Restaurant: Eat Fresh Be Healthy
Location: 185 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5G 1C7
Price Range: $$
[wp-review]
Have you ever really wanted to like a restaurant and even questioned your taste palate, because of the rave reviews from Yelp and your friends? Sadly Eat Fresh Be Healthy is one of those restaurants. As far as I recall, that day I kept tasting and tried to analyze the flavours of each plate, simply because I thought there was something wrong with my taste buds. In the end I came to a conclusion that I just disliked the dishes and my friend agreed with me as well.
The restaurant is quite small, which at best can accommodate around 30 people. They take reservations so I would recommend calling ahead, because the restaurant can get quite busy sometimes due to their cheap prix-fixed menu. Moreover because of the open-kitchen concept, you might end up smelling like food afterwards so beware!
The restaurant offers a prix-fixe menu of $20 for lunch and $25 for dinner, and changes seasonally with the ingredients. If you ask me, $25 for the meal was worth it, considering the generous portions and exceptional service. Furthermore, the owner informed us in advance that all of the dishes were made to order, I wasn’t bothered by that nor the wait because it meant fresh meals!
My initial reaction to the presentation was “what the heck is this?” My friend ended up pouring the salad onto the plate, because the mug was so inconvenient when you try to reach for the salad at the bottom. Also, there was still a price tag (from Ikea) at the bottom of the mug?!?!?! The crab was just there for presentation, and there was barely any meat in it. The caesar salad was good though, the dressing was light, seasoned nicely with just the right amount of cheese.
Likewise I got shocked with the presentation of my appetizer lol. The sauce on the plate made the dish look messy and greasy. The chef also put the sauce in a shot glass, which was located in the middle of the calamari and it was delicious! But why put it in the shot glass?! The calamari was perfectly crispy and seasoned, despite the odd pairing of the yogurt sauce and calamari, I liked the combination! The yogurt dip was refreshing and balanced the fatty deep fried calamari.
My friend and I both got leg of lamb as our main and we were disappointed. First, we expected to get an actual leg of lamb, instead we received two bone pieces covered in sauce. The vegetables were lightly steamed, but too undercooked and under-seasoned for us to try. The mashed potatoes were okay…not memorable. The star of this dish, the “leg” of lamb was a tad overcooked, which resulted in dry and tough pieces of meat. Having said that, the sauce was flavorful and aromatic, I wish they served some bread on the side to dip in all that delicious sauce.
The panna cotta was my favourite! The texture was creamy and smooth, a bit too “wobbly” for me, but the sweetness was perfect with the rich espresso flavour, a very delightful dessert. The “soup” was a coconut-based soup I believe, with some pomegranate here and there.
I didn’t try this dish, but my friend said the texture of the ice cream is more of a soft-serve, and it wasn’t anything special.
Altogether it was an okay meal, not spectacular or awful. The presentation was a miss, but the flavors of all the dishes were done well, just the execution and final touches were not there. The portion was generous for the price that I paid for, and service was top-notch. However, I don’t think I will be paying another visit in the future, and I wouldn’t recommend it to friends either.
