Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts

Cafe Hollywood 荷里活餐廳 (Markham)

Posted on Saturday, March 18, 2017 by

Café Hollywood is glitzier than the traditional Hong Kong-style café: the mega wattage signage that makes the restaurant a breeze to spot while driving or the two huge Oscar statutes flanking the doors. Their food, on the other hand, is merely the same with an extensive menu of inexpensive and plentiful options.

If you ever need a cheap date night, Café Hollywood has you covered. For under $20, the dinner combos include a soup, salad, accompanying starch (either rice, spaghetti, or French fries) and coffee or tea.

Sure, the small handful of spring mix with tart soy vinaigrette is a sad excuse for a salad … if you can even classify it as a salad, but the soup as bad – especially since it comes with a hot dinner roll that’s a pillow of sweet doughy goodness. Excuse me while I inhale the best part of the meal.  


To be fair, the “Russian” borscht is a far stretch – there’s no beets, caraway seed or onions in the soup. Rather, the Chinese version is tomato based and has a spicy kick to it, with the only common ingredient being cabbage. At Hollywood, theirs doesn’t even incorporate potatoes so it’s a rather watery affair aside from the oddly oily sheen (perhaps from chili oil) on top. There’s also a simple cream version made with chicken soup and dairy. No hearty soups here.


Yet, no one’s going for the starters. What patrons are waiting for is the main: a humungous plate of food that leaves you wondering if you can finish it and how you’ll feel the next day, if you did. Take the Hollywood mixed grill ($15.95) - it’s a mountain of meat: a pork chop, chicken thigh filet, slice of Korean beef rib, hot dog, and bacon. Having had a bite of my friend’s beef rib, it was good and I could easily have a plate of these on their own. Her only complaint was the uneven temperature of the proteins, some tepid or cool, likely from being mass produced for other dishes.


The same could be said for the Angus sirloin steak ($19.95), which arrived completely rare in the middle. Although I take my steak medium rare, it was still too undercooked for my taste, so a portion was left uneaten. Of course, I could have asked for it to be re-fired, but getting someone’s attention isn’t the easiest and since it was already smothered in gravy, putting it back onto the grill isn’t the easiest affair.

Nonetheless, the outer ring I ate was decent for the price. Obviously, the Angus flavour wasn’t as rich as dry aged versions. However, even undercooked it was relatively tender despite the dull useless steak knives given. In hindsight, my friend made a good point that it’s likely a miscommunication due to how we ordered: generally Chinese customers will request their meat’s doneness based on a percentage – so I should have requested it to be 50% done (rather than medium rare).

Luckily, there were plenty of fries to fill me up – once again, the run-of-the-mill frozen variety – but, warm and crispy enough to be satisfying (especially dipped into gravy). I only wondered how their frozen vegetables could be so dry, when these normally arrive water logged and soggy. Even the gravy couldn’t save these.

Café Hollywood isn’t going to bring home an award for Best Hong Kong-style café in Toronto anytime soon. Yet, there’s aspects of the restaurant that’s commendable: the large dining room that allows them to take reservations and their unhurried attitude (we stayed for almost two hours on a Friday – an unheard of time compared to competitors). Next time I’d stay with the traditional dishes – the baked rice looked delicious and baskets of fried wings seem popular. When it comes to a Hong Kong-style café, the glitzy offerings may be a poor choice.

Overall mark - 6.5 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Markham, Canada
 Address: 7240 Kennedy Road

 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!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

Cafe Hollywood Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Maillard meats delivered to your home

Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2016 by

For a person who loves food, I don’t particularly love cooking. It’s not a chore I hate and will cook about twice a week, but all the steps leading up to actually preparing the meal (grocery shopping and prep work) seems to take so much time. Meal kit delivery companies help reduce the effort, but may not be the optimal choice for people who like to create – after all, cooking is an art form combining ingredients to create something new. 

A company that delivers groceries can help save time and effort. Hence, when I was approached by Maillard, a Canadian company supplying premium meats across the country, to experience a selection of their offerings, my inner carnivore did a happy dance.

Maillard prides themselves by offering meat free of artificial colouring – those vibrantly red steaks you can see in grocery markets may not necessarily be natural. Moreover, except for the flattened chicken, everything is prepared and flash frozen in their facilities before being shipped as quickly as possible to ensure fresh products.

Meat is sent in an isotherm cooler packed with dry ice keeping products frozen for 30 hours – it’s quite a scene as you open cardboard box, lift the bags of dry ice and the smoke billows out (just take care not to touch the dry ice). Everything arrives separated and beautifully wrapped … a gift idea for any meat lover in your life.

My first dinner consisted of the flattened chicken ($21.24). Since it was fully prepared, my finishing touch was simply to marinate it in peri peri (a recipe is available on Maillard’s website, but I just used a bottle of Nando’s sauce) and bake the bird following the requisite time included on the packaging. It resulted in a lovely golden juicy chicken that cooked surprisingly fast (45 minutes) since it was flattened.


Using the trimmed boneless chicken breasts ($9.10 for pack of two), I whipped up a quick Cajun chicken for a weeknight meal. Even after fileting them (for a shorter cooking time), the chicken came out surprisingly moist.


Recipes suggest brining the Frenched bone-in pork chop ($6) prior to cooking as the meat is relatively lean and tends to dry out. Despite every intention to follow the advice, life took over and that evening I ended up slathering on an herb meat glaze and baking. Trust me, you don’t need to spend the extra time brining; the pork chop turned out succulent and one of best I’ve ever prepared.  


Since a boneless duck breast ($10.15) was included in the package, I expanded my cooking repertoire at home. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too difficult to prepare – you score the fat, slowly render skin side down in a pan, and finish off in a hot oven with a swish of maple syrup. In my haste to taste the duck I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Next time, I’d definitely render the skin longer as there was still a bit of chewiness, but the duck meat was delicious and the quality comparable to restaurants.


Maillard’s products labelled as ‘Sélection 1913’ are their best cuts sourced from the highest grades (AAA and Prime), some are even aged 45 – 60 days to further enhance flavours. The 45-day aged boneless ribeye ($20.62) we sampled was fantastic crusted in Montreal steak spice and barbequed. The ribeye had such a lovely marbling throughout and the expected beefy taste (don’t you hate it when a steak looks great but tastes mild?)


If there are specific meats and cuts you’d like, items can be purchased on its own. For better value try their boxes containing 10-40 servings reducing the price per portion and providing variety. One like the ‘All Natural Box’ is $175 and includes steaks, ground beef, pork chop, pork tenderloin, chicken breast, chicken legs & drumsticks, and marinated chicken skewers, all together serving 40 portions.

For those who love great luxurious meats and also want to save time, having Maillard delivery a box to your house may be an ideal treat. And for those who still love to great creative - hopefully, Maillard will let out your inner ‘artist’ so you can transform ingredients and develop a beautiful and delicious dish.

 As a special for Gastro World readers, Maillard is offering you 10% off orders $50+ and free shipping! Just use promo code gastro10 on their website.

Disclaimer: The above meat delivery was complimentary. Rest assured, as noted in my mission statement, I will always provide an honest opinion.
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada

 Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

The Carbon Bar Experience (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, January 24, 2016 by
The Carbon Bar Toronto
Tip to restaurants: when you proclaim a menu to be an “experience”, be confident you’ll be able to provide the entire package. It’s not a “tasting menu”, where food is king; you’re now promising diners something more that extends beyond the stomach. Which is exactly why The Carbon Bar needs to rethink if they’re able to execute on the “experience menu”, unless you want a frustrating start and ending to be what diners remember.

When a group of friends and I went for the Carbon Bar experience menu ($49 per person having dropped the fish course), we were expecting tons of food, served family style, which would leave us in a meat coma.

What we didn’t expect was having to wait over half an hour for a reserved table. Just like a restaurant expects customers to make their reservations within 15 minutes of the set time, I also assume a reservations means a table will be available within 15 minutes of the scheduled hour. How many times have you been warned when getting a table that it’d need to be vacated by a certain time to accommodate a reservation? The fact that the Carbon Bar didn’t communicate this to a couple that was holding up a table for a large group is a sign of poor management.

Afterwards, to appease the group with no more than a "Heard you waited a while, sorry about that” from the server? That’s even worse. Bringing me to my second tip to restaurateurs: if you’ve screwed up, apologize and compensate - we added extra items to our meal, something inexpensive like the KFC could have easily been comped helping to ease the frustration a bit.

Nonetheless, once we were seated and the food started arriving, the experience improved. Sensing we were in hangry moods, a platter of fried delights arrived quickly following the wine. Fried mac 'n' cheese, beef croquettes and fried oysters were all accompanied by tailored creamy spicy dipping sauces.


The crisp exterior complimenting the gooey filling of the mac 'n' cheese absolutely delicious. Plenty of seasoned pulled beef was found rolled into each of the croquettes. And the fried oysters were a decent size providing crunch and a slight taste of the ocean.

There could have been more variety to the snacks, the sample menu on the website a much better representation. Where was the fresh or saucy elements to add interest? We diversified the snacks by adding on orders of the Korean fried cauliflower ($9), an amazing dish that is reminiscent of fried chicken yet has a creamier center. The spicy, sweet and savoury sauce was spot on to awaken the taste buds.


The following appetizers were more varied, with the tuna ceviche a great dish for helping to cut the greasiness of the previous fried products. Big chunks of soft big eye tuna and pineapple were tossed in a zesty lime and Serrano chili mixture that added heat without being overpowering.


I enjoyed the lighter dressing used in the black kale ceasar, given the other ingredients used in the salad were bold: large chunks of chewy oak smoked bacon, crunchy garlic croutons, salty parmesan and my favourite - soft boiled egg made with beet juice to give it a lovely pink hue.


Of the appetizers, the one that was a waste of stomach space was the pulled pork tacos. The corn tortilla, although warm and seemingly of the artisan variety, had dried out hard bits. Moreover, the pork so dry that extra tomatillo salsa and avocado crema had to be added in hopes of reviving it.


Trust me, don’t fill up on the snacks and appetizers … save room for the main event! The pit master platter was the most glorious part of the entire experience, filled with slices of juicy beef brisket infusing my mouth with a rich beef flavour, spice-crusted pork ribs that have a light heavenly smoke, and moist sizzling pieces of buttermilk fried chicken. Although Carbon Bar provides bottles of their house made sauces (espresso and sweet & spicy BBQ), the meats were flavourful enough to enjoy on their own.


As if there wasn’t enough food, we decided to add on orders of mac and cheese ($19). The stomach room it consumed was well worth it, the sauce a well-balance creaminess with sufficient amount of gooey cheese and the pasta left with a bite. As if there wasn't enough meat, the dish also incorporates generous portions of brisket.


Being so full, I couldn’t even try the other sides, except the handful of crunchy hot-from-the-fryer shoestring fries. The TBC coleslaw and stewed beets looked beautiful, but I simply couldn’t eat another bite…


That is, until dessert arrived. I couldn’t help it, they both looked so good! The Kentucky Derby pie is like a pecan pie on steroids – large pecan pieces amongst a rich butter tart batter and flaky crust with drizzles of bitter chocolate on top. On the side, a whisky infused whipped cream to add a kick of bitterness to cut through the sweetness.


The warm apple crumble incorporated plenty of diced apples amongst a buttery salty crumble giving the dessert a salty caramel taste. With plenty of spices, crunch from nuts and cooled with the creamy vanilla ice cream, it was a delicious dessert.


Throughout the meal, our server did a great job – being attentive and working with others to ensure the entire table was served at once. The dishes were also split well with plates spaced nicely amongst the table to ensure everyone had access to all the food and passing not really required.

Sadly, the euphoric experience didn’t last and a sour note ended the meal when we asked a lady clearing the table for the bill. Despite she was actually working at the table, she snappily noted she wasn't our server so couldn't do it … but would find the right person. Come on, if you’re intending to find your colleague anyways, what's the point of telling customers? Just do it! To us, you're all a team and one restaurant; I frankly don't care about your internal division of labour.

It’s such a shame the Carbon Bar experience was ruined by less than ideal service at the beginning and end. What a difference compared to my past visits to the restaurant when the friendly service was something I remember fondly. On the most recent visit, I had even thought the experience improved enough to increase their rating to an 8 out of 10.

Although the food was fantastic, poor first and last impressions should never be part of an experience. So sadly, the Carbon Bar has slipped a point. Go for the food, if you happen to get great service from everyone, count yourself lucky.

 Overall mark - 7 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 99 Queen Street East

 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!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

The Carbon Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

CLOSED: Copacabana Brazilian Steakhouse (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, August 22, 2015 by

For people who like meat, especially copious amounts of it, Copacabana Brazilian Steakhouse is for you. As a rodizio restaurant, it’s all-you-can-eat: servers bring skewered churrasco (barbequed) proteins to your table until you signal them to stop with a simple flip of the sign. The full Copa experience is $40 on Sunday to Thursdays or $45 on Friday and Saturday (when salmon is served).

Sides, vegetables, charcuterie and other hot eats reside at a buffet area that’s self-serve. There’s actually quite a good selection and their salad bar is great, I particularly enjoyed the quinoa, mango and blueberry and kale salads.


As the server arrives table side, they announce what’s on the skewer. If you want a portion, they slice into it, you use the small tongs provided to grab onto the loose piece and then they finish slicing. Voila! You now have a piece of thinly sliced meat. Usually, they’ll have pieces with varying doneness so you can request something that’s cooked less or more.


The top sirloin was flavourful and tender and probably the meat I had the most of that evening. Other delicious picks was the herby chimichurri steak, fatty and moist butter milk rib eye and juicy flaky salmon.


The salmon, although looking overdone, was surprisingly delicious – glistening and just cooked through.


I find the prime rib with cheddar and filet mignon wrapped in bacon a tad salty, but they also tend to be crowd favourites. Luckily, the Toronto location has toned down their use of seasoning as I found the Niagara branch extremely salty, which for a long time was why I didn’t want to return to a Brazilian steakhouse.

Other beef items include skirt steak, picanha Brazil (a slightly chewier rump cut), flank steak and beef ribs (pulled off the bone and somewhat dry). But, it’s not all beef, Copa also serves chicken (drumstick, parmesan and Moraccan), leg of lamb (tasty and worth a try) and pork sausages.

After I’ve had my protein fill, the thing I enjoy the most is their grilled pineapples. Crusted lightly in cinnamon sugar, the heat helps sweeten the pineapple even more and get their juices flowing.


Fried bananas, corn bread and cheese puffs are brought around in baskets, so enticing that you can’t help but have one. The fried banana was crispy and has the same cinnamon sugar dusting as the pineapples. Their cornbread, always served hot out of the oven, is fluffy and aromatic. Only the cheese puff was a bust for me as the center was doughy and soft rather than airy or molten. 


Copacabana offered great service; the manager coming by on separate occasions to ensure we were satisfied. When we noted that the meat service was a little slow he instantly had more gauchos (servers) visit the table. When we started turning away items citing, “We’ve had this already” they asked us what we wanted and made sure to bring those items in return trips.

Live music and a dance performance may seem cliché but provides a cheerful environment; momentarily distracting me from the food and bringing a slight twinge of regret for accepting the third helping of top sirloin.


Overall, Copacabana was a good experience, especially for an all-you-can-eat atmosphere. Indeed, I probably wouldn’t want to visit too much, as it does promote over consumption on meat. But, as a once in a while indulgence, it’s not a bad way to spend two hours (their seating limit).

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
Is Summerlicious worth it (based on my meal selection)?
Summerlicious - $35
Regular menu - $45 
Savings - $10 or 22%

How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 150 Eglinton Avenue East


 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!

Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:


CLOSED: Bestellen (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, July 18, 2015 by
Bestellen makes a meat-lover’s heart go a flutter with promises of dry-aged beef and house-cured charcuterie. When the restaurant offered both on their Summerlicious menu ($35), it became a no brainer that a visit was in order.

The charcuterie was made for me with thinly sliced basturma, coppa and prosciutto; all cuts where the meat and fat are distinct, not a salami in sight. Prosciutto is a commonly loved with its large slices of leg meat. Personally, I prefer coppa as it has a richer flavour and having the fat in the centre of the meat gives it a different mouth feel.

Bestellen charcuterie

Bestellen introduced me to basturma, a dried cured beef. The curing process must have involved plenty of peppercorn as the earthy heat from the spice was prevalent. Much leaner than pork, I found the basturma was best eaten plain. Whereas, the toasted olive oil laced bread with grainy mustard went best with the fattier pork options: the bread's heat nicely warming up the fat.

After such a great starter, the dry aged striploin was disappointing – salty so that any chance of enjoying the beef’s flavour was minimal. Being a leaner dry aged cut, I didn’t anticipate the steak to be juicy. However, I did expect the aging process to condense the meat’s flavours and the connective tissues to break down so it’d be more tender than it was.

Bestellen striploin

The wedges of roast potato were even more salty; I had to wipe it against the edge of the plate before it was edible. Only the charred rapini was spared. One redeeming quality is the kitchen did cook the beef to the exact medium rare doneness requested.

Dessert was surprisingly good. The warm lemon and pistachio cake a great combination – the nuttiness of the pistachio balanced by the citrus. Also, the nest of candied lemon on top had just the right amount of sweetness to set off the neutral cake. The chocolate budino’s texture was oh-so silky and jazzed up with the addition of salted caramel.

Bestellen budinoBestellen cake

Bestellen’s softly lit environment is great for dates but its loud music makes conversing difficult. For a restaurant that encourages large groups with a family style whole suckling pig, côte de boeuf and Sunday chicken dinners, it should really lower the volume so that guests don’t need to shout to be heard.

A printed wine-by-the-glass menu would also be nice, even if written on a chalkboard. Our waiter was friendly and helpful, but I felt a little bad for him as multiple people asked about it and he had to dutifully recite the list and answer pricing/country of origin questions every time.    

From reading other reviews, it seems Bestellen does meat dishes well (think charcuterie, beef tartare and their burger). But, it’s not a steakhouse and this is where opinions start to falter. In the end, the charcuterie peaked my heart’s interest, but the striploin makes a long-term relationship doubtful.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
Is Summerlicious worth it (based on my meal selection)?
Summerlicious - $35
Regular menu - $47 - charcuterie ($13), striploin ($28) and cake ($6)
Savings - $12 or 26%
* The striploin and cake were based on the cornish hen and a wild guess from me
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 972 College Street


 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!

Is That It? I Want More!
Other Gastro World posts similar to this:

Beast (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, February 01, 2014 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 96 Tecumseth St
Website: http://thebeastrestaurant.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner

 Beast has been a restaurant I’ve always had intentions of visiting, especially after following the Group of Seven Chefs, a collaborative pop-up dinner team started by Chef Vivian.  People rave about the Beastwich, a towering buttermilk biscuit holding fried chicken, cheese, a fried egg, potatoes and then smothered with gravy.  Offered only during Sunday brunches, it sounds delicious but seems a bit heavy for the first meal of the day. 

On a cold winter night I finally had that chance to try their creations. Tucked away on a quiet residential street (Tecumseth) near King I first feared that Googlemaps had led me astray.  Luckily, it was correct and soon was seated in a warm and casual dining room.  My only caution is you may want to make Beast the only stop of the night as it’s a bit poorly ventilated so you will reek of food afterwards.
Beast’s menu consists of small plates that meant for sharing.  Jeff, our fantastic waiter for the night, gave us plenty of time to peruse it as so many things sounded delicious.  We finally settled on six dishes for our table of three.  Before they came out, we were presented with a platter of some interestingly shaped bread, where the horn shaped ones acted as a roll and bread stick in one (on account of its crunchy ends).


The steelhead trout ($12) arrived first.  Lightly smoked and flaked apart, the fish was served cold on top of slices of sweet beet root and flavoured with dollops of thick yogourt and chives.  I enjoyed the trout’s texture and strong but not overwhelming flavour.  The beetroot actually helped to mellow out the smokiness a bit and I wish there was more of the delicious creamy yogurt to go with it.  In my opinion, the sunflower seeds could have been left off as they added little to the dish and got in the way of the delicate flakiness of the fish.


 Meanwhile, the mixed greens were less impressive and priced at $10 needed a bit more than a handful of spring mix topped with a button mushrooms and radish slices.  Sure the sweet balconville dressing (a late harvest apple vinegar) was good and each leaf well coated. But, it wasn’t that outstanding to make it a worthwhile repeat order. Alas, it’s likely our own fault … when you go to a restaurant called Beast should you bother with vegetables?

The Asian inspired fried squid ($11) was much better.  I liked the addition of the Thai basil and pomelo (a sweeter and drier grapefruit) which lightened the dish. The battered squid was nice and fresh, albeit in very small pieces on account to the size of the squid used.  But, the tinier pieces did make it easier to combine forkfuls of all the ingredients so you could really taste everything holistically.

Our last seafood dish was the mackerel ($13) cooked beautifully with crispy skin and flakey meat.  A tomatoy chorizo and cucumber mixture added a nice saltiness to the fish and a Spanish flare.  Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with how well Chef Vivian prepared fish considering Beast is known for its meatier fare.  Yes, hunks of soft meat and crispy nuggets are good, but dish after dish of it would be too much.  Sometimes you do need a lighter seafood added to the mix to really appreciate the differences.

A dish that certainly turns heads is their bone marrow ($12), a hunking beef bone cut in half with a deep char on top.  That nice crust comes from adding sugar to the top and then blow torching it to create a nice brulee topping; the slight smoky sweetness actually goes quite well with the soft marrow.  Personally, I preferred the marrow by itself as when eaten with the grilled bread the smokiness was overwhelming.  Perhaps the dish would be better suited with simple toasted bread rather than the grilled version.

Beast’s poutine ($10) replaces fries with fried pieces of soft gnocchi (on my!).  The crunchy crust holds up quite well but is softened somewhat with the liberal topping of gravy that thoroughly melts the cheese curds.  Tender braised pulled pork adds even more flavour to it.  Although this sounds like a heavy dish, their gravy is a lighter jus so isn’t as gluttonous feeling. This is certainly a dish I’d order again!

After six dishes we were satisfied.  Nonetheless, we couldn’t help but peek at the dessert menu.  With only three to choose from the choices weren’t much, but still sounded delicious enough that we had to pick between two.  In the end, we opted for the sticky toffee pudding ($10) and it was such a great choice! 

 When it arrived the sheer amount of toffee seemed ridiculous; the soft moist pudding was actually sitting in a pool of toffee. Even though it wasn’t overly sweet, you still had to eat it quick as near the end so much was soaked into it that it almost felt like toffee with pudding bits.  I recall reading somewhere that Chef Caldwell use to be a pastry chef so this could have been one of her delicious creations.  It was one of the best sticky toffee pudding’s I’ve ever had.

At Beast you won’t find obnoxiously loud music that overwhelms your ability to carry a conversation.  You will find dishes coming out at a good pace so you actually have time to savour each one and not feel rushed.  Prices aren’t cheap but with the flavourful dishes we found we felt satisfied with two each so the bill ends up feeling affordable.  Just don’t come with a vegetarian as I can assure you they will feel disappointed.

 Overall mark - 7 out of 10


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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!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:


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