Showing posts with label fish and chips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fish and chips. Show all posts

CLOSED: John & Sons Oyster House (Toronto)

Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 1 Balmoral Avenue, Unit 7
Type of Meal: Dinner


John and Son's Oyster House has a comfortable environment. Open, airy and decorated with simple wooden decor there is plenty of light and suitable ambient noise to allow for louder conversation. Yet place settings are still polished with thick linen napkins and shiny cutlery. Plus, the lovely aroma of seafood cooking just adds to the experience.

Ordering off of their Summerlicious menu, I started with the crab cake. Thankfully, John and Son did not skimp on the dungeness crab. Tender and moist it easily flaked apart. I liked that the filling was not overly seasoned so the sweetness of the crab remained. Topped with a dollop of lemon aioli and placed on topped of some lightly dressed arugula this was a good starter.


My friends’ New England style chowders arrived piping hot, a pleasure when mass produced soup can sometimes become lukewarm when left in warming pots. They seemed pleased and enjoyed the fact it wasn’t too heavy despite being cream based.


The niçoise was beautifully presented with all the fresh and vibrant vegetables. Each element of the dish was thoughtfully prepared – the tuna evenly seared with a delicately salted crust, the asparagus retaining some crunch, the roasted tomato not too acidic and even the olives fantastic as not overly briny. But my favourite component was the soft boil egg that sat upon a bacon (?) aoili with crunched crunchy bacon bits on top; it left me wanting more.


Two good sized portions of wild haddock arrived in the fish and chips along with tons of fries and a side coleslaw. The fish was moist and flakey; although the batter a bit thick and oily for my taste. Unfortunately, the fries were soggy and reminded me of the Swiss Chalet delivery fries. They could have benefited from being fried twice. 


My friend's black angus flat iron steak was a respectable size but arrived undercooked (seemed rare when ordered medium rare). But, it looked juicy and succulent with a nice char to it. The fries were sadly the same soggy variety. 


In terms of the desserts most people preferred the frozen lemon mascarpone cheese cake. Creamy and fluffy with raspberries on top, it was a lighter dessert to end the meal.


I enjoyed the cinnamon sugar dusted doughnut. With a sweet maple butter glaze and crunchy chocolate nut bits it had varying elements of salty & sweet and soft & crunchy. The doughnut could have been fried a tad longer as the middle was a bit soft and doughy.


The brownie was moist and chocolaty but we found it lacked the oomph the other desserts had. 


Service was efficient with dishes coming out in quick succession. Overall, it wasn't bad but could have been improved with two minor suggestions:
  1.  Be more attentive with refilling water. Although each table was given a large bottle for self-refills, once that was empty it wasn’t automatically replaced.
  2. More of a personal pet peeve, but I prefer finished dishes to be left and collected when the entire table is done (or in larger tables as sections are done). This ensures that slower diners don’t feel rushed and those who are finished still retain cutlery to sneak tastes off of a friend’s plate.


Overall, my choices were delicious and it felt nice to eat fresh vegetables and seafood so that I wasn’t overly stuffed at the end. John and Son is a nice choice (for seafood) and appears to have a great closed in patio ideal for summer days.


Is Summerlicious worth it?

As a special feature to the Summerlicious blogs, I will attempt to calculate the savings being offered (based on my meal selection).

Summerlicious - $35

Regular menu - $49 - crab cake ($15), nicoise ($25) and doughnut ($9)

Savings - $14 or 29%

* The crab cake is based on their downtown menu price.



Overall mark - 7 out of 10


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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • - 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!



Anstruther's Fish Bar (Anstruther)

Location: Anstruther, Scotland
Address: 42-44 Shore Street
Website: http://www.anstrutherfishbar.co.uk/
Type of Meal: Lunch



Anstruther's Fish Bar is located right on the pier so fresh fish is what you’ll expect and get.  In fact, on top of their takeaway counter sits a sign that proudly announces which fishing company caught the haddock for the day.  The restaurant is simple with a take-out area as soon as you enter (£5.90 for the haddock), a dining area with about a dozen tables in the middle and an ice cream parlour at the other end.

But, don’t let the casual interior fool you, Anstruther is serious about fish and chips and won many accolades including being recognized the Best Fish and Chip Shop in Scotland and the UK’s Fish Shop of the Year.  Discreet Scotland Tours brought us here right after our visit in the St. Andrews district and noted its popularity with visitors and students of St. Andrews University – including the infamous Prince William.

Having walked around all morning, we decided to eat in and luckily scored a table.  Everyone had to try their speciality, deep fried haddock (£8.25), although Anstruther offers other seafood such as sole, hake, cod, prawns and crab.  For those who don’t like seafood (gasp), deep fried chicken, pizza, burgers, curry chicken, macaroni & cheese and savoury rolls are also available.  

The haddock when dining in costs a bit more but does come with bread & butter (regular sliced bread), a selection of sauces (ketchup, tartare, malt vinegar or brown sauce (aka HP sauce)) and a hot drink. I went with the tartare sauce which sadly was a packaged Heinz variety that’s meritocracy actually ruined the fish – in the end I just ate it plain with some malt vinegar on the chips.

The batter is light, crispy and not greasy at all allowing the freshness of the fish to shine through.  Meanwhile, the haddock is just cooked through so that the fish retains its moistness.  Portion sizes are fairly large with the paper platter containing one and a half fillets and a significant amount of chips. The chips are ordinary yet still tasty and just needs some salt (found on the table) to give it some flavour.

Not having grown up on fish and chips, I must say this is one of the best versions I’ve tasted. Admittedly, I have had a similar calibre fish and chip in Toronto at Rock Lobster where they make a wonderful house-made tartare sauce. My father-in-law, who eats it more and has tried other UK locations, ranks this as one of his top picks as well.  In the end, I wouldn’t make a special journey to Anstruther’s Fish Bar; but, if you happen to be in the St. Andrews area you should definitely stop by.


Overall mark - 8 out of 10


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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!


CLOSED: Rock Lobster Food Co. (Toronto)

Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 538 Queen Street West
Type of Meal: Dinner




After two failed attempts to visit Rock Lobster’s Ossington location, I finally secured a table in the Queen West outpost without being subjected to a wait.  Despite being double the size of the flagship restaurant, the Queen West site is still relatively small; its only saving grace is the patio at the back which will be of no use in the winter months.  As soon as you walk in a “Fish Market” is set-up consisting of a small display case of on ice seafood items for you to take home and enjoy at your leisure.  But really, you don’t come here for take-out.


Patriotic Canadian themed insignia adorn the walls of the dining room (think caribou antlers, paintings of fish,etc.) and continue onto the patio with the back wall featuring a beaver and large Canada lettering.  I love it and hope a tourist visiting Toronto has the opportunity to visit this little spot and enjoy a bit of what our sea has to offer. 


The staff cheerfully greets me at the door and within minutes of entering grab my drink order - at last I’m here! If only they could turn down the music to a decibel so I don’t need to shout across the table at my friends the experience would be perfect.  


Without a doubt, Rock Lobster’s feature drink would be their Caesar; however it’s the one Canadian concoction I haven’t acquired a taste for despite trying it on multiple occasions.  Instead, the hot summer evening calls for a tomba-grantia ($10) which arrives looking like a margarita with an ice burg floating in it.  While ordering, I was asked if I’d like to add a $1 to make it “El Diablo” which makes it sweeter.  I can safely say that is not required as my non-El Diablo version was sweet enough.  After chipping away at the huge ball of crushed ice to let some of it melt, the cocktail diluted enough to make it refreshing.  I can’t say it was something I really enjoyed so on return visits may opt to go with the $1.50/oz on tap pinot grigio instead.


The lobster devilled eggs ($7) arrived within minutes of placing our order.  Surprisingly, the egg whites were a light rose pink coloured (from food dye?) which was unexpected, but gave Rock Lobster’s version of these come-back treats its distinct look.  The egg yolk filling was creamy, smoky and just had the slightest essence of shellfish to it.  Each egg was topped with a small piece of lobster - a good start and promise of things to come.


We had to try their famous lobster roll ($14; the only dish on the menu with an anchor beside it).  The hot dog style bun was toasted grilled cheese style and filled with a decent amount of lobster salad.  Sadly, this was my least favourite dish of the night.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t horrible and would still be considered a good meal.  It’s something about the thick buttery bun, mayo and undrained oily chips that made it all too heavy and ruins the lobster itself.  Given this is my first experience having a lobster roll; perhaps my palette just doesn’t like it.  Until I have the opportunity to eat one of these in Nova Scotia I’ll reserve judgment.


On the other hand, the fish and chips ($12) was amazing.  Normally, this isn’t something I’d order as oily bursts oozing out of thick batter is not my thing.  Luckily, Rock Lobster’s Guinness beer batter is thin so that it coats the fish with a light crunch but still lets the haddock and its juiciness shine through.  When fish is fresh like this you shouldn’t ruin it by covering it with too much stuff.  The hot hand-cut fries and tangy & creamy home-made tartar sauce rounds everything off.   


Finally, the Mack daddy of the night, the reason why I was so excited to visit – the Steam Whistle steampot ($39) arrives.  The large black pot brings back memories of an East Coast road trip I went on with my parents as a young child.  Although I don’t remember much about the provinces themselves, a self-made hotel meal will forever be ingrained in my memory.  Having arrived in PEI by about 8pm that night, we found the restaurants in the area were already closed (keep in mind this was over 20 years ago so I’m sure service levels have improved by now). 


Not knowing what to do, my parents spoke to the front desk who suggested we go visit the docks or try out the convenience store across the street.  My parents do exactly that and at the docks are greeted by some fisherman and purchased some lobsters right out of their traps that just came from the sea.  At the convenience store, they picked up butter, bread and some vegetable (perhaps corn?) and returned to our hotel which luckily had a stove complete with pots, dishes and cutlery.  The lobsters were AMAZING and something I’ve never been able to have again.  The meat, so tender and juicy, was actually larger than the shell and burst through everything.  Having just been pulled out of the ocean, the briny scent of the sea still clung to the meat naturally adding some saltiness to the otherwise sweet meat.  I may have been young but I still remember this meal, probably one of the tastiest I’ve had in my life.  Alas, I digress, but wanted to explain why I love pots of shellfish so much!


The steampot we ordered this night didn’t contain lobster (much less one pulled right out of the ocean) but did have a 1lb of snow crab legs, 12 large sized shrimp and ½ lb each of mussels and clams.  Not to mention four pieces of corn, a couple handfuls of quartered baby red potatos and wedges of spicy sausage.  This is a dish that is meant to be shared – especially with good friends where you’re not afraid of using your hands and getting dirty.


Its flavours are simple, some Old Bay seasoning, slight spiciness from the sausage and a hint of the Steam Whistle Pilsner.  But, the shells from the crustaceans already give off such a great aroma and flavour that I like it when it’s kept simple.  All the seafood was fresh and cooked well.  What would have made everything perfect (and perhaps elevated Rock Lobster’s final mark to a 9) would be to have some of the cooking liquid and toasted bread to dip it in.  Of course, the steampot is “steamed” so makes sense that the ingredients arrive without any water; so, next time I’ll have to try the lobster boil instead and hope for some liquid.


Rock Lobster definitely has potential to become one of my favourite restaurants in Toronto with its seafood focus and down-to-earth approach.  They offer decent portions of fresh seafood at a reasonable price.  So grab a few friends and head down for the steampot or boil dishes, just arrive early to avoid having to wait.  


Overall mark - 8.5 out of 10



Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

____________________________
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!