The Wine Bar, St Lawrence Market/Old Town

4:26 PM

THE WINE BAR
9 Church St
Toronto, ON
M5E 1M2, Canada
Local Artisan Kitchen - Tapas - Wine Bar
$$

We stalled our departure from the office after our training for work to come the following week for DX3. It was one of the coldest nights that I've had the displeasure of experiencing, and the sounds of the wind violently shaking the windows did not cue me to move any faster. Negative thirty three degrees celsius and I began to wonder why teleportation machines were not invented yet.

Located in a quiet area of St Lawrence Market, WINE BAR was illuminated, stretching across the path to the entrance. After hanging up our coats, we were lead to choose our own tables, and disappointingly for me, each area had the same amount of poor orange lighting. The place was only filled with only two other tables throughout our Thursday night. After being seated, my friend told me that his favourite place to sit was at the bar, but instead of seeing bartenders serve up drinks, there were cooks in the spotlight. 

The thing with The Winebar, is that, their menu is changed weekly. I actually enjoyed this meal during this week (Feb 21. to Mar 1.), so, it is most likely that they wouldn't be running the same menu items. Also - along with each menu item, there is a Wine 'pairing' for each.

1. Black Truffle Dip ($3)
Sprinkled with Chives and served with a Toasted Baguette
The slices of bread were way too hard to enjoy the dip. The dip had a creamy, truffle note that I wasn't anything special besides the texture.

2.  Black Olives 
This was brilliant. The cheese served onside complimented it very well. It was almost like there was a bowl the put aside of crumbed cheese and simply drenched it in Sriracha sauce, in which they would roll the (virgin) cheese cubes with it. 

3. Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops ($10)
Served with a dollop of Cucumber & Wasabi Tzatziki
There wasn't much to compliment on this. The Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops were nothing to note. I expected a pretty wild Tzatziki sauce, but it was the same old, even less in flavour than it usually would be.

4. Confit Pork Shoulder ($13)
Served with Fried Brussel Sprouts, Fingerling Potatoes & Cabernut Jus
This was a winner. 'Confit' is simply when the meat is cooked slowly in it's own fat. You could definitely taste it throughout. My mate said that this place had the best Brussel Sprouts that he has had the pleasure of eating, so this was a definite order - he was not wrong at all! The Pork Shoulder was simply fall-apart deliciousness.

5. Seared Lion Paw Scallops ($15)
Served with Garlic & Soya-Braised Bok Choy w/ Crushed Hazelnuts & Grilled Lemon
I have never had such a fat piece of Scallop before. The texture was spot on, but the sauce was way too salty. Soya Sauce overload. It kept my tongue tingly.

Overall, I had a pleasant evening. Each dish came out at the right pace, the service throughout the night was great, and the ambiance was well-suited. I do like how they switch it up though, it entices me to make a second visit to them, and this time, I will be seated at the bar!


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