My husband and I had an amazing dinner at Monk Kitchen last
Valentine’s Day and wanted to experience it again. Alas, Chef Fracchioni has
since left its helm, hence our visit to Flor de Sal instead. Sadly, there’s no
more kitchen table, but admittedly the dining room is so beautiful you would probably want to sit there anyways.
Situated in the redone Corner House the dining room is
elegant and beautiful washed in white, silver and floral. The chairs are so
comfortable that even after two hours we didn’t want to leave – this is quite
impressive for my normally antsy husband.
Even before we ordered an inviting spread of crusty dense
bread, rich olive oil and fresh olives were laid across the table.
I couldn’t
help but sprinkle some of the flor de sal (sea salt) left on the table into the
oil to add a nice saltiness to the soft bread.
The small plates went perfectly with our before dinner cocktails. The dark
and stormy ($15) contained plenty of ginger beer but lightened up with lime
juice. While the Ginja ($15), a vodka based cocktail, was right up my alley
sweetened somewhat with Grand Marnier and sugar but balanced with lemon juice
and a sour cherry on the bottom.
There was such a deep lovely crust on the scallops ($21).
With the vibrant colours coming from the watercress puree and lemon cream,
there was a refreshing hint of spring right in the middle of the cold winter.
We swiped up the sauce, an interesting mix of saffron broth and cream with a
bit of freshness from the watercress, edible flowers and lemon.
Flor de Sal’s whole roasted grouper ($39) is a generous portion and delicious as I finished every bite. The skin is crispy (albeit could
use another scraping as there were a few remaining scales on mine) and
encapsulated the tender neutral meaty fish. Just lightly seasoned, most of the
flavours came from the fresh fish itself, the finely diced caponata or spicy
romesco sauce on the side. As a warning, it does have a lot of smaller bones so
eaters should be careful.
The lamb rack ($49) was even better. Cooked to a nice medium
rare it was juicy and tender. All the accompanying sides were earthy
and warming from the lentil rice, fried artichoke and chestnuts. But, it was
the spaghetti squash that impressed me most, it had such a great texture and
freshness to it (not resembling the soft mushier squash as mine normally turns
out like).
For dessert, we ordered the cheese plate ($18) to continue
enjoying the bottle of wine remaining. I loved that our waitress asked us what
type of cheeses we liked to make a platter suited to our tastes. On ours, were
four non-stinky cheeses ranging from a softer Spanish cheese to a hard parmesan.
Plenty of crackers, grapes, strawberries, fig compote and a great date & nut “sausage”
rounded everything off.
The service was friendly and unhurried with the dishes paced
in a well time succession. I really felt like we were welcomed and could feel
free and sit there for hours and relax. With the cozy fire place and tranquil
spa like environment around us, I certainly could have stayed longer. If you’re
looking for a place for a romantic date, look no further than Flor de Sal.
How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 501 Davenport Avenue
Address: 501 Davenport Avenue
Website: http://flordesalrestaurant.ca/
Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - 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!
