Restaurant: Beast
Location: 96 Tecumseth Street, Toronto, ON M6J 2H1
Price Range: $$
[wp-review id=”5003″]
If you are looking for a light lunch, turn away and don’t bother to read the post. You don’t come to Beast for fruits, croissants and salad for breakfast. You come here for a post battle feast! Also, I have been here three times already so you can tell how much I love Beast. The blog post will comprises of the three visits: 2 brunch and 1 dinner.
For dinner, chef Scott Vivian and the team do change the menu quite often – based on what’s available locally (I believe!). Thus the dishes I had for dinner will most likely no longer available at Beast anymore. If you are planning to come here for brunch, come early or else the wait will be quite long! The restaurant is located in a residential area so it is quite and intimate – perfect for a date night.
I don’t care whether you like donuts or not, if they are still available by the time you are at the restaurant, get them. The donuts are only available during brunch and they tend to be sold out quite early. Once they are gone, no more donuts will be available for the day. I believe the maple bacon is the only permanent flavor and you would have to check Beast’s social media accounts for other flavors of the day.
Out of the 3 donuts I had that day, the maple bacon and crispy mocha were definitely the favorites! These weren’t too heavy, had the right balance between sweetness and savoury, and perfectly light. I’m not a donut person but I’m addicted to these and the ones at Emma’s Kitchen.
The light and fluffy yet chewy potato gnocchi was covered in a delectable gravy and pulled pork. You really can’t go wrong adding a melting cheese curds to an already great dish, and I love how the curds still maintained its squeakiness and volume.
There’s nothing like a runny golden fried egg, tomato sauce packed with flavors, and fresh corn tortillas to start my morning. It would have been better if they didn’t skimp on the avocados, because you know, who doesn’t love to bite into big creamy chunks of avocado!
The pork hocks had a super crispy skin yet when you bite into them, these were incredibly soft and tender. Love how the chef balanced out the fatty pork hocks with a mildly spicy and sour kimchi – it was pretty dam amazing! I also liked how the salad wasn’t drenched in dressings, but occasionally the house potatoes would be overdone in my other visits.
Jenny (Instagram: itsjenyu) ordered this and she loved every bites of it. Note that all of sandwiches from Beast that we had that day were quite heavy, so if you want to be stuffed, order their sandwiches with fried chickens.
Golden brown crispy skin and perfectly cooked chicken thigh – check √
Fried egg with a runny yolk – check √
Mildly spicy and sour kimchi – check √
Seriously, it’s like they knew what I was craving for and decided to put those together into a sandwich. I found the biscuit to be dry and the bottom one was soggy – but that was to be expected anyways. I actually found the sweet soy sauce to be overpowering and the sandwich became incredibly salty after a few bites.
Martin ordered the beastwich based off my recommendation and he hated me for breaking his diet. But he licked the plate clean and that’s all that mattered :).
The complimentary bread for dinner was absolutely divine – soft and pillowy, almost like a brioche.
This was my first time having bison and I loved it! The taste was very similar to beef and it did not taste gamey. There was quite a bit of heat which I think came from the smoke harissa and the black garlic added a hint of sweetness, which paired well with the bison.
Apologize for the *** quality picture! The scallops had a nice golden brown crust and had a tender, springy center. I liked the slightly sweet quince BBQ sauce which accentuated the earthiness flavor of the hazelnut and did not overwhelmed the natural taste of the juicy scallops.
Overall I am in love with Beast and I would recommend this restaurant to anyone in Toronto. The service is a hit and miss though. While the servers are quite attentive, they aren’t necessary friendly and will try to rush you – especially during brunch hours.
P/S: I’m really interested in their whole-animal dinner, anyone interested to join!?