Three and a half hours and $60 later, I walked out with only two good things to say about the place: the servers are courteous and the washrooms are clean.

We had a reservation for 7:00 pm but were cooling our heels in the lobby until 8:00 pm. Unacceptable.

It took another 40 minutes for our first course to come. Granted, we had a party of 12, but we were all ordering off the Summerlicious menu, so they could expect the volume ahead of time (and everyone knows its pre-made anyway), so how long does it take to arrange appetizers on 12 plates?

Grilled romaine lettuce heart tasted exactly like what you would expect romaine lettuce hearts to taste like. The portobello tasted bizarre, and not in a good way.

Gazpacho is a cold Spanish tomato-based vegetable soup. Given that it was a vegetable soup, I wasn’t ready for the chill. It tasted fine, nothing to write home about. The half-cherry tomato came with goat cheese, which was not on the menu. Kind of a big deal, I’m surprised they didn’t put that on there given how they like to put every single ingredient on the menu. Lobster medallions tasted like they’d been frozen and then thawed, but what did I expect? I don’t know, maybe something fresh from such a “fine-dining” establishment.

I love duck. When I order duck, it’s hard for me not to enjoy it. But last night, I left half my duck breast on the plate. Why? It was undercooked, the meat was hard, not tender at all, and the breast itself was barely marinaded. There was plenty of fat under the skin, if it had cooked longer, I’m sure the meat could have been juicier. After having made my own orange-infused duck breast in Paris, I now knew what to expect and this was definitely below-par.
The duck leg confit lasagna was very creative, and was quite good – the only thing I ended up finishing that night. The lasagna was made with duck meat, spinach, cream cheese, and Parmesan sprinkled on top.

The halibut filet tasted like nothing, perhaps a hint of salt, but really, nothing. Of the four people that ordered this entree, zero enjoyed it.

Well, it’s a bento box. I mean, it looks cute, but really? This is the “vegetarian option” on your Summerlicious menu? If I were vegetarian, I would be downright offended. Here, have a few string beans, beets, and asparagus. The wasabi mashed potato sounded promising, until we realized it tasted no different from regular mashed potato, but green. Yes, that is exactly what this meal needs to look more appetizing! Green mush!

“Lemon-lavender-blueberry dome with chocolate arts, lemon-grass vanilla sauce” sounds like a mouthful, but it was really a small cake with some decoration. We had a laugh over how specific the menu was, even to go so far as to name the three triangular white-chocolate pieces as “chocolate arts.” The lavendar in the cake made it taste rather strange, although not altogether horrible.

I like crepes. I like crepes flambe even more. This crepe, however, was soggy. And tasted strongly like marmalade. No thanks. The cherry jubilee tasted better with the vanilla ice cream, but wasn’t all that inspired.

I did not get a picture of the third dessert option, “warm peach tart and peach ice cream”, which turned out to be the best one. The peach tart was good, it tasted like a fruit tart with less sugar.

After tax and tip, the meal came out to $60 (not including drinks). Considering there wasn’t a single course I was completely happy with, I was utterly disappointed. I’ve always been told Summerlicious meals are sub-par, but this was just a disgrace.

Rating:

This is the sort of place where you can sit for hours with a friend or a book and no one will kick you out. It is the sort of place where you can have homemade dessert or hearty Eastern European fare. It is the sort of place where re-fill coffees are free and there are always more than six types of cake. It is my kind of place.

The scrambled eggs were over-scrambled, and the eggs benedict were nothing special (packaged ham? Really?). The crepes were awful – a little too thick, and absolutely drowning in strawberry jam. Each bite required half a glass of water.

One thing I can say for sure though, they have great home fries. Seriously, best fries I have ever had. They’re not too oily, crispy on the outside, and very well seasoned.
They also have great orange juice, although their coffee is hit and miss. When I went, they had macadamia nut coffee – definitely a hit!

Futures is also known for having great cheesecakes, although the crepes drenched in strawberry jam were more than enough sweets for us.

Rating:

483 Bloor Street West
Phone: 416.922.5875

The great thing about ice cream is that it doesn’t really need anything else. Great ice cream tastes amazing by itself. That’s why I never really understood the likes of Marble Slab. Sure, their ice cream is good, but what’s with all the stuff on the side? Is that really necessary?
Maybe, maybe not.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m the first one to admit that cookie dough in ice cream is so delicious it should be a sin just to think about, but sometimes adding too much “extra stuff” takes away from the ice cream itself. Because, let’s not forget who the hero in this whole scenario is. It’s the ice cream. The cookie dough or the brownie bits or the M&Ms are just accessories.

But a few days ago, the very rock upon which I stood was shaken by Symposium Cafe‘s “East Meets West” ice cream crepe extravaganza. Yes, it was an extravaganza, nothing less. It was a giant plate of vanilla ice cream on the one side and chocolate ice cream on the other, wrapped in a paper-thin crepe and drizzled with chocolate fudge and strawberry sauce. But it was more than that. There were strawberries. There were bananas. There was also whipped cream. It was so good I was afraid I might have an orgasm right there in that plastic lawn chair¹.

I had to admit that perhaps, on this particular stage, the ice cream wasn’t the main star. Nor the crepe, the strawberries, the bananas, or the whipped cream. In fact, there wasn’t a main star at all. It was only when all the ingredients were taken as one that the explosion of tastes was created, and my ears were ringing with the tune of Symphony No. 5.

My friend was also conducting her own symphony with the mixed fruit medley cheesecake, which I had a taste of and also found to be quite good (though not nearly as explosive as mine).

1. Don’t worry, of course I didn’t. Not only would that be highly inappropriate, but it would needlessly divert my focus away from my mouth