Friday 21 March 2014

Table 17

I rarely make my way to Riverdale/Leslieville for dinner; but I've heard that there are a lot of trendy and interesting restaurants in the neighbourhood.


  
The menu and some bread with olive oil
Oh man, that is some crazy good olive oil...YUM!

Hot Balls
Top down: (1) Arancino - mushroom & Fontina stuffed risotto and a mint sauce, (2) Goat cheese – with wildflower honey, (3) Arancino - spiced lamb stuffed risotto with marinara sauce
I thought these resemble the suppli we had in Rome, but they weren't. They're definitely arancini though with a crispy fried outer shell and warm risotto inside. However, I wasn't blown away by the flavours of the balls (there wasn't enough lamb, the goat cheese was way too pungent and the mushroom and fontina was a little bland), but I liked the pairings with the sauces.


Thai Braised Yorkshire Pork Belly
The pork belly was okay, maybe not as tender as I would have liked, but I definitely think the Thai aspect of the dish missed the mark. I love lemongrass, but I was disappointed that it was more of an afterthought/supplementary flavour rather than a real Thai style pork belly dish.


Pacific Cod
An interesting dish - the crispy and flaky cod was placed on top of a bed of braised white beans and kale with some chorizo thrown into the mix. The fish was nice, but the whole dish wasn't anything particularly special. I noticed that both dishes had a lot of sauce, but the main protein was almost separate from the sauce (and so it didn't really absorb the flavours). It really was like having a dish and then a side rather than an integrated plate.


Dark Chocolate and Olive Oil Tartlette
OMG! This was amazing! If there's one thing I'll come back to Table 17 for - it's anything that they make with their olive oil! The tart was so delicious with thick rich dark chocolate inside a crumbly tart shell and the fantastic sauce on the side! Yum!

Sticky Toffee Pudding
The pudding was mushy rather than sticky. It was okay, but definitely nowhere near as great as the tartlette.

Overall: The restaurant was nice, service was prompt and the olive oil was addictive. If you have the chance to come here - definitely order the items with olive oil! It's amazing what a quality olive oil can do.



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