Winterlicious 2015 - Fred's Not Here Review

Fred's Not Here is a classic Winterlicious favourite for their delicious seafood and grill combinations. Located at King St. West past the Roy Thompson Hall and the TIFF Bell Light Box, it's a 5-10 minute walk from St. Andrew station if you're coming by TTC. The neighbourhood holds a plethora of tasty cafes and bistros for tourists and the workaholics of the financial district. The best thing about this place? The food. If you don't make a reservation for this restaurant, you may wait a good hungry half an hour for dinner. The ambience is that of a jazz bar, dim but not dim enough to miss a step on the numerous spiralling stairs that lead to the washroom downstairs. The vibe? Typically lively and full of delicious food conversations - it's also a really great restaurant for a first date that you actually want to treat.

For starters, you receive this basket of fresh breads and my ultimate favourite is their "jalapeno corn bread". It's crispy on the outside and moist yet crumbly on the inside with some sweet and spicy jalapeno bits and the goodness of comforting corn. Honestly my favourite bread at any restaurant. I always ask for more when I come here. It looks like an ear of corn split in two halves - two extra points for design and a million for its functionality. Once in a while, you get a little piece of jalapeno with the bite of bread and holy moly is it ever amazing! You can tell I love their bread, so here's a photo along with the other boring breads like rye and white.

The holy grail that is the bread basket (corn bread and rye bread shown)

For our actual appetizers, Jeffrey (my boyfriend) ordered their "famous lobster and crab soup" which comes lidded with puff pastry so you can dip it in their soup and eat it together. He was smart enough to take off the entire lid before it stuck to the sides of the bowl and wow, it was really intensely flavourful. I thoroughly enjoyed their soup. It was immensely fragrant with the crab and lobster (mainly I tasted more crab, which I was thankful for), and it wasn't as fishy as it would be with just the broth. It was creamy, didn't have any chunks of crab or lobster regrettably, but nonetheless really yummy. I should warn you, it is literally boiling hot so wait until the steam lets out and make sure to dip any remaining bread you have into this soup. It's simply scrumptious. Another warning: they tend to take away the bread basket when you receive your appetizers so make sure to hold onto your bread if you want to eat the remainder of your basket!

Their famous lobster and crab soup
(Please excuse Jeffrey's expression lol)

For my appetizer, I ordered the "baked stuffed calamari with seafood risotto" inside. This was also piping hot and the risotto was a bit too wet for me and sticky, most likely because it accumulated more moisture sitting inside the calamari with the cooking process, but it works out since the calamari becomes slightly dry when baking. The calamari itself is a bit chewy but when you slice it in half, pile on the tomato sauce and stuff it in your mouth along with the risotto inside, is a delectable bite. I don't recommend this dish for people who are not fans of chewy seafood, but I love squid and calamari, so this was great for me. When you're trying to slice it in half, the rice may fall out, so be mindful of your arms as you try to gather what's on your plate. There are limited spaces between tables and servers going back and forth.

Baked stuffed calamari with seafood risotto

Oh the long awaited main entrees. My eyes have never seen beauty till now - on a duck dish. "Two way duck - confit of muscovy duck leg and roasted breast of duck a l'orange with duck fat frites and steamed vegetables". The description comes with duck fat frites and steamed vegetables, and no, they did not provide such said food but I was content with what I received. It wasn't until I was nearly finished with my duck I wanted some more greens. The taste verdict for the duck a l'orange is that it was tender, juicy, delicious and fragrant with a slight crisp on the skin. The duck leg confit was gamey and a tad bit dry compared to the breast. And believe me, there was a lot of meat. As much as I really enjoy duck, the imbalance between meat and vegetables were hard to overcome, so I could barely finish my plate.

Two way duck - duck leg confit & duck a l'orange

 Jeffrey had the "blue label burger with house blend waguy (kobe) and angus beef, roasted sweet onions, blue cheese, parmesan duck fat frites, and truffle aioli. Let me tell you why he picked what he did: to taste the difference between kobe beef and regular beef. His verdict wasn't that great and I will explain why. The blue cheese, the delicacy of waguy, the onions, and the aioli are far too many flavours to pick out any specific taste. It's overwhelming and is no way to taste an expensive cut of meat. The flavours clash and it's not easy for someone like Jeffrey to taste anything on his palate. I only had the tomatoes that were on his plate with a piece of fry. Even with just the tomatoes, I got the strong pungent aroma of blue cheese and the parmesan was overpowering the fries - believe me, I really dislike blue cheese but I can appreciate a complementary flavour when it's paired well. I did find that disappointing but I was too distracted with my duck to try this burger, nor did I want it.
 

Blue label burger with house blend waguy (kobe) and angus beef

Ultimately, I enjoyed my dishes but didn't have the room in my stomach for dessert and so we took our desserts to go. I picked the "white chocolate lemon cheese cake" and Jeffrey had the "banana chocolate bread pudding with warm caramel rum sauce". It sat in my refrigerator overnight and I did swing it around quite a bit when I was going home so all the caramel rum sauce leaked out from the bread pudding and was a sticky mess. The cheese cake is made in-house and was recommended by our server, who was so nice to us and also complimented my Kate Spade purse which I accepted in awe because nobody recognized my purse ever, haha. Unfortunately, the cheese cake didn't taste as great as I'd hoped and was WAY too sweet. To get rid of the citrusy tang, I guess they over sweetened and to a high disadvantage. The texture was hard and the white chocolate on top was just sugary and not very flavourful. The bread pudding was a little better and tasted like banana bread with chocolate and rum. I did not mind it as much as the cheese cake, but this would have tasted better with custard. I also craved a textural difference with each bite, like toasted almonds or walnuts. Like Trapper's Restaurant, Winterlicious menus are not well known for their dessert selections and I wish they would give you something to mull over about and come back for next year.

As a final word, thank you so much for the exceptional service we received here that night and for your smiles to our server. She was really charming and I wish everyone else were equally charming here. Please feel free to let me know what you think if you ever stop by here. It's a great Summerlicious/Winterlicious stop for anyone that hasn't tried their menu and at $35 per person, it's quite reasonable. I was very happy with my duck a l'orange - all three pieces of it. And their jalapeno corn bread. Did I mention their corn bread? Deeeeeeeelicious!

Winterlicious 2015 - Trapper's Restaurant Review

Trapper's Restaurant is located just above midtown on Yonge Street, in between York Mills and Lawrence. It's a quaint and rich neighbourhood with small shops and wholly delicious baked goods (Butter Avenue is two stores away from this restaurant). The charm of this restaurant is the homey environment along with the good old (literally old) servers that remind you of a distant relative or grandfather. But be aware: they are quick on their feet and indubitably darling. Here you will see a photo of their ceiling chandelier and be curious enough to make a visit yourself to the lovely restaurant:

I know I should have cropped it, but bear with me, it's all part of the restaurant.
Just think of it as the bigger picture of the restaurant (literally).

So, it comes down to the food. For the first course, I had the "baked almond crusted Woolwich goat cheese on a nest of baby seedlings, grilled portobello mushroom, and honey raspberry dressing". I was shocked to taste this plate because the crust was just right, warm and toasty and the inside of the medallion of goat cheese was subtle and the aroma just spread through the rest of my mouth along with the earthy and meaty texture of the portobello mushroom. To top it off, this combination came with the sweet and tart raspberry dressing. Altogether, it oozed the perfection in my mouth. The first bite to the last bite, it was just... (insert delicious food groan here).

Baked Almond Crusted Woolwich Goat Cheese

The main entree for me, seeing as this was not my first time visiting this restaurant, was the "charcoal-broiled lamb shank in braised red wine, garlic, and fresh rosemary." This dish was delectable from last night. It tastes like your grandmother made your favourite lamb dish because you were coming to visit her. The meat just falls off the bones and is super tender and moist, as any slow cooked dishes ought to be. It's a comforting plate of warmth and just like the restaurant that makes it, it isn't perfect, but charming and homey. Good flavour combination (who doesn't like red wine with their meat?) and I personally adore garlic due to my Korean heritage. Their steamed vegetables taste like something my mom would make, their purple cabbage is soft and it's just a nice hearty plate of food. I didn't finish the entire plate by myself because it's just too much meat for me, but it's good. Trust me.

Charcoal-Broiled Lamb Shank

Last but not least, the dessert. I chose the "lemon coconut cake - moist layers of coconut cake, filled with alternate layers of coconut and lemon butter cream". I'm sorry, Trapper's Restaurant, but you do dessert horribly. It's pre-sliced and refrigerated as sliced on the plate which makes the cake really hard and I cannot taste any of these moist layers because it dried out while it was chilling. The only thing that slightly makes this cake taste like anything semi-gourmet is the raspberry and mango drizzle on the side. It's no excuse to serve dessert the way it was meant to be served a couple days old when you've already had your birthday celebration. It's pretty disappointing every time and I definitely don't go here for the desserts. The first two courses of the meal is what I go to this restaurant for, and if you wish to skip this last course, by all means - do so. One last gross thing about this cake? The butter cream while it is sitting in the cold room by its lonesome (highly unlikely, all cakes are nearly dried and frozen) gets hard and I already dislike butter cream as much as I am a dessert connoisseur. Not good. At all. It's just slightly citrus tasting lard in between dry layers of cake. Don't do it.

Lemon Coconut Cake

Overall, the atmosphere and the entrees are what make it worth your time to visit this restaurant and pay $35 plus applicable taxes and tips for a three-course meal here. Just as a warning, my photographs are highly saturated and over-exposed because the lighting absolutely sucks here and as much as I appreciate ambiance and semi-dark dining rooms in the evenings, it does not make for pretty food pictures. I know I could have used a flash from another phone and so on, but the company I was with forgot their phone. So. The results are as you have seen. Hopefully many of you will try out this restaurant for Winterlicious because their usual menu is more expensive than the value you get for the prix fixe menu. If you look at their menu online, their entrees range from anywhere between $14 pasta to $58 16-oz fillet mignon. I may just go back to try their regular menus. Let me know your thoughts when you try this restaurant! I'd love to know what you think.

Happy dining!