For summerlicious this year I only made it out to one restaurant, partly due to scheduling and partly due to budgeting (we bought a house! Future dedicated post to come!). Looking through the list of restaurants priced at $28 or $38 for dinner, the one menu that jumped out was Biff’s, which also met the criteria of being located downtown and a new spot for me. I have friends who visit weekly for their $1 after 5pm oyster deal and generally all had positive thoughts about the French Bistro.

Atmosphere: Biff’s decor was traditional with intimate lighting, leather benches and dark wood tables. The restaurant was pretty big with a bar area, main dining area and multiple private rooms. I could see this being a popular venue for corporate events during the holidays. With our reservation being just after 5pm on a Thursday the restaurant was fairly quiet, even during Summerlicious, but started to fill up around 7pm. Many of the diners around us at tables were much older while a more suit and tie audience occupied the bar.

Service: Our server was very friendly. He chatted with us, checked in on us often and I felt like he genuinely wanted to make sure we enjoyed our dinner. However, when he came by to top up my friend’s beer, he poured it straight into the glass making it all head to the point where the glass even spilled over once he left. I appreciated the good intention, but it was a bizarre move. Either he didn’t know how to properly pour beer, or forgot the can was beer. Either way, he walked away before we could react beyond being a bit shocked. Aside from that misstep, service was great. Our dishes arrived promptly. The bill did as well, without being asked for, which was again a bit odd. However, our server did tell us to take our time and that it wasn’t a rush. Maybe he was changing shifts?

Food: To start, I choose the Tomato and Cucumber Gazpacho for my appetizer, my go to whenever I see it on a Summerlicious menu. The bowl of cold soup was served with slices of cucumber and a sweet balsamic drizzle, refreshing for a hot summer day. A touch more olive oil would have been nice.

For my main, my friend went with the safe bet of Beef Tri-tip Steak while my curiosity was piqued by the Maple Mustard Pork Croquette. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I do wish I had stuck to the steak. The croquette was made of seasoned shredded pork, battered and fried, served on a crushed potato salad with cabbage and a smoky aioli. I liked the flavour of the croquette, but it was a lot of pork and after eating half, the texture was quite monotonous. I wouldn’t got as far as to say I didn’t like the dish, but I do think I would’ve enjoyed another entree more.

Both of us went with Chocolate Cake for dessert which was dense and rich. Overall, summerlicious at Biff’s was good, not amazing and fairly priced.

Cluck Clucks was a small shop on The Esplanade that has a menu focused on chicken and waffles, one of my favourite brunch dishes. Their menu included fried chicken alone, served on a waffle or sandwiched between two quarter waffles. I stopped by earlier in July with The Hubby, a fried chicken connoisseur, to try out their version of the brunch staple. We happened to drop by on #NationalFriedChickenDay when Cluck Cluck’s was offering a great $5 walk-in special. This meant the restaurant was crazy hectic with a constant stream of customers. In the busy fray, The Hubby and I managed to grab two bar seats by the window to enjoy our meal.

Disclaimer: All food and drinks reviewed below were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

The quick service restaurant was colourfully decorated with a playful wall mural (flying drumsticks and a waffle), orange walls and bright red seats. In total, there were around 20 seats with one table for large groups and a handful of bar seats facing out into the street. With the large crowd, there was an understandable wait for our made to order, freshly fried chicken. Both The Hubby and I stuck to classic chicken and waffles, ordering the What The Cluck (2 piece chicken on a waffle) and Mother Clucker (3 piece chicken on a jalapeno and cheddar waffle).

For the fried chicken, we both ordered dark meat. I thought the meat was tender and juicy with a light crispy batter. There was no extra oiliness and the fried chicken would definitely satisfy a craving. The batter was well seasoned and golden brown. Each order came with a choice of 5 dipping sauces. We tried the Cluck Sauce and Chipotle Ailole. Both had a bit of a kick with the Cluck Sauce being more tangy. Between the regular waffle and jalapeno and cheddar waffle, I liked the jalapeno and cheddar one more. The combination of spicy jalapeno, soft fluffy batter, touch of cheese and sweet syrup was perfect. Having been under the hot fried chicken (and for some time as we took photos), the waffle did lose it’s crispiness. Personally I like my waffles softer, while The Hubby likes them crispy. The regular waffle was still fluffy and sweet, but my tastebuds always prefer more heat. With 3 pieces of chicken and a full waffle, my side of fries were left pretty much forgotten.

Overall, both The Hubby and I enjoyed our fried chicken at Cluck Clucks and would visit again in the future.

One of my friends has recently joined the consulting world, which means she’s usually travelling. We took advantage of a Friday when she was in town to catch up over cocktails at East Thirty Six. The downtown location, tapas style menu and after work drink specials was a perfect combination.

Atmosphere: My last visit to the space was over 5 years ago when Lucien was still operating. The restaurant has been refreshed with slick tiled walls, dark tables and modern pendant lights. A long bar was the main focus of the dining area and most tables were filled with suits. Our dinner lasted a good 2-3 hours and as we were leaving, parties were arriving for after dinner drinks.

Service: Our original reservation was for 7pm. Plans changed through the day and we were able to make it for 6:30pm. I was hoping to take advantage of their $5 cocktails from 5pm to 7pm. We were seated at around 6:45pm and hurried to get our drink orders in. It was only our server’s second week and there was some miscommunication. We asked if we could order two drinks each to get the special pricing and it seemed to be ok. However when our bill came, all four drinks were charged at the normal price and we were informed that the special only applied to simple cocktails, not the listed menu ones. Both of my cocktails were delicious, but had we known this, we would’ve opted for wine instead. I would’ve loved some clarification before hand.

Otherwise, service was standard and friendly. Each dishes arrived promptly on a pretty plate.

Food: The menu at East Thirty Six was described by the server as tapas style and the dishes are designed for sharing. Lots of restaurants have been moving towards this trend and while I love to share plates, prices and portion sizes aren’t always reasonable. At East Thirty Six I found the portion sizes varied widely, I would recommend double checking with the server before ordering..

For appetizers, we ordered the Salmon Tartare and Scallop Crudo. Between the two dishes, I preferred the acidity and sweetness of the crudo but the tartare won on portion size. The scallops slices were very thin and a little hard to find on the white plate. The flavours of the salmon tartare were strong and the fish fresh, but there was no raw egg yolk.

With two light seafood appetizers we opted to split two heavier mains, the Short Rib and Berkshire Pork Belly. For me, the Berkshire Pork Belly won for both portion size and taste. I loved the fried egg served on top the tender, fatty meat and the chewy gnocchi. The dish was rich, had great textures and variety of flavours. The short rib was also a solid dish with a bit of spice. The sweet corn and chimichurri sauce really complimented the meat.

We ended our evening with a caramelized peach dessert. To be honest, by this point the delicious cocktails had kicked in and I don’t recall specifics about the dish (a sign of a good night). It was delicious though, a great balance between sour and sweet.

Sukho Thai was the venue of choice for a friend’s goodbye dinner last month. It fit our needs of having great food, being able to accommodate a large group and be reasonably priced.

Atmosphere: We went to Sukho Thai’s new location on Wellington and the interior was decorated beautifully with a great bar and plenty of dark wood. The elephant motif carried throughout the restaurant on the walls and in the frosted glass behind the bar. With the dark woods, intimate lighting and music the restaurant felt more on the dressed up side of casual or stop by before a night out dinner.

Service: Being a large group, everyone trickled in at different times and it took at least 30 minutes for our entire party to be seated. During this time, we were in no way rushed and our server was quick to check up on us and take drink orders as each new person was seated. Two servers took our food orders together and all of our entrees arrived within 5 minutes of each other. We were easily able to get split bills and everything was correct the first try. Really it was great night and great friendly service.

Food: My first time at a Thai restaurant, I always order the pad thai. Second visit, if the pad thai passes is almost always a curry or soup. Since the BF was willing to share, I got to try both that night.

My mom used to make shrimp chips at home when I was little but stopped and I rarely see it on restaurant menus in Toronto. So that dish was a must. I was surprised by the giant portion size. There were a good 20-30 chips and we passed it around our entire table. The chips were airy, not greasy and the sauce was amazing, they really were addictive and a great side dish to drink with.

The BF and I ordered the chicken pad thai and the fish panang curry to split. I liked the pad thai and I love that the tamarind sauce is homemade and no ketchup is used in the dish. The noodles were a great texture. I would’ve liked more bean sprouts and a spicier dish overall. A wedge of lemon would also have been a nice option to have. It was ok. I’d like to try the special “northern style” pad thai next time as it sounds to have more of a kick.

We both loved the panang and fought over each bite. Portions were on the smaller side but we could’ve eaten an entire pot so this may have been biased. The pieces of fish were tender, moist and wasn’t overpowered by the curry, which wasn’t too thick and full of flavour. Our friends across the table ordered the green curry of which I stole a few bites and also really liked. My preference was still our panang. Both curries were mild spice and a bit more heat would’ve only added to the flavours for me.