Address: 155 Wellington Street West
Website: http://www.theshoreclub.ca/
Type of Meal: Dinner
Having
recently returned to the Shore Club (read about Winterlicious experience here),
one thing is for sure - their impeccable service has not changed. Once again
our waiter, John, was extremely friendly, service was always attentive and our
courses served in unison. They have done away with the black vs. white napkins,
but this is likely due to switching to a lint free supplier. In terms of their
environment and attention to customers there are no complaints here.
During
this visit I ordered off their regular menu and decided to go with the fish
options given the restaurant is named the Shore Club. Alas,
they may not be adequately named as my husband's meat-based dishes were
definitely the better choice of the evening.
To
start, I had the fish tartare trio ($19), which from left to right consisted of
tuna, sea bass and salmon. The tuna was my favourite given it had the most
taste from being marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil with chopped green
onions mixed throughout. The salmon, combined with mayonnaise and dill, provided
traditional flavours and was decent but did require some added salt
table side.
My
husband and I both agreed that the sea bass needed improvement – being such a
neutral fish it had the opportunity to take on great flavours! Yet the chef did
nothing so that it was essentially chopped up pieces of tasteless fish. It
would have been nice to build on the fish's profile with citrus, chili and/or
fresh fruit to give it a ceviche feel (a nice contrast to the other two
offerings). The highlight of the Shore Club's fish tartare was the abundance of
crostini provided; an adequate a number of pieces accompanied the dish so there
was plenty of bread for the fish in the order.
In
contrast, my husband's steak tartare ($18) was one of the better versions I've
had in Toronto. Traditionally made with pickles, horseradish and onions it was
well flavoured and a great consistency. Made with a good cut of tenderloin the
tartare became soft and creamy, but the horseradish and maybe mustard mix throughout
really deepen the taste nicely to complement the beef. As a warning, this is a
fairly heavy dish so consider sharing it. Combined with a salad it could
have been a meal in itself!
Continuing
with the fish theme, my main was the stuffed rainbow trout ($31). I was
flabbergasted with the portion of fish received; seriously, it was an entire
deboned fish. If only it was cooked less it would have been better as I found
the fish was starting to become dry. Additionally, it needed more stuffing as I
really couldn't taste much of the dungeness crab or shrimp within the fish.
Perhaps, the Shore Club should consider adding vegetables into the stuffing to
provide moisture when cooking the fish as well as some contrasting textures and
flavors. All in all, I enjoyed the deboned fillet and piping hot temperature
the fish arrived in, just the doneness and flavours need to be tweaked.
My
husband kept it simple and went with the bone-in rib steak ($42). I have to
admit it's hard to go wrong with meat with plenty of fat marbleization and a
bone to add flavor. My suggestion, if you go to the restaurant, is to stick
with meat as they seem to prepare it better. Unlike our previous visit, the
steak was cooked evenly so whatever problems the cooking surface was
experiencing before seems to have been fixed. The meat could've been cut
thicker, but it’s a personal preference (I'd rather have a thicker than wider
steak) and could have been a better quality as we did find there was a fair
amount of it that was simply too grizzly and hard to cut into.
Sorry
but forgot to snap pictures of the sides. As a table we ordered green beans
($10), the steakhouse fries ($8), scalloped potatoes ($10) and mashed potatoes
($9) to share. You can refer to my previous post for thoughts on the green
beans and fries. Of the other potato dishes the mashed definitely had the
better flavour profile and was fluffy and well salted. The scalloped potatoes
showed promise, they were cooked to a nice consistency, but was bland as it
seemed the cream sauce didn't have much salt in it at all.
It's
fairly surprising that the Shore Club seems to do better with Winterlicious.
For the amount paid for the meal, I was disappointed with the offering as many
dishes simply lacked much flavor or interest. Admittedly, the portion sizes are
much bigger, but I would much rather have a smaller but better tasting dish.
Sadly, my opinion of the
restaurant actually decreased since coming back for the regular menu (awarded a
7 for Winterlicious but only a 6 for this visit). Thankfully, the attentive and
friendly service was still alive and that is something (along with portion
sizes) that the Shore Club will always have going for it.
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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!
