
pine nuts. But, upon digging into it, there’s a treasure trove of sweet honey
mushrooms whose warmth ever so lightly melts the manchego cheese shavings. The
yuzu dressing adds a well-balanced acidity but is salty enough to flavour
everything despite there not being an abundance covering the arugula.
Easily edible for brunch, dinner or even dessert is
the house-made ricotta cheese ($11) – in fact, I highly recommend it for
dessert if you’re a cheese plate fan. The soft creamy ricotta was warmed
through to give off a light whiff of the cheese’s essence. Pile on a good
helping onto each crostini, since there’s so little bread, then top with
a chopped hazelnut, slice of sweet pear and drizzle of honey to make a bite
that combines crunch and comfort.
After waiting half an hour the 22oz rib eye ($48)
arrives. Perhaps a little overcooked for my medium rare tastes and slightly too
lean for rib eye (my friend fittingly described it closer to being a strip
loin), it was nonetheless still tender. The porcini rub provided great
flavouring but started flaking off as you ate it leaving a slightly dusty
residue on the tongue – perhaps on account of being cooked too long.
The steak is served with a side of caramelized onions
providing some sweetness to the dish. Personally, I enjoyed it better with the cassava
fries ($8) we ordered which were blisteringly hot and crunchy. However, your
liking for the fries will largely depend on what piece you get, as my friends
and I soon found out. The ones cut from the outside of the root vegetable are
fluffier (really what you want in a fry) while the inside pieces were so hard
that even my steak knife had its work cut out for it. Portland Variety should
consider only using the less dense pieces for their fries and save the harder
ones for something else – perhaps a stew will show up on their menu next?
When our dessert of beignets ($7) arrived my heart
sank – who took the large fluffy airy beignets and turned them into hard
looking Tim Bits?! Begrudgingly, I cut into one and found it surprisingly airy
in the centre. Upon taking a bite, they were actually light and delicious. It
was the salted caramel sauce that fell short as it’d be more appropriately
described as a ‘spread’ then a dippable sauce. My friend, who does more baking
then I, noted it’s likely due to the sugar being cooked too long that it started
to crystalize. Who knows, maybe some cream mixed into it would help liquefy it
into a smoother dip – as it did have good flavours. And if that doesn’t work, just
stick with the more forgiving chocolate ganache instead.
* Mark purely based on food
How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 587 King Street West
Address: 587 King Street West
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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
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