Location Review1442 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario 647-343-7288
Website
Located on the west end of the city in Little Portugal is The Guild (@guildresto), serving up contemporary Canadian cuisine. With Chef Mani Binelli in the kitchen (who is also the mastermind behind one of my all time favourite restaurants - Auberge du Pommier), I agreeably accepted an invitation to taste their new and improved menu.
The Guild
With an inconspicuous entrance, the restaurant is rather large. It is complete with a very accessible bar and open kitchen if that's your thing!
The bar
Left: Mother's Tough Love - gosling black seal rum, housemade ginger beer, lime
Right:Dun West Trading Co. - El jimador reposado tequila, leyenda mezcal, benedictine, spice pineapple shrub, lemon, west Indian orange bitters
Finding our way to the bar, I sampled two signature cocktails from The Guild. Not being too big on ginger, I favoured the Dun West Trading Co. It's a peculiar name for a cocktail, but boy it was delicious!
Table Bread
The meal started off with some bite size pieces of table bread. Don't let the ordinary appearance fool you, this bread was really something! Fragrant rosemary and olive notes, combined with a toasty crust made this so addictive!
Duck Confit -bourbon black pepper jam and endive slaw
Aged Balsamic Marinated Tomate Salad - warm Quebec goat chees and argula
I loved the flavour and temperature contrast of this dish. Fresh tomatoes with a warm creamy goat cheese. Delicious!
Seared Omega Pork Belly - tequilla peach compote and kimchi
Truth be told I've never been a huge fan of pork belly (and...queue the hate mail). But this Seared Omega Pork Belly really won me over. A crispy layer of skin, a tender layer of lean pork, and a must needed layer of pork belly fat. Paired with some sour peaches, this was undoubtedly my favourite dish of the night!
Curvy Rigatoni - tossed in roasted garlic tomato cream sauce with baby spinach salad and house smoked chicken
At the height of the meal, a pasta dish was served. Unfortunately the Curvy Rigatoni didn't quite entertain my palette compared to the rest of the meal. Wasn't a huge fan of the pasta sauce, and the smoked chicken was rather dry. Luckily this was in my opinion, the only blip in an otherwise excellent meal.
Wellington County Skirt Steak - purple potato celeriac mash, french green beans, and pico de gallo
Next is a Wellington County Skirt Steak. While not skirt steak is often not regarded as the best cut of beef, it was well prepared with a nice charcoal crust. I especially liked the diced salsa with the buttery mash potatoes!
Double Chocolate Toasted Almond Biscotti
To finish the meal we were treated with some dark chocolate biscottis. Opting not to have coffee so late in the evening, I still enjoyed these as they were not overly indulgent. Just enough to round off a great meal and satisfy that sweettooth! :)
