Toi Restaurant
We don’t have any great photos for this restaurant, as we didn’t have a blog at the time. So we stole a photo of the Steak 3 Ways, right off their website, but it’s a small semi-fine restaurant.
Toi presented us with two different menus that night (tapas & main courses). We had The Chicken & Shrimp Pad Thai – $12 of the dinner menu, it tasted fine, but wasn’t the best I’d ever had. However I’m partial to a Pad Thai made from Noodle Wok a Chinese restaurant in Mississauga (not Tai and they use a different type of noodle).
However we had a few dishes off of the Tapas menu. From the “Grow” – Sweet Potato Fries, Sambal Soya Dip – $6. From the “Swim” – Calamari and Chipotle Aioli – $9. From the “Roam” – Beef 3 Ways (~ steak tartar, rum infused pineapple, 3 salts ~ grilled flank steak wrapped in lalot leaves, chili tamarind reduction ~ flash-pan seared beef tenderloin in cognac reduction, grape tomato salad) – $18.
The Sweet Potato fries were enjoyable with their perfect yet simple sambal-soya dip compliment.
The Calamari had a rubber texture and the batter would be perfect on onion rings, but not for something so tender as Calamari (we were informed by the server that the Calamari is previously frozen).
The Beef 3 Ways was an enjoyable delight that I wanted to order again, if not for the price (although it was a tapa). The Steak Tartar with rum infused pineapple and 3 salts was excellent! The problem was getting the salt crystals on the steak successfully, but we enjoyed this portion of the dish and found the tartar to be prepared perfectly. The Grilled Flank Steak wrapped in lalot leaves with a chili tamarind reduction was our least favourite of the three styles of beef prepared on this dish. The Flank Steak was edible, however it played background to its partners on the dish. As Leng had said. “I wish we could re-order this as Beef 2 Ways!” This brings us to the Flash-Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin in Cognac Reduction with the Grape Tomato Salad. This tease of Tenderloin melted in our mouthes and the Salad was an excellent compliment. Steak lovers will love this one.
With the meal we ordered a bottle of Stratus Wildass Red – $40, which went well with our feast. The server was pleasant and seemed knowledgeable and a little talkative, but we were there with a third person, so the night wasn’t meant to be intimate. The restaurant interior was appealing to our eyes. The bill came to about $110 after tip.
To summarize: The chicken and shrimp pad Thai received (1 fork), the Sweet Potato Fries with the Sambal Soya Dip received (2 forks), the Calamari and Chipotle Aioli received (no forks) and the Beef 3 Ways (2 forks). All said and done, upon our first visit we give Toi 2 Forks!!!
Chris
