Summerlicious 2017 tips.

It's Summerlicious time of year.  I have mixed feelings about Summerlicious and I think a lot of people that go to restaurants regularily probably do to.

All of a sudden everyone decides that they want to have a fancy dinner at a bargain and they descend from all over for Summerlicious lunches and dinners.  It's great business for the restaurants, right?  Yes it is, but at the same time certain restaurants get slammed with so many people they can't keep up and there are others that still don't fill their spaces.  I don't know how many staff actually like working during Summerlicious,  probably not many, so you need to take that into consideration when judging the food and service you receive during this time.

I was invited to the Summerlicious preview at the fairly new O & B restaurant Lena on Yonge Street just south of Queen.  All of their Summerlicious dishes were on display but we only sampled 4 of their dishes.  I have been wanting to go to this restaurant for a while since I work not too far away but haven't had the chance to go yet.  It's a beautiful restaurant.  The dishes on display looked gorgeous.  I can say that I really liked 3 out of the 4 dishes I sampled and would like to go back and choose off their menu sometime soon.

I also organized a lunchtime Summerlicious meal with my co-workers as part of our Healthy Workplace Initiative.  We walked down to Batch on Victoria St. on a cold, windy and rainy day.
Batch makes their own beer so it's a Craft brewery space which is open and airy.  There were 7 of us for lunch which isn't too bad.  The staff were friendly but we waited at least a half an hour before we got our appetizers and this is pretty long when it's supposed to be our lunch HOUR.
I ordered the salad, the Burger and fries and the sticky toffee pudding.  The salad was over dressed and a soggy but it tasted ok.  The Burger and the bun were very dry but the fries were fantastic.  The sticky toffee pudding was cold and dry and nothing special.  I only actually took 1 bit of it and took the rest back to the office because we took so long.  The food was a bit hit or miss but I am told by a friend who has been during regular times that their food is good.  So this is a case in point where it might be better any other day or different meals.

But then there are the GREAT places like JI on St. Clair Ave West.  The same owners as Pukka on the same street.  It's Indian Street Food but on a higher level.

It's a lovely bright space and we were able to get reservations easily on a saturday afternoon.   We went to celebrate my friends birthday and he likes Indian Food.

I ordered the Vegan Caesar salad, it has coconut bacon and chickpeas for croutons and a vegan cream for the dressing.  I really enjoyed it.  My friend had the sweet potato chaat and he liked it.  We both ordered the Butter Chicken Cavatappi.  It was Indian spice flavoured Mac and Cheese but it was a nice creamy sauce.  I thought the portion was good but my friend was really full, maybe that's because he ate the sweet potato before it.  For dessert I had the spiced Brownie which tasted a bit like Mexican chocolate cake.  My friend had the pistachio flavoured Kulfi in the shape of what he called a Christmas tree.   He enjoyed that and said it had an interesting flavour.

Our server was a lovely friendly young Irishman.  It did take a while to get our bill but it was a lazy Saturday afternoon so it was ok.  We were in no hurry then.

My advice regarding the Summerlicious meals is to find out the reputation of the restaurant year round and then decide and at the same time if you don't have a great experience take it with a grain of salt and maybe try the place again another time and you may have a different experience.

But it's a great way to sample new restaurants that you may not have thought of and try things you might not have ordered normally.    It's only food,  so you might as well enjoy it.

Check out #liciousTO to see all the drool worth photos from fellow diners to see where you want to dine and don't forget to share your Instagram and twitter photos with them @liciousTO

For more info on each restaurant and their menus click here:  SUMMERLICOUS 

And don't forget to make reservations well in advance.

Enjoy.

Summerlicious Fun in the Sun

I have been Blogging for about 3 years now and sometimes I think nobody is reading my blogs and then I get an invite to something fun like a Summerlicious lunch event and realize all those photo taking moments are all worth it.

I got invited by the very lovely Mary Tang @TheMary_Tang
( maryshappybelly.wordpress.com)  who I met at a Mark McEwan special event recently to join her and a bunch of fellow food bloggers and foodies for a lovely friday afternoon Summerlicious tasting menu sampling at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on King Street.  I have been to the King Street Social room for Film Festival parties before but have never seen so much food presented to me ever before.

We arrived at noon and were greeted with a French Martini beverage.  So lovely even if I am not a drinker I can appreciate the beauty of this and so much lovely food prepared by Chef Wesley.

I was happy to see another blogger that I had met at the McEwan event there as well but other than her and Mary these were all new foodies to me.  But the one thing that all foodies, bloggers and writers have in common is the love of good food.  It didn't take long for all of us to mingle and chat about restaurants and events around town.  It was lovely to spend the afternoon with a bunch of people that totally understood why I do this.  Most of my friends aren't foodies and just know to wait for me to take a photo before we eat but they really don't appreciate food and food photography the way I do.  My food love and photography comes from an early age when i got my first camera in my teens and took photos of everything I could.  Mostly my friends then but I am sure there were food photos in there somewhere.   Anyway back to the event at hand before I start rambling on about other things.

We were seated in a private dining area with a massive sunlight.  It was an extremely sunny day after a week of rocky weather.  I don't know if it was the best for food photos as it was noon on a clear day.  Think direct sunlight and hot.  I was wearing black.   Not such a good idea.  If you understand photography you will understand that food on white plates on top of black table cloths in direct sunlight is a bit of a challenge then you will understand why my photos look like they do.  I used my compact camera so no sunglasses filters on these pics.

First we had about 45 minutes to sample some of the Summerlicious Summer menu items:

Menu:

Chilled Casaba Melon Soup 
with fresh mint, 10 year old balsamic vinegar

Apple and Watercress Salad
Soft Ontario's goat's cheese,
grape tomatoes, toasted walnuts and pomegranate petals

Toasted Portabello and Brie
Grilled fungi, toasted brie, asparagus, cold pressed Olive Oil

Polenta and Short Ribs
Soft creamy polenta, shaved asiago, grilled forest mushrooms, rosemary reduction

Captain Jack's Classic Fish and Chips
Fresh halibut, home style fries, signature tartar sauce

Pan Roasted Rock Snapper
Fresh snapper filet, watermelon radish salad, galette potatoes, martini aioli

Fire Charred Rib Eye Steak
Red chili and tarragon butter, roasted fingerlings, crimini mushrooms and arugula salad

From the Garden
Coconut sweet potato mash, summer grilled garden veg, red pepper and parsley oil


I am not a big mushroom fan so there were a few things that weren't on my radar.  My 2 favourite dishes were the Captain Jack's Fish and Chips and the Coconut sweet potato mash with vegetables.   The fish was lightly battered and crispy, flavourful and not at all greasy.   The vegetable stack was beautiful to look at and was cooked to bring out the peak of flavours of the vegetables.  Yes I love me some grilled vegetables and the addition of the coconut to the sweet potato mash was delicious but be prepared for the sweetness.

After all of these plates of food came all kinds of desserts from cupcakes, macaron's to tarts and cakes.  We were all stuffed and there was so much food left over that we could have had a few more bloggers join us.

After all of this food we were then brought up to the Rooftop Pool Bar where there were glasses of Sangria waiting for us and a whole array of their new Summer poolside menu of lighter fare dishes.  Although I am not sure the cakes would be a big hit for women in bikinis lounging by the pool.  Most of us didn't have enough room to sample the food so a few lucky girls in bikinis that were poolside were invited to dive in to the lovely spread of food.  They were very happy girls.

It was the most beautiful sunny friday afternoon and everyone was wishing they could just stay and enjoy the lounge by the pool, especially after a very rainy week, but unfortunately everyone had things they had to do so we parted with full bellies and some new friends.

As it turns out it was the lovely Mary's birthday the next day so I think this little get together was a nice little pre birthday gift for her and we all enjoyed being her guest.

I look forward to seeing Mary and the other fellow bloggers again soon.

This was a nice reward after working the past 6 months in an office on a contract job and not having the time to be available for events like this.  I hope to enjoy more summer food events like this before I get back on the working schedule again.

If you want to do a bit of Pool Lounging you can spend the day there whether you are a guest of the hotel or not with their NEW Pool Program.

Here is some information about Hyatt's pool deck program: 

The pool program runs from Thursday to Sunday. For anyone staying at the Hyatt Regency on King, the pool program is complimentary. For outside guest, the pass is $39/person per day. The price includes a complimentary glass of Hyatt's Signature Sangria, towels and locker for the day. 

It is best to make reservations due to the capacity.