For those of you who are not familiar, Winterlicious is a culinary event in Toronto that happens during the winter months (stating the obvious, here) where restaurant and cafes offer a prix fixe menu. Being foodlovers, we weren't going to pass up this opportunity to try new restaurants and revisit old favourites!
Monica had the chance to visit Sassafraz, a well-known restaurant in the Yorkville neighbourhood for lunch last weekend with some friends.
To start, I chose the House Cured Salmon Tartar. The pomegranate ginger mousse was supple and the baby greens on the side had a citrus taste, which was really good. It went with the salmon tartar very well.
Honey & Chilli Glazed Prawns with saffron risotto.... was just delicious! The saffron risotto looks really bland as it's just very yellow in the picture but it doesn't do the taste justice. The prawns were juicy as well.
My friends both got the Braised P.E.I beef short ribs on pommes puree (potatoes). The meat was tender and of good portion - not too big and not too small. The Bordelaise sauce was yummy!
Gothan city cheese, served with flatbread and assorted dried fruits. I wish I knew what the jam-like sauce was because it complemented the cheese SO well. It was definitely my favourite part of the whole meal.
Above is the warm apple compote with oat crumble, maple walnut and caramel cream. The caramel cream melted in your mouth - just amazing!
Overall, I had a great dining experience at Sassafraz. Their service was great, environment, gorgeous and the food, delicious. I'm glad I got to try for Winterlicious and I will definitely go back!
been reading your blog because I'm bored as hell waiting for my girlfriend to finish baking
ReplyDeletei want you to know that i very much dislike food bloggers. i think you should just stop writing about food. what you and the rest of the pathetic bloggers in toronto is heinous and disgusting. its so easy for you to sit and write bad things about the hard working chefs in toronto but is it that easy to cook???
what you do is destroying the fabric of our food culture. you push it back 2 steps everytime you write about how this resto was good and this was bad. people listen to you for some reason. maybe because we're now in this pathetic participation badge era i don't know. but please stop with what you do. if you want good food you have to stop writing. look at where france, spain, japan and the UK are at with food. they are able to provide progressive new styles of cuisine that are accepted by the people because thye have an understanding of good food. you do not. i saw how you went to starfish and wrote you didn't like it much but you don't even like oysters. how is that logical to say??? starfish is one of the greatest oyster bars in Toronto. you're a dumbass. even this damn review. you think sassafraz is good? that place is a joke. your food was cooked by 10 singalese cooks who cowboyed everything onto your plate. you're blog and job is ajoke. you do not have the experience or palette to define what good food is. we could do so much better if we didn't have to cook for pathetic backwater redneck palettes like yours. we could have michelin guide coming in but you think they will come when we (us chefs) have no control of our food??? we cook for you which is why food does not progress. if you've ever been to a european michelin starred restaurant and told them you don't like spinach and i want this garnish with that or my steak cooked like that, they would listen to you? you'd be asked to leave. we are going no where in the world but to be the best carnival food. stop what you do. you don't know shit about food.
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog and leave a comment. We have never claimed to be experts on food nor commented on how easy or
ReplyDeletedifficult it is to cook.
We do cook and bake at home and respect the time and effort that goes into every
dish.
Our blog is based on the experiences that we have had at restaurants and everyone has their own tastes and preferences. We do not doubt that Starfish is an amazing oyster bar but one does not have to be an oyster lover to go to a seafood restaurant. To be clear, we never commented on the quality of the oysters since we never tried them. We commented on the dishes that we did try and we have nothing against Starfish, and would not discourage people who like oysters to try it.
Our blog posts are more than comments on just the food itself. We find service and overall experience to be just as important. We said Sassafraz was good because in addition to the food, our overall experience was very enjoyable.
You acknowledge that there are hard working chefs in Toronto but you also say Sassafraz is a joke and cooked by 10 singalese chefs... how are you respecting these chefs when you make comments like that?
In regards to your comment about substituting menu items, we rarely ask for substitutions when we order food at a restaurant because we respect the menu as it is.
Again, we wish to point out that we are not claiming to be food critics but we are people who enjoy eating and have our own opinions just as you have your opinion on food bloggers.