Looking for a great place to hang out after work or for a decent meal, then one does not have to look further than Rosewater Restaurant in the heart of downtown Toronto. This elegant establishment is located on the Toronto Street on the east side of downtown Toronto. We had a business meeting earlier in the day and were looking in having a great time at this establishment. There were about 15 of us and making reservations is a must especially for dinner as the place fills up fast. When we got there, there was a line up just to get in and have drinks to this place. We were given a private room in the basement of the restaurant which actually was quite nice with its grand table and personal bar.
We had a preferred menu that evening and as a result I decided to go with a salad, Grilled New York Strip and Cherry, White Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding With Baileys Creme Anglaise.
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| Appetizer Salad |
The meals arrived rather quickly despite the number of people that were inside the establishment. The salad looked quite colorful and looked like it had a bit of everything. In it, were fresh roasted beets, pear shavings and truffle flavored arugula. To give it a cheesy flavor, goat's cheese creme fraiche was added to the mix and for its crunchiness, toasted walnuts were used. There was a small amount of salad dressing that I could see that was used in its salad. I guess with all the ingredients in the salad, a major dousing of dressing probably was not needed. Otherwise, it could have overwhelmed the taste of the overall salad. Having said that, the entire salad just felt very fresh and pure. It lacked the "gooeyness" of all the dressing which was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed the contrast of the beets with the walnuts as it gave it that desirable effect. It was simple despite all the ingredients in it and served its purpose as a wonderful appetizer to have.
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| Grilled New York Strip |
The medium rare Grilled New York Strip was my choice of entree for the evening. The steak was mixed with some herb and sea salt roasted potato fingerlings which if you were still hungry after eating the steak, made it a wonderful side to have. What I really have to commend was the sauce used by the chef for this steak. The combination of the artichoke-tomato saute and merlot jus really made this steak standout quite a bit. It made the steak very juicy and was quite different than the usual barbeque sauce other places elect to use. The steak itself was probably close to the 12 oz range and for someone my size, it was just the perfect size steak to have.
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| Cherry, White Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding With Baileys Creme Anglaise |
The last dish to arrive was the Cherry, White Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding With Baileys Creme Anglaise. Of the three things to have arrived that night, this was probably my least favorite of them all. Although the fresh small pieces of fruit were nice to have, I wasn't too crazy with the brioche bread pudding. I think part of the problem was that there was just too much happening with this dish. The bread pudding didn't taste sweet at all and in fact was kinda bitter tasting. I wasn't too sure if this was because of the Bailey that was being used or the mixture of the white chocolate with the Bailey but it just didn't do it for me. The alternative was the Creme Brulee and that seemed to be acceptable with my colleagues. I wanted to try something different and ended up with a bitter to bland piece of bread to finish off the evening.
Overall the atmosphere was amazing and the food was above average. Had the dessert been slighly better, it would have been full stars from me. As for parking, there are two paid parking lots surronding the restaurant but as I said before, this place was hopping so please make reservations if you do decide to give it a visit. Overall I give it a 4.25 out of 5.
Rosewater Restaurant
19 Toronto St, Toronto, ON M5C 2R1
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