While restaurants across the world are making headlines
with their no “young” children policies, Chef Victor Barry is moving in the
complete opposite direction, closing the upscale and intimate Splendido and
morphing the space into a brightly lit and whimsical (while still polished)
space that embraces families. Although the main floor welcomes all guests, the
lower level is tailored for children with its play area, a distraction allowing
parents to enjoy unbothered bites of food. It’s sweet and welcoming, exactly
the atmosphere Piano Piano wants to cultivate: a place where you feel like
you’re dining in their home and gives you time to deepen family
relations.
Given our waitress raved about the egg yolk raviolo ($16),
we felt obligated to try the appetizer portion to start. The typical spinach
and ricotta stuffing is augmented with an egg yolk sandwiched between the
sheets of pasta. As you break through the raviolo, the molten egg combines with
the salty parmigiano shavings and nutty brown butter to create a rich savoury
sauce. It’s a wildly inventive dish and absolutely delicious if it weren’t for
the ultra al dante pasta edges.
Having read all the rave reviews about Piano Piano’s pizza,
we opted for the Smokey Bear ($22), an uncommon combination of soft fior di
latte cheese, smoked mozzarella, and salty smoked cured speck. Perhaps it’s
unfair to complain that the pizza was too smoky (after all, it’s named the
Smokey Bear), but with the pizza’s chewy crust already well-blistered, all the
other intensely flavoured ingredients were too much. My taste buds were
desparately crying out for something refreshing to balance it out – a lightly
dressed arugula on top would have been a perfect respite.
The braised short rib ($28), not surprisingly, simply broke apart with a press of the fork; so tender you
couldn’t even feel the distinct grains from the beef … everything seemed to
meld into one luscious piece. For my friend, the soft texture almost had her
thinking the beef was past its prime. After laser focusing on the taste, I can
see her point – there is a slight funk. Possibly, the meat was wet-aged, which
breaks down the fibers while retaining its juices, but does leave an almost
musky flavour and aroma in the beef.
Despite sharing what we thought was a manageable amount of
food, the richness of the dishes left us as full as dining at Nonna’s table on
a Sunday. Nonetheless, the nutella tiramisu ($9) called. On top of the tea cup
sized dessert was a whimsical piano keyboard made from cocoa powder. Like the
other dishes, the tiramisu was surprisingly rich for the small size – there was
no skimping on the mascarpone and in lieu of lady fingers a rich vanilla cake
was used. Having had my fair share of tiramisu, I like Piano Piano’s rendition,
a sweet and satisfying ending.
While
I’m still disappointed that I can longer enjoy Splendido’s deliciously
extravagant brunch, it’s nice to see better dining options for families with
young children. For me, a childless diner, the
playroom and separate dining area are meaningless and if anything made me
hesitant to visit. Hence, it was a pleasant surprise that the play area wasn’t
prominently displayed like a McDonald’s playground.
Truth be told, if I hadn’t read-up about the restaurant before visiting, I’d be none the wiser about Piano Piano’s family friendly nature. There were no screaming children and the atmosphere on the main floor was like any other restaurant. Thankfully, the music was at a reasonable volume so I really felt I could converse with my friend. The food may not be as stellar as its predecessor, but Piano Piano is a comfortable and welcoming environment, a place that encourages you to connect and of course, mangia.
Truth be told, if I hadn’t read-up about the restaurant before visiting, I’d be none the wiser about Piano Piano’s family friendly nature. There were no screaming children and the atmosphere on the main floor was like any other restaurant. Thankfully, the music was at a reasonable volume so I really felt I could converse with my friend. The food may not be as stellar as its predecessor, but Piano Piano is a comfortable and welcoming environment, a place that encourages you to connect and of course, mangia.
How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 88 Harbord Street
Address: 88 Harbord Street
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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!
Is That It? I Want More!
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