Bohemian has a menu that will perk the appetites of those who love the great S’s of the carte, schnitzel and sausage, salad and stew — and, of course, beer. Read more.
The Bowery’s TGIF decor is belied by the sophisticated menu: a fine ricotta gnocchi with amusing garnishes, little pieces of tender lamb and grilled pickerel. Read more.
The concise menu cannily balances the fashionable with familiar. Kudos to the kitchen: I haven’t eaten so rich and earthy a wild boar bolognese on tagliatelle. Read more.
A virtuoso cook with marvellously showy technique, chef Matt Blondin gentrifies rustic food without losing sight of its roots. Eating at Acadia is one taste popper after another. Read more: Read more.
Couscous is handrolled to perfection matched with seafood, drenched in a rich, winey sauce. And there are no meatballs in town to rival the spicy kufta, ground lamb & beef under a foccacia lid. More: Read more.
Chef Gregory Furstoss is doing a fine job of translating ancient Alsace into a modern Toronto idiom, distilling the flavours and cooking without diminishing their original lip-smacking appeal. More: Read more.
Origin has the real burrata in its own jetset mozzarella bar, spread nicely to be sure on three crostini with slices of poached pink pear ($16). Read more: Read more.
"Think Global, Eat Local," but why should I pay for inferior ingredients just because they’re local? 11⁄2 stars Food, 2 stars Service, 1 star Ambience. Read more: Read more.
Gina Mallet: "The properly pink slices of grilled lamb sirloin ($24), are the juiciest I’ve tasted in a while, with salsa verde, rapini and cherry tomatoes, they’re — goluptious." Read more: Read more.
"I bite into a Noank oyster, a black-fringed mollusk, and a spurt of salt hits the tastebuds, and I am once again sailing out to the Atlantic with Ireland in my sights." Read more: Read more.
Expensive lunch — $100 before tax — but agreeable. Then I return for dinner. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde. 1 and a half stars food; 1 star service/ambience. Read more.
The basmati rice is nudging perfection, tipped with presumably turmeric and/or chili; the Afghani chicken Tikka gently spiced with lemon, black pepper, yogourt and garlic, then grilled. Read more: Read more.
"All the usual suspects, octopus, burrata, margherita pizza, pasta with clams are here. I marvel at the evolution of pasta from simple spaghetti to maltagliata, scrap pasta in odd shapes." Read more: Read more.
A beautifully turned out place from decor to service. The shortribs are rich and good, the kohlrabi purée is sensational. The pork belly with beans & turnips needs more seasoning. 1½ stars, Read more: Read more.
Cosimo Mammoliti mines small-town Italy for his inspiration, transforming an awkward space into a smart eating bar, a playful evocation of ordinary Italian as a scene from a Fellini flick. Read more: Read more.
Unblushingly retro, it’s the kind of little bistro you might be lucky to find today if you stumbled on a hamlet in France where a good home cook is making food for friends and neighbours. Read more: Read more.
I’ll buy hayseed if the grub’s good. And it is — mostly good, sometimes excellent, occasionally superlative, with brilliant mixes of beautifully balanced flavours and textures. Read more: Read more.
The menu is capacious and sophisticated, including tapas that range from cold tofu with tomato gelatine to truffled potatoes with 24-month-aged Parmigiano. 3½ stars Food, service, ambience. Read more: Read more.
"A menu that is all dazzling gotcha, [but] we sussed the the Blowfish aesthetic: Chef G.Q. Pan is spice averse." No stars: Food; 1 star: Service, Ambience. Read more: Read more.
As decorous as a book plate, the menu is Alice Waters North — it carries the politically correct seal of approval, food division. Good for good intentions. 1 star food, 2 stars ambience. Read more: Read more.
Recipe: Susur Lee's pan-roasted diver scallop with Japanese salmon pearls, homemade pickles with asparagus, carrot and ginger sauce. Read more: Read more.
Restaurant critic Gina Mallet: The Gabardine states it is committed to sourcing local, sustainable and organic products whenever available. But cooking should come first. One star for service/comfort. Read more.
Restaurant critic Gina Mallett: Chef Jeremie Seguinot is a duck man and his crisp and tender pan-seared duck ($19) comes with a parsnip apple purée, a good contrast of bitter and sour. Read more: Read more.
The Pad Thai is subtly spicy with a chili aftershock; the deep-fried garlic chicken crisp but oily. If food were all smiles and charm, Khao San Road would rate four stars and not one. Read more: Read more.
Critic Gina Mallet's 10-year-old niece Kitty doesn't like Justin Bieber. Also, this restaurant rates two stars. Read more: Read more.
Customers drift in, at home the way only regulars can be. My heart sinks when I see $4 is being charged for bread. I also sense pretension-creep with bufala ricotta gnocchi. Read more: Read more.
Restaurant critic Gina Mallet: Sorrel rises with brio with a $20 prix fixe lunch. Read more: Read more.
Jacobs grills at a fissionable 1,800F and dry-ages its steaks, hanging them as they rot slowly in a temperature-controlled environment, emerginh tasting of highland whisky. Read more: Read more.
Woodlot shows off just how good almost any food tastes from a wood-burning oven, creating a sophisticated flirt with cozy comfort food and bursting with promise. Read more: Read more.
Hunted by pigs, coveted by fine diners, our restaurant critic Gina Mallet finds delight in delectable truffles. Read more: Read more.
Restaurant reviewer Gina Mallet: I hope it’s not taken as an insult to call Carisma “comfortable as an old shoe.” I mean it as a compliment, not shiny new, not too tired to look good. Read more: Read more.
No doubt about it: Chef Guy Rawlings has achieved a gloriously improbable ingredient mélange worthy of David Chang, the Korean-American champ of taste-scrambling. Read more: Read more.
Julie’s is nostalgic, an Ernest Hemingway kind of place, where leisurely bar-hopping passed the time of day between drafts of The Old Man and The Sea. Read more: Read more.
Lots of tapas — $6 each or four for $21. House-made goat cheese with garlic confit is pungently pleasant, tiny arms of grilled calamari in an olive and lemon vinaigrette are terrific. Read more: Read more.
Delux’s take on Cuban has taste and clarity, which makes cooking exceptional. A short menu is definitive. Street food is further elevated with an empanada, the most delicate of mince pies. Read more: Read more.
Restaurant critic Gina Mallet: The classics on Ici’s carte sound the same as those made by Escoffier a century ago, but they’ve been reinterpreted to suit Canadian palates. Three Stars. Read more: Read more.
You don’t have to be a member to lunch in the clouds at Toronto Athletic Club’s restaurant, an effervescent space with long windows offering a downtown panorama. 2.5 stars, More at the link: Read more.
A mall restaurant where the food is designed to appeal to the palates of the largest number of people possible. Fabbrica is to rustic Italian as Big Macs are to burgers. 1.5 stars. More at the link: Read more.
Restaurant reviewer Gina Mallet: From the salt cod ceviche and grilled sardines to the nuanced chorizo, you can't go wrong at Toronto’s legacy Portuguese restaurant. Four stars. More at the link: Read more.
Critic Gina Mallet: While Luma has nothing to do with the movies, executive chef Jason Bangerter is a polished cook & I appreciate the way he mingles flavour and texture. 2.5 stars. More at the link: Read more.
Restaurant critic Gina Mallet: "You can take Wabora out of cottage country, but you can’t take cottage country out of Wabora." 1-1/2 stars. Read more at the link: Read more.
Restaurant critic Gina Mallet: The sticky rice and chicken steamed in a lotus leaf is done to perfection, the dumplings roll pleasurably over the tastebuds. Four stars. http://natpo.st/dDge48 Read more.
Try the spiced chicken legs (doro alicha) says our food critic Gina Mallet http://natpo.st/cDCnIq Read more.
Restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Frank's Kitchen 3.5 stars! Chef/owner Frank Parhizgar, French trained, presents a concise classic menu and cooks it with nuanced authority. http://natpo.st/cpJ4za Read more.
The food's not bad, but god does it ever get loud. Gina Mallet reviews the trendy Parkdale restaurant http://natpo.st/ctXAGZ Read more.
National Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gave Signatures at the InterContinental Hotel 1.5 stars. Read more Read more.
For 47 years, The Coffee Mill has been one of the city’s great deals. Not just for faves such as iced coffee with whipped cream, but a menu of Hungarian specialties from a proud and spicy culture. Read more.
"Forget mamma and nonna. Scarpetta is Italy by Vogue." Read Gina Mallet's review of the high-end eatery http://natpo.st/cdcqce Read more.
National Post review: "A poster restaurant for the fast-changing taste of the city — fresh ’n’ local doesn’t cover it. More accurate to say the embrace of artisan food, of peasant food." 3-1/2 stars Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Oliver & Bonacini Cafe and Grill 1.5 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives the Enoteca Sociale 3 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Beast 2.5 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Harbord Room 2 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Splendido 2 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Trattoria Giancarlo 3 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives La Palette 2 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives the Hoof Café 2.5 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com: Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Gilead Bistro 3.5 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Maléna 2 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Joso’s 3 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Kingsway Fish and Chips 3 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives L.A.B. 3 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Ruby Watchco 3 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Bohmer 2.5 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
Post restaurant critic Gina Mallet gives Cava 3 stars! Read her review now on nationalpost.com Read more.
The pemmican is gentrified to please the pickiest tastebuds — strips of bison soaked in a rich, faintly fruity mahogany sauce, as suave as teriyaki, not unlike the better kind of beef jerky. Read more.
L’Ouvrier Kitchenbar has an open attitude and offbeat ideas. Try the Eton Mess, a masterpiece of meringue’s coagulated denatured proteins, balmed by creamy foam, spiked by strawberries. Read more.
Mu shu pork is a knock-out. I pick up a little pancake, wrap it around sautéed pork, sliced wood ears, scallions, carrot wisps, savoy cabbage, chopped omelette dabbed with spicy-sweet hoisin sauce. Read more.
At owner Sylvain Brissonet's suggestion we order fresh foie gras, which chef Dupoire sears so well. But first, the mineral shot of Miramichi oysters, the perfect beginning to any meal. Read more.
Start with the deep-fried zucchini bracketed with tzatziki and arugula. End with grilled halibut, whose mild character is enhanced by unabashed sourness, braised Swiss chard and feta mashed potatoes. Read more.
A mainly southern Italian menu. The osso buco is embraced by a richly satisfying sauce, the bones are a complex of braised flavours, stuffed with sumptuous marrow, flanked by a tranche of polenta. Read more.
The menu’s motif is Canadian comfort food, referencing poutine, mac & cheese, burgers, yukon fries, maple mustard, but the lack of quality control suggests O&B may be stretched beyond its capacity. Read more.
The menu displays a pleasing quirkiness. We have a roasted pumpkin salad dusted with Parmesan flakes and fried oysters in a light batter studded with black sesame seeds, accompanied by spicy aioli. Read more.
Ici Bistro is the model of fine dining in Toronto. Fat, thick slices of tender fuschia duck breast go down like an intoxicating embrocation, Grand Marnier exuding the cloistered smell of incense. Read more.
