My last stop for winterlicious this year was dinner at Cluny Bistro. Unfortunately, our original party of 4 dwindled down to just 2 with scheduling conflicts and last minute colds. The girls missed out. We’ll have to reschedule a return visit to the beautiful restaurant as Cluny delivered my favourite winterlicious meal this year.

Atmosphere: Cluny was a beautiful restaurant, from their customized plates, Parisian decor and open seafood bar. Attention to detail in the space was stunning. Every surface from the blue and white tiled floor to the intricate wood ceiling was used to transport you away from Toronto. While the distillery district was quiet on the Tuesday night, Cluny’s dining room was filled. There were many large tables to accommodate groups larger than 8, all situated in private alcoves.

Service: Somehow, I managed to get on the streetcar going the wrong direction on my way to dinner. This meant I was a little late and didn’t get a chance to let the hostess know our headcount had changed. They were very accommodating and didn’t mind that the two of us took up a table for four. Our server was friendly and relaxed. Each dish arrived quickly and plates were cleared off. The entire meal was comfortable and we were well taken care of.

Food: For appetizers, I tried the Tomato and Saffron Braised Calamari while my friend had the Spice Roasted Pumpkin Bisque. She enjoyed her soup and commented on it’s rich flavour. I thought my calamari had a great saffron flavour but the squid was too braised for my taste. It wasn’t rubbery, but it was too soft and didn’t have any chew left in the meat.

We both chose the Beer Braised Beef Cheeks for our entree and the Roasted Hazelnut Profiteroles for dessert. Here I really enjoyed how tender and soft the beef cheeks were. The meat fell apart on the fork and was lightly seasoned. The portion size was quite generous and I enjoyed the choice of a clear broth over something creamier. This was a great dish, hearty but light.

One of my favourite things in the world is cream puffs. The giant box from Costco, a single meal. When I’m in Japan, the one souvenir I get from Muji are their cream puffs. My second favourite thing is hazelnut. I can eat spoonfuls of Nutella and a box of Ferrero Rochers myself. So the combination of these two ingredients, executed in perfectly sent me to dessert heaven. Each plate was served with a shot of warm melted chocolate and I used every last drop. There was no restraint. The profiteroles were light, flakey and airy and filled with a light hazelnut mousse.

Cluny would be the perfect venue was a romantic date, special occasion, large celebration or private event. The space is lovely and the food delectable.

This year’s Kampai Sake Festival took place on Thursday May 29 at the Distillery District. Prior to the event, the SIO held a trade and media session where restaurant owners, bloggers and media were invited to walk around, sample the sakes being poured and speak to the brewery representatives.

Disclaimer: All drinks and dishes were provided free of charge by the restaurant. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

The volume of different sakes present was overwhelming. I’ll let the pictures below tell the story and showcase the variety but it was an amazing event. Between the media launch and press session, my knowledge on sake has grown immensely and it was an amazing experience. I would highly recommend the event as it was well organized and the level of excitement from all of the brewery representatives were contagious. It was easy to see that everyone in attendance truly had a love for sake and for sharing that love.

I had the opportunity to taste many Junmai and Daiginjo sakes at the media launch, so I wanted to try something new and different. With all of the choices, I walked the room and tasted every fruity offering. Yes, that’s right, I’m that kind of drinker. I tried every sake that had the word “peach”, “pear”, “sparkling” or “fruit” on the label. My three favourite fruity sakes (in no particular order) were:

1. Homare Strawberry Nigori, Homare Brewery, Fukushima Prefecture, 7.0% Alcohol
Tasting Notes: I’m such a sucker for strawberry flavour alcohols and this Strawberry Nigori was perfect. The unfiltered sake had a great richness and it’s sweetness combined with the strawberry juice is a great combination. This was very mild and easy to drink.
Availability: Will be available at the LCBO in November

2. Izeko Sparkling Jelly Sake Peach Flavour, Ozeki Corporation, 5.0% Alcohol
Tasting Notes: At first glance this might sound weird, but it’s really amazing. Since I was sampling every sparkling sake, the Izeko Sparkling Jelly caught my eye immediately. Talking to the girl at the Ozeki booth, she described the drink like a sake jelly shot, pre made and in can form. I was sold. It was my favourite find of the night. The peach sake itself was delicious, the bubbles lovely and then it was all in jelly form, amazing. I wouldn’t recommend this drink along side steak dinner, but at the cottage, a backyard bbq or girl’s night, perfect.
Availability: Currently available only at Kingyo Izakaya and through LCBO private order

3. Ozeki Yuzu Umeshu, Nakano Shuzo, Ozeki Corporation, $12.5% Alcohol
Tasting Notes: My favourite sake is yuzu flavoured and I was happy to find a plum wine that was very similar in taste. The Yuzu Umeshu has a crisp citrus flavour and would be a great summer drink.
Availability: LCBO private order only

Overall, I can’t wait for next year. Kampai Toronto does a great job of introducing sake to those unfamiliar to the drink and expanding everyone’s repertoire with new breweries and flavours. With the increasing availability of sake in Toronto at the LCBO and in restaurants, Kampai Toronto is the best venue to discover your next favourite bottle and how to get your hands on it.

El Catrin is a brand new Mexican restaurant that opened in July occupying The Boiler Room’s old space in the Distillery District. I was lucky enough to be invited to their media launch “fiesta” for complimentary margaritas and hors d’oeuvres.

Disclaimer: All drinks and dishes were provided free of charge by the restaurant. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

Atmosphere: El Catrin features a sprawling front patio, complete with a full bar, private booths and a fire pit. The space was warmly lit, decorated with colourful furniture and plentiful cushions. It would be a great party event venue or for a night of margaritas with friends. The interior of the restaurant is dominated by the two storey wall mural featuring beautiful colours and a strong skull motif, which echoed throughout the entire restaurant’s decor. There are two private dining areas available for larger parties, both fully decorated with the restaurant’s theme and furnished with an extra long dining table.  

Food: The first dish I sampled was the “Vuelve a la vida El Catrin”, which was seafood ceviche on top of a fresh shucked oyster. The bite was amazing. I could’ve easily had a dozen of these. With that start the appetizers rolled out. Servers brought around corn salad in shot glasses, cubetas (a bucket of marinated tiger shrimp), baja fish tacos, pork tacos, tuna ceviche and beef short rib quesadilla (not pictured). We ended the night on a sweet note with two desserts, fresh churros and jamoncillo de leche (Mexican fudge) with bacon walnuts.

My favourite dish was the cubetas. The shrimp were plump, flavourful and was the one dish I couldn’t pass on whenever it came around. I found the pork taco was more memorable than the baja fish with stronger flavours. Between the two desserts, the churros were a bit disappointing and I had to shake off a lot of the sugar topping. The mexican fudge was dense and sweet. I liked the contrast of the saltiness in the bacon topping.

This was a great preview of El Catrin’s menu and I look forward to trying out their full menu, especially brunch which has mexican inspired omelette and pancake dishes.

The Distillery District is one of my favourite areas in Toronto. The older architecture, cobblestone paths are charming and warm. I love spending the afternoon Window shopping with a wonderful selection of specialty stores and small galleries, seeing a show at the Soulpepper theatre or enjoying the delicious gelato and fresh chocolate at Soma. There’s usually events going on in the area during the summer, and it’s a great busy location to visit. The Mill St Brewery Pub offers all of their beers on tap as well as their special seasonal brews.

Atmosphere: It was a super busy night, luckily we got a table near the bar instead of having to wait for room in the dining area. The decor’s very industrial and there’s a souvenir shop off to the side. It’s not tacky and set up unobtrusively.

Service: Our server was great. It may have been because we were closer to the bar and didn’t have an assigned server, but we got a lot of attention and it was food arrived quickly. Our main server was personable and chatted with us about the menu.

Food: My dinner partner and I opted to share our dishes and try their sampler drink selection consisting of four 8oz glasses. I had the (left to right) Original Organic, Lager, Ginger, Lemon Tea and Raspberry beers. I’ve always liked the Organic, very light and it was good palate cleanser between the other beers that had stronger flavours, like the Ginger. The Ginger was overwhelming, so much ginger flavour and a bit bitter. I really liked the Lemon Tea and the Raspberry beers. My friend thought the raspberry flavour was really strong but I didn’t taste it as much. She also ordered the Cobblestone, which grew on her as we ate but it didn’t agree with my tastebuds, super bitter.

For food, we shared the Pulled Pork Tacos and the Lobster and Avocado Club sandwich. The size of the tacos were just right, with a good portion of pulled pork. I liked the corn, but the guacamole was too creamy for my taste. I prefer a chunkier texture. The avocado lobster club was very good. It had a lot of seafood, didn’t skimp on the protein with a nice multi-grain bread, fresh tomato, lettuce and avocado. The coleslaw on the side was also very crisp, not too much creamy and a good bite, sour kick.