Pure Spirits Oyster Grill and Bar

A girls afternoon Winterlicious lunch turned into a bday lunch/get together with some good friends.


In the heart of the Distillery, when you walk into Pure Spirits Oyster Grill and Bar, I felt there were some good vibes. Friendly staff, and decor with character, the sunlight shines thru the glass windows. The original facade of a distillery lines the walls, with big steel doors, and even a vault in the back.


For $20, the Winterlicious menu

Crispy fish cake, traditional tartar sauce, arugula salad, orange salad
or

New England style clam chowder, aged cheddar bread

or

Baby spinach salad, roasted beets, spiced nuts and roasted mushrooms, blue 

cheese dressing 

Herb fired flat iron, crispy frites, caramelized onion and forest mushroom sauté, peppercorn jus

or

Pan seared white fish, saffron risotto, rosemary scented tomato stew

or

Organic farmed chicken stew, yukon mashed potatoes, roast garlic puff pastry

Vanilla crème caramel

or

Dark chocolate tart, whiskey chantilly

or

Trio of mini desserts

One things I did like was that we weren't limited to only ordering off the set menu, like some other restaurants. 

We started with some of the market priced ($2.50 - $3.75 per peice) of Oysters. 

The smaller ones from New York, the larger ones from PEI (i think).... 

I never knew oysters tasted different. 

And that we eat them alive!!!

Oysters must be eaten alive, or cooked alive. The shells of live oysters are normally tightly closed or snap shut given a slight tap. If the shell is open, the oyster is dead, and cannot be eaten safely.  Cooking oysters in the shell kills the oysters and causes them to open by themselves. Oysters that don't open were dead before cooking and are unsafe.

For the first course, we got the Fish Cakes and the New England Clam Chowder. 

Unfortunately, the soup was very salty. Is it supposed to be? 

Next was the main courses.

"A chicken pot pie that exploded" - Creamy and full of chicken. Underneath, mashed potatoes.  It was pretty yummy.

The guys who had the steak really enjoyed it.....

The white fish with saffron risotto. The fish was very fresh and clean tasting. Smooth and crispy on top.  The 'risotto' was more like some rice pan fried. I like that it was also seared on top, but didn't have much taste. It was a good compliment to the fish, but nothing spectacular.

Dessert!

So it was Patrick's bday. And they decorated up his dessert.....

But, at first they thought mine was the b-day dessert....

So they made my Dark Chocolate tart fancy with powdered sugar etc. Also see the green candle with white cream on the bottom. 

Brian's same chocolate tart had no powdered sugar or strawberry on top. Just a dollop of white cream.

Aie, disappointed that they made mistakes and lacked consistency (also when they were delivering the dessert). 

But, it was very good. The cream was very fresh.

Why is it broken?!

Overall, not sure if I would like to come back here for a regular meal. The food seemed okay, but lacked consistency, presentation (see the broken dessert, and the uncleaned plate for my soup) and some quality. Maybe it's like that with all Winterlicious restaurants, they just don't try as hard. They really should, because this is the opportunity to gain new customers.  


Likes: 
Oysters, Chicken Stew, atmosphere, venue, the creme on the chocolate tart


Dislikes:
Presentation, salty soup, bland tasting risotto


everything else was meh

Woo Buffet, Restaurant and Lounge

On the top floor of the formerly Toronto Life Square, Woo is an asian fusion all you can eat buffet.  The decor looks like I walked into a bar lounge, it's dark, fushia with sleek lines. It's not as comfortable as I would like.  The clientle is also not what I expected.

I've been here before, but it was late, and not much was left over, nor did they want to refill anything. i wasn't impressed at all, but where can you find an affordable ($20.95 Sun-Thur Dinner, $24.95 Fri-Sat dinner) asian buffet downtown?

Round 1:

Pho. With added Wontons. The pho was prepared and the beef broth was to be added. However, the sign above the beef broth said Hot and Sour Soup, and vice versa. I feel sorry for anyone with out the common sense to NOT use the beef broth.  The soup was a little bland, but nice for a beef noodle soup.

  

Hot and Sour Soup. Very hot and very sour. Didn't finish.

I was very pleased with the sashimi.  Smooth and buttery Salmon and white tuna.

Round 2:

Alexey got (clockwise, starting on the top left), some rolls, Hargow shrimp dumplings, Shrimp cocktail (cold), Egg custard bun, Vietnamese Spring Rolls.

The Shrimp cocktail was terrible. I was impressed that each shrimp was de-veined, but the sauce was a little gross, too much of a flowery taste.

The Egg custard bun was okay. It should be in the dessert section, and there was too much bun vs custard ratio.

The Vietnamese Spring rolls "tasted like small fingers". Well, it had that consistency.  The skin (expecting it to be crunchy) was tough and rubbery. I had a hard time biting into it.  It was filled with Shrimp and Pork, and tasted a bit 'fishy'.

Bottom to top...

Shanghainese noodles were oily and plain.

The Tempura was good, but again the signs were all messed up at the buffet and I had to fix them.

The Pineapple Fried rice had potential. The rice was hard (but i like it that way), but WAY too much pepper in it. I couldn't finish it.

The Edamame could have added salt.

The seaweed salad was very good.

Round 3:

Clockwise starting on left..

I really like the braised ox tail. Not sure what it's supposed to taste like, but there was tendons and tender meat all over that bone. I should have gotten more.

The pork rib. It was cold by the time I ate it.  The meat came off easy, but the glaze was a bit too sweet.

The hor fun was plain and oily.

The Honain chicken rice, without the chicken. They had it but it was gross looking. The rice was okay, but didn't taste anything like it was supposed to.

Sweet and sour pork.  I figured that if they can't make a decent s+s pork, they have problems.  It was okay actually.

The shrimp fried rice was okay.

Mussels were not good or fresh.

The Roasted chicken (bottom left corner) was very good.

So was the fillet of steamed sole beside it.

The Snow crab legs were also very good, and came with butter to dip it in.

Round 4:

Apparently this was butter chicken....hmmm...

I quite liked this deviled egg, but who knows how long it was sitting there in the buffet.

Round 5, dessert:

From top to bottom....

Apple tart, with some blueberry or bumbleberry. It was pretty yummy.

The Sago + I think Mango soup. Was terrible. A bit too sour, and some solid bits floating in it. Barely touched it.

I fully enjoyed my greentea and chocolate ice cream. It tasted like a green tea kit kat. I think the chocolate on it's own tasted too artificial.

The sugar croissant filled with cream. It was good. Flakey, crunchy and some cream that didn't taste fake, but it might have been.

The chocolate cake was actually okay. It tasted like a mccains cake. And i finished it all! booo :(

Overall

The place is hit and miss. Great selection, but the quality was poor. They really need to step it up a notch, and this could be really good. Could involve chefs that care about the food, and actually taste it.

The service was good, as everytime we came back our plates were gone.  The place isn't huge, but lots of huge parties there.

Just like how I feel about the restaurant, the plate on our table to put our utensils, shows how I felt...

FRANK (at the AGO)

I found it a bit too pricey for what we were given. But it was a nice quiet place for us girls to celebrate Dilnoor's engagement.

Spice Route

The Sangria's are to die for. Amazing.
http://www.torontolife.com/features/fruit-looped/

The desserts were good too.

But the food to me, was overpriced Chinese food. Bak Choy was $10. I can make that at home. The patio is worth going to.