Queen Mother Café (Toronto, ON)

Sometimes having low or not having expectations can be a good thing as whatever you get can become very nice. Sometimes it does not help at all. I did not know what to expect from Queen Mother Cafe but I was certainly not impressed.

We went to Queen Mother Cafe on aTuesday night and surprisingly (at least to me), the place was full. They have a bar and a few sessions of dinning tables. The decor is very Queen West, church benches, old photographs on the wall, and vintage light fixtures. Quite relaxed. I liked!

It was not a bad meal but what I experienced was not a good meal. I have to say that my friends were not totally disappointed with their food. One of the dishes was extremely sweet but I did not taste it so I rather not comment much on it.

My main was Khao Soy Gai as I felt that I needed to ask for asian food in there. It was a traditional northern Laotian dish of chicken and noodles. The chicken was strangely soft. The noodles were very similar to cup noodles so I did not enjoy that part much.  The broth of ginger, fresh Thai herbs, turmeric, curry and coconut milk was the only thing I could enjoy in my meal but I left half of the noodles on the plate.

We had dessert and I really don't know what I ate as I took a picture of the one I wanted to try and showed to the waitress but it consisted of some buttery cream, cake, walnuts, and meringue. It was a huge piece. We shared between the four of us and we left most of it on the plate. It was too sweet. 

The service was ok and the place itself was nice but I would not come back there based on the food I had. Thank you God I was in good company!

Café Boulud (Toronto, ON)

This Summerlicious I had the pleasure to check a few places that I wanted to try for some time.  I have to admit that I usually have low expectations for summer/winter-licious meals but somehow this year, I had very good surprises. The number one was Café Boulud.

 

I wanted to start by stating that I had a fantastic experience at Café Boulud. The service was impeccable. The food was perfectly done. The decor is classy.

We were a party of four and we were seated right away. We had about 5 different servers working with our table. They were extremely attentive, cordial, and knowledgeable. I only have great things to say about the staff at Café Boulud. One of the waiters dropped some red wine on my friend’s jacket and I discretely mentioned that club soda would do miracles, and quickly we had club soda and a clean napkin plus a lot of apologies.

 

I had the scallops for appetizer. It was perfectly executed! The fish with bouillabaisse and crouton was marvelous. The wine pairing was a great choice and the tonka chocolate mousse was very good but I was happier with my friend’s option, the mango, passion fruit with meringue dessert. So good!

 

I liked so much that I already went back since my first visit and I still love it! I would recommend Café Boulud for a very special date night when you want everything to be perfect.

 

 

THR & Co (Toronto, ON)

I am a big fan of the Harbord Room so when THR & Co opened their doors I had to go and check it out.

The place is gorgeous. I would love to be able to hire the architect who designed the place. Great décor with very comfortable seats. The bar is a place to see and be seeing. It is the perfect place to show off your summer dress and your jimmy choo hills.

We were a party of four so we decided to share everything. I started by having a “Tall Confession” as it was our waitress favorite cocktail. The mix of blueberries, gin, and dry cucumber soda was very refreshing. I loved it!

We shared the black spaghetti, the braised oxtail cavatelli, the ossobucco, the bronzini with green sauce, and the grilles asparagus.

We shared all the desserts they had in the menu. My favorite was the slow cooked chocolate cheesecake. It tasted like a mousse. It was so good!

I had a fantastic experience at THR & Co! The portions were on the small side but the food was divine. I will definitely come back.

Cafe Bar Pasta (Toronto, ON)

Visiting a recently opened restaurant can be a hit or miss as you never know how prepared they will be. I can tell you up front that I was pleasantly surprised.

It was a friday night and we were looking for a place to have dinner before going to Lula Lounge. We had a few options but I really wanted to try this new Restaurant on Dundas West that I accidentally found a few weeks earlier while they were only opened during the afternoon as a coffee shop.

We had a reservation for 8:30PM and  when we got there the place was not yet full. We were quickly greeted by their hostess and within no time we had our waitress explaining to us their menu and specials for that night. As the name says, they had several pasta dishes but don't expect the ordinary. Unusual pasta types and sauces are the norm even though you can find classics such as amatriciana. The menu is small (as it should).  It has an appetizer session, a first and a second course sessions. They also had a dessert menu but we were so full by the end of the meal that we could not even try it.

We shared the trio of ceviches (salvadorian, peruvian, and mexican). We loved how fresh the fish was and our favourite was the mexican ceviche. We also shared the arancini with ricotta. The arancini was very good but I felt that it could take a bit more of salt. I really appreciated the size of the arancini as sometimes arancinis can be very big and challenging to eat.

For the main I had the ossobuco ravioli with a cauliflower and cheddar sauce. I was really happy with my main. Delicious!

The selection of the wine was done by one of the owners who is also a sommelier and I was pleased with my two options, the sauvignon blanc and the shiraz. 

The service was friendly, attentive, and very knowledgeable of their menu and the wine options. That shows how good of a job the restaurateurs are doing. We told our waitress that we wanted to pace our meal and therefore we ordered one item at time. She was nice enough to bring us some fantastic bread from time to time with sicilian olive oil. We did not feel that we're being rushed at any time. Two thumbs up!

The ambiance is very modern. White walls, red art work, magazines hanged on the wall as a decoration piece. A majestic light fixture anchoring the communal table at the entrance of the restaurant made of silverware is probably the dream of any foodie. For the ones who enjoy working outside of the office, they have several electrical outlets that you can use to power your laptop while having a latte and a scone in the middle of the afternoon.

They had a chef's table that fits up to 16 people and a private dinning room in the basement. Great for hosting your next birthday party.

I recommend Cafe Bar Pasta. It has passed the test. Good food, ambiance, and service. I will come back!