PaiGu

Vienna is full of cafes, restaurants, and markets. Naschmarkt was my favourite market in all of Europe, a slice of gastronomic heaven in the middle of a lively city.

Our first night in Vienna was a Sunday night, so most stores and even restaurants were closed. We settled on going to a family-run Chinese restaurant with a very diverse (and questionable) menu that included: Chinese food, Thai food, Malay food, and Japanese food.

The next day, we walked through the oh-so-hip MuseumsQuartier, which had a post-modern installation of hot pink blocks that many young Viennese hipsters were sunbathing in, and decided to stop for coffee at one of its cafes.

I had a specialty Viennese coffee, which really didn’t taste any different from regular coffee.

We tried the Original Sacher Torte at the Sacher hotel restaurant. It looks just like a chocolate cake, but the difference is that there’s a layer of apricot jam in the middle that gives it a tang.
» Read the rest of this entry «

trü has been in London since late 2004, but it’s presence has only been felt in more recent years. I’d been to trü before for recruiting events, and had always been impressed by the quality of the finger food and attentive service. However, now that I have gone for dinner, it turns out that it was all a big tease.

When I walked into the restaurant, I was ignored for the first few minutes. After my party of four was seated, I asked about the soup of the day, and our server mumbled something awkwardly after a few seconds and ran away. “What just happened?” I asked my friend. “He seems new, but shouldn’t he have been given some training?”
A new server appeared without introducing herself to answer my soup question. I was confused, was she here to answer the soup question or was she going to be our server? This confusion lasted throughout the meal; our table seemed to have two servers, but neither of them were to be found for most of the night.

My friends were more satisfied with their entrees than mine, for good reason. My Five Mushroom Risotto was undercooked and over salty. Risotto isn’t easy to do well, but if they had wanted me to wait longer, they could have warned me so when I placed my order, and I would have gladly waited¹. The mushrooms were good, but including “three onion” in the name for having leeks, shallots, and chives was overkill. (My pictures came out blurry because I was using a friend’s camera and it couldn’t focus for some reason.)

The Duo of Duck is considered to be one of their specialties. The skin was crispy and the sweet potato puree was delicious. Unfortunately, the duck breast was not tender, which takes away most of the novelty of eating duck as opposed to chicken.

The Casarece pasta was probably the most successful dish, also the easiest. The beef tenderloin was somewhat tender and well-done. The pasta itself was a little soft for home-made pasta, but you could hardly notice it with the inclusion of mushrooms and vegetables. In reality, the Cambazolla cream made the dish, and I think the beef actually interfered with the taste of the cream sauce; I would have preferred this as a vegetarian dish.

It took eons for the server to notice us when we were ready to settle the bill. In the meantime, I checked out their bathroom, which unfortunately reminded me of bathrooms in common bars. Not at all in the vein of “New York posh,” supposedly the inspiration for the rest of the restaurant. If trü aspires to be part of the creme de la creme of restaurants in London, it has a long way to go.

Rating:

1. When I’ve ordered risotto at other places, I have always been warned of the wait time. [↩]

Quince is a modern bistro in midtown Toronto opened by a couple returning to the neighbourhood after a trip to Europe. It was nominated Best New Restaurant in 2007, so I took advantage of Summerlicious to try this place out.

The architectural design of the space is ingenious. The store-front is small and assuming, but the inside feels like walking into a cavern filled with light. There is even a spiral staircase that leads down to a bar/lounge in the basement for private parties.

The Moroccan spiced lamb “bricks” came in a spring roll, surprisingly. Light and golden on the outside, the lamb inside was well-balanced and tender. The harissa dressing was a sweet after-thought.

Confit of duck leg was sparkling in juices when it arrived. The duck on bean cassoulet tasted like home-cooking; down-to-earth, bold flavours surrounded tender duck meat cooked to perfection in a crispy skin.

House-made gnocchi was equally impressive, but when has house-made pasta ever gone wrong? (Don’t answer that.) The gnocchi was chewy, with light flavours from the green olive and oregano.

Dessert was Belgian dark and white chocolate terrine in raspberry coulis and caramel sauce. Sounds impressive, tastes just like ice cream. Not that I’m complaining.

Lemon, almond polenta cake was a disappointment. The cake was not fluffy or cake-y and the almond flavours were too subtle.

Their wine selection was surprisingly poor, and service was below-average¹.

Rating:

1. Although that may have been due to the fact that we were ordering from the Summerlicious menu (but we did order wine); nonetheless, that shouldn’t be an excuse for poor service. [↩]