[Summerlicious/Canadian] Thoroughbred Food & Drink

Restaurant: Thoroughbred Food & Drink
Location: 304 Richmond Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 3M6
Price Range: $$$
Note: This review is only for Summerlicious 2015 dinner, it does not reflect the normal service.

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Although I wanted to go to more Summerlicious restaurants this year, I was only able to go to 4 restaurants due to a planned holiday (I am typing this post on the plane!!).

I have heard of Thoroughbred for quite some time now, and their signature dishes such as Kung Pao cauliflower or chicken liver mousse. Once I saw that their Summerlicious menu offers both items, I knew I had to go and try it out! The restaurant can be quite difficult to be located. I say walk to Scotia Bank theater’s entrance, then you will see an underground parking garage and Thoroughbred is directly across from it.

Thoroughbred consists of 2 floors with the main floor as the bar, and a foosball table (?) at the back with the entrance to the kitchen. I think I should have asked to sit on the second floor as the first floor was dimly lighted, so all my pictures are a bit *** LOL #BloggersFirstWorldProblem. From online pictures, the second floor is much more brighter and I assume it would be a bit more quieter as well.

On the other side of the menu, Thoroughbred also offers items on their regular menu. It’s quite interesting how they divided the items as garden, land, sea on the menu.

I ordered the chicken liver mousse – which by far the best dish I ate there. The mousse had a smooth consistency that was in perfect contrast with the heavy and rustic spiced carrot bread. Since the chicken liver mousse can be a bit rich, the huckleberries gave a hint of acidity and sweetness to help cut out the fat. However my only “oh no” with this dish was how there should have been more pieces of bread, but I licked the plate clean and I would have gone back just for this dish.

P ordered the kung pao cauliflower and it really tasted like kung pao chicken! The cauliflower had a crisp exterior, not too saucy and had some crunchy texture with the cashews. I believe there was some acidity in the sauce, so the cauliflower was really easy to eat and prepare us for the next course.

Initially I wasn’t sure if I would like this dish as instead of a beef wellington, it was a portobello mushroom wellington. The buttery and flaky puff pastry encased the beefy portobello mushroom, and it was seasoned well so I didn’t miss the beef at all, this is a perfect dish for a vegetarian :)! The truffle enhanced the earthy flavor  of the mushroom and the tangy onion jam really helped to cut down the heaviness of the wellington.

This is Thoroughbred’s take on the typical fish and chips. The fish was an Ontario rainbow trout,  it was not pan fried nor deep fried so I think it was cooked with the sous-vide technique? For more info about cooking fish with sous vide, check this link.

The fish had a soft and delicate texture, and the homemade chips were lightly salted, which went really well with the fish. With that said, I wish there would have been more pieces of potato chips though :(.

To be honest I was quite disappointed when I realized that there was only half of the tart on the plate, I felt cheated lol. Luckily my friend was already quite full from her previous dishes, and the tart itself was quite heavy, so I can forgive that half-a-tart issue lol. The tart had a nice crust to fillings ratio. The filling was a semi-dark chocolate which didn’t overpower the hazelnut taste. Overall the tart had a perfect level of chocolate flavor with a little sweetness!

Sighs I was really disappointed with my dessert as well, I’m not sure what were they trying to do with the presentation! When the bowl arrived, the ice cream already melted, and the pana cotta had a really weird texture….. It was melting as well. The slightly sour rhubarb cut through the sweetness of the pana cotta, and you are getting some crunchy texture from that… triangle foamy thing lol…  It tasted like yogurt hahaha. I just though the portion was small and had a messy presentation, otherwise it was a pretty good dessert.

I thoroughly (see what I did there ;)) enjoyed my dinner at Thoroughbred and it is one of my favourite Summerlicious restaurants after Lamesa now! (review here). My friend and I enjoyed all the courses, except for a little hiccup on the desserts (only me though, not sure about my friend). The overall service was good and friendly, though they had some confusions with the bills :p. All of the dishes on the regular menu are shareable, however the portion is a bit small for the price, so I think Thoroughbred is an excellent spot for a quick snack before movie or club :).