Telus Tuesdays

[Jaredg]

The link is: http://www.torontolife.com/tasteoftue...

Free appetizer and desert when you order a main. April 5/12/19/26

I booked Harbord Room.

Restaurant selection looks pretty good:

7 Numbers
Delux
Harbord Room
Local
Marben
Paese
Rebel House
Table 17
WoodLot
Grano

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Rebel House
1068 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4W2L4, CA

Table 17
782 Queen St. East, Toronto, ON M4M 1H4, CA

Grano
2035 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4S2A2, CA

Delux
92 Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON M6J2Z4, CA

Marben
488 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 1E5, CA

Harbord Room
89 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S1G4, CA

Paese
333 King St W, Toronto, ON M5V, CA

[atomeyes]

Any other replies/suggestions?

We did Marben 2 weeks ago and, while the food was excellent, the menu isn't that great of a deal. you basically get a 3 course meal for the price of a 2-course meal. Charcut. plate is not huge.

Was thinking of Delux but their menu always underwhelms me.

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Delux
92 Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON M6J2Z4, CA

Marben
488 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 1E5, CA

[aser]

wouldn't mind checking out harbord room on a last minute tip, are they doing the full menu for the promo?

[aser]

I called, it's a trimmed menu for Harbord Room.

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Harbord Room
89 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S1G4, CA

[superangela]

We did Marben too and we both thought the charcut plate was a rip. I had the salad, ravioli and bread pudding, all delicious, but could have had more of each. My dining partner had the charcut. plate, lobster seafood dish and then the ice cream sandwich. She said she probably wouldn't run back for the food. But I've been back for drinks and dessert since.

Heard good things about Delux though--that cuban sandwich is supposed to be delish (forget if it's on the Telus menu or not).

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Delux
92 Ossington Ave, Toronto, ON M6J2Z4, CA

Marben
488 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 1E5, CA

[ggom1]

Any feedback? I can confirm that Woodlot is offering their full menu to choose from but that Marben is not. The Marben options aren't bad though, charcuterie/soup/salad for the app and lamb/duck/sweet potato/bouillabaisse for mains (interestingly, none of the mains from the Telus menu were on the regular menu - I ordered from the regular menu while my friend went with the Telus menu). I think Woodlot was completely full when we went and Marben was almost full (possibly completely full at one point during the evening). Long-ish waits for mains at both places, which wasn't surprising. I rolled away deliciously stuffed from both places :)

[pinstripeprincess]

woodlot offering full menu, i confirmed when making reservation (not interested in 'licious v2). for a group of 4 ppl it seemed to take about 3 hours to get through a full meal.

other than being slow, things were pretty great. well could have done with less plate banging when they were clearing but everyones food came out at the same time and the waits seemed longer than norm but for the most part we didn't notice. they definitely have a spring menu though it still seems rather heavy. fantastic deal though especially since i know what i like of what they do.

am thinking of dropping by harbord room, but now that i know not all places are doing full menu i'll have to give them a call soon.

[ylsf]

Were you there last night? I might have been sitting beside your table. There was a table of 4 sort of in the middle of the 2nd floor that was there when we got there (2 of us) around 7:30pm. Faces looked familiar from seeing around at other food events/restaurants before :) Only description I can give is I recall the one guy closest to the restaurant exit had a really big watch on. And I overheard the waitress asking if you guys were bloggers.

I enjoyed my meal last night, plenty of food, I was stuffed. I had the duck/pork belly for my main, for appetizer I had the scallops (fairly small scallops... at a regular price of I think $14 I would have been disappointed, but, they were cooked well). For dessert I had the lemon tart which was interesting/good although the crust had a bit of an odd flavour to me (not sure if that is some of the taste from the wood burning or what).

The service was excellent even with a busy restaurant. I found our waitress to be attentive and efficient plus very friendly.

The place was very busy indeed. Definitely worth checking out with the Telus Promo, will post some other thoughts in the main woodloot review page later.

[pinstripeprincess]

not me, those were the twitter folk. i arrived after you did. so then i suspect you were the two-top right by the railing and stairs?

for hokkaido scallops they were the appropriate size to me. i decided to be less picky about it last night and not pay attention to dry/wet packed but no chemical sting and considering the hokkaido factor i'd be surprised if they were anything but shipped striaght frozen. i quite liked the dish and all their pastas. i don't know why, but they don't do a very good job with their dessert pastry.

[ylsf]

Ah, you are right, I forgot they were "hokkaido" , although, I had never seen that term before last night.

We were not directly beside the railing, the next table in beside the 4 top.

[pinstripeprincess]

hokkaido would indicate the city in japan, and indicate a higher quality based on their origin. i've noticed more menus have "hokkaido" on it these days... perhaps as a stop gap for dry/wet packed without having to explain it.

[ylsf]

Do you or other diners happen to know what the dish was that was on a board/plank? Looked like some type of rib but I didn't notice anything like that on the menu (maybe missed it).

I think I will go back when they re-introduce their savoury pies (maybe a fall/winter thing?)

[TorontoJo]

I'm guessing that was the whey-fed pork chop. It's served sliced on a plank with caramelized apples and walnuts. It's good. :)

[ylsf]

Oh, that makes sense! One of the other diners returned it (I think it was too cold or something because I heard a lady say "if it hot now?)... It did looks really good though, if I were to go back for this promo I would probably order that for my main :)

[pinstripeprincess]

i find it a bit dry for my liking.. but maybe i keep getting end bits. next time i'm going to ask for it to be a bit undercooked.

it's funny though how it's written on the menu "chop of whey - fed pork"... at first glance my friends were imagining some curds fused together into a chop shape.

[TorontoJo]

Yeah, it definitely varies. The first time I had it, it was quite rare and juicy in the middle. The second time, it was more well done, which meant the edges were even drier.

[jlunar]

This one, yes?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlunar/5...

Love those caramelized apples! I remember my pork chop being decent-to-good.

[aser]

Hokkaido scallops in Toronto are of the frozen variety, I haven't seen any fresh ones here before. I find I've had the best luck w/ scallops from Taro, most other places unfortunately have that chemical burn you're referring to.

and Hokkaido is an entire island btw.

[pinstripeprincess]

dry packed can be fresh on ice or frozen. generally unless we have "local" they will be frozen. i differentiate my scallops between dry/wet packed because the chemical burn is the main thing i do not want (we don't get enough fresh scallops to be picky between the good ones).

my issue with taro is fishiness.... they're not soaked in chemicals but still lack that sweetness i enjoy.

[aser]

I know what dry packed are, was not referring to that when I was talking about frozen. Just thought you might be interested. For some reason I remember you specifically on here talking about your aversion to the injected taste of scallops, multiple times.

The batch I got from taro last week was from Boston, they've taken to labeling their packaging w/ product origin recently.

Anyways, they were very very sweet. I just pan seared them for about 40 seconds each and finished with a squirt of white wine while spooning butter over them in a tilted pan.

Again, w/ a small shop like Taro, their product origin changes quite frequently. Also, we are talking about a wild product here so variability is inherent. All I know is I've had really good luck w/ Taro's scallops compared to other shops. I suggest you give them another shot, especially if they're from Boston.

[pinstripeprincess]

i have talked about it a lot and you get that chemical burn only when they've been soaked in something not natural for scallops... wet packing.

[dlw88]

I had a later reservation, and three of us were along the east wall upstairs. My meal was good, having tried the ragout for the first time. Presentation looked great, but perhaps the items could have remained warmer longer if they weren't so strewn out around the plate? We avoided the pastries this time and went straight for the filling.

[pinstripeprincess]

the next time i go, i'm going to see if i can get an extra marshmallow layer on the lemon tart... that's really the big win of the desserts for me. the tart tatin apples were a touch too bitter for me and not enough soaked in caramel.

[ms. cornbread]

The marshmallow layer is the sole reason I got the lemon tart...and I don't even like lemon tart. Would like to see the marshmallow used in another dessert, since that was pretty much all I ate of it last time. Perhaps paired with something of the chocolate variety.

[jlunar]

... marshmallow with salted caramel drizzle...!

[TorontoJo]

When I went with a lactose-intolerant friend, she couldn't eat any of the desserts, so the kitchen (without asking or prompting) made her a lovely plate with several of those marshmallows, some chunks of dark chocolate and some fresh berries. It was kinda awesome.

[jlunar]

OHohohoh... Just made a note to feign lactose-intolerance at the end of the meal for my Woodlot address-book entry. Yep.

I like that Woodlot is super accommodating. Campagnolo too.

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Campagnolo
832 Dundas St. W, Toronto, ON , CA

[expensivetaste_tightbelt]

Awesomeness!! Thanks! I've finally booked the Harbord Room on April 5th too! It's been on my list for oh... 2 years now...

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Harbord Room
89 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S1G4, CA

[ylsf]

Thanks for the heads up. I thought this was for Telus Tuesdays at Cineplex and wasn't about to click on it... but, then wondered why that would be posted here so I clicked on it anyway. Glad I did!

I have been wanting to check out Woodlot so I am using this as an excuse to finally go. Looking forward to it. Might do another one too.

[KitchenVoodoo]

Excellent post - can't wait for this affordable way to try Harbord Room and Woodlot - oh, Paese is worthe a try too I think. Table 17 I already love.

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Table 17
782 Queen St. East, Toronto, ON M4M 1H4, CA

Harbord Room
89 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S1G4, CA

Paese
333 King St W, Toronto, ON M5V, CA

[chocabot]

oo good post!
I wonder what the add ons are going to be like...

[wontonfm]

Great restaurant selection! I definitely want to check this out.

WON
http://whatsonmyplate.net