My two friends and I decided to meet up for drinks and appetizers at The Bowery (@TheBoweryTO) after work a few weeks ago. Aimee and Doina asked me to pick a place and I chose The Bowery since it recently opened and I wanted to try it out. When we arrived, a film crew was shooting Covert Affairs outside on Colbourne St. Anyone watch that show? I don't. All I know is the main character is Piper Perabo from the movie Coyote Ugly and she's a cop in the show. I guess if Suits were filming outside I would've been more excited. LOVE that show. Sorry, but I do.
The stainless steel, the gray, shiny counter and the red & black colour scheme is pretty edgy and cool. The red walls remind me of the ones at Wvrst.
The Bowery has some really neat light fixtures and artwork. This is what was above us....
...and this was behind us.
A chandelier and random artwork. Notice the different coloured walls.
Aperol Mojito (left) - Aperol, Bacardi rum, lime juice, cane sugar, mint & orange
Bowery No.1 Cup (right) - Beefeater gin, Pimm's, aromatic fruit mix
I had the Bowery No.1 Cup because I like fruity drinks and did I get fruits! Almost 3/4 of the glass was filled with grapes, blueberries, strawberries and pineapples. But unlike most fruity drinks which ends up tasting like pure juice, I can still taste the Pimm's here so very, very good. One of my fav drinks now. Aimee had the mojito and she liked it.
Bread to start.
APPETIZERS
Grilled Octopus - Roasted pepper, nicoise, olives, pea sprouts, chickpea panisse, pickled vegetables ($15) - This appetizer was pretty hard to share as the piece of octopus wasn't that big to begin with so it was difficult for us to cut it into three portions. I did not like this because I found that the grilled octopus bland and personally, I thought nothing on the plate went together well.
Scotch Duck Egg - Wrapped in foie gras & duck confit, house-cured duck breast, mustard greens, shallot jam ($12) - I loved this! By far the best appetizer of the night. The bright yellow runny egg yoke was stunning and the overall presentation on the wood board was very cute. The foie gras and duck confit mixture was soft and tasty and went really well with the super crispy breaded shell. The house-cured duck breast was a nice touch along with the mustard.
Lamb Spiedini - Marinated grapes, purslane, pickled beans ($11) - Nothing much to say about these kebabs. It was grilled nicely and the meat was nice and tender, but flavour wise it was okay.
Cippollotta Pizza - Buffalo mozzarella, tomato sauce, chorizo, caramelized onions, sage & scamorza ($16) - A rather large pizza so this is great for sharing. I liked it because there was a lot of mozzarella. I'm also a sucker for anything with chorizo and caramelized onions. What I didn't like was the crust; it was too dry for my taste especially the crust.
SIDES
Roasted mushroom & corn couscous ($8) - These couscous were so hard they resembled pebbles; my jaw got so tired from chewing them. Honestly, when I scooped a spoonful up and dropped it back into the steel / tin bowl, it made a sound like how tiny marbles would make. Is it just me? Or are couscous supposed to be like this? Let me know.
Frites ($5) - Decent fries, well seasoned.
The one appetizer that stood out for me the most was the Scotch Duck Egg. Unfortunately, it is no longer on The Bowery's menu. The other appetizers were all average - not great but not bad either (except for the couscous which I really did not care for). Please keep in mind that we did not have any entrées and I do have a couple of friends that had mains at The Bowery and enjoyed it but personally I cannot comment.
Last week I went to The Bowery for a quick drink and I ordered the Bowery No.1 Cup again. I'm addicted to it! I also ask for a spoon just so I can scoop out the fruits to eat...I'm sophisticated like that.
