Food Adventure #3: Patria
Name: Patria
Location: 478 King Street West Category: Spanish tapas Atmosphere: Upscale, trendy, friendly Additional info: Has outdoor patio. Reservations recommended. Website: www.patriatoronto.comToday, we will be reviewing Patria – an acclaimed Spanish tapas eatery that was ranked by Toronto Life as one of the Top 10 Best Restaurants of 2013. Located at the end of an unassuming alley in the Entertainment District, the restaurant is the brainchild of Hanif Harji (of Kultura fame) and Charles Khabouth (Ultra Supper Club, La Société), whose prior enterprises have arguably focused more on glamorous, no-expense-spared venues than on the actual food. Patria, however, is a step in a different direction for the two, with culinary quality becoming the equal if not number one priority. In fact, Mr. Harji and his executive chef went the distance to try and make the place as authentically Spanish as possible, apparently spending a good 16 months travelling about the Iberian peninsula researching and testing authentic recipes, and hunting down the necessary ingredients, equipment, and staff.
Upon entering the premises, take a moment to just soak in the surroundings, as the venue itself is drop-dead gorgeous from an aesthetic point of view, with its full-length portraits and unique cross-stitched fabric wall design, down to the white marble tapas bar that anchors the center of the room.
The menu, written in a mixture of Spanish, Catalan, and English, comprises of several parts: tapas del bar (small plates), embutidos (Spanish charcuterie), quesos (cheese), ración (shared plates), carne (meat dishes), and arroz (rice-based dishes), as well as daily specials. My friend and I, upon the recommendation of the chef (who like the rest of the service staff was most friendly and charming), ordered five plates to share between the two of us. To begin the night, we started off with some absolutely delicious dates that were wrapped in sumptuous bacon and topped with manchego cheese and guindillas peppers (datiles con tocino ibérico – $9). This was followed up with deep-fried potato balls filled with chorizo and aioli sauce with a splash of spicy piquillo sauce to the side, which had the perfect mixture of outside crispiness and inside melt-in-your-mouth creaminess (bombas con salsa brava – $12). The palacios chorizo ($7) was impeccable, albeit rather sparse in quantity (the dish comically came and went within the minute). From the daily specials we ordered some black cod with parsley coulis ($25), which was simply top-notch in quality (the meat was so tender that it melted on one’s tongue). The only disappointment of the night was the fried pigs’ ears (orejas de cerdo fritas – $5), which beside the fact that one could barely taste any trace of the paprika or oregano that it was ostensibly cooked with, just felt like we were chewing on overly fried French fries.
Drink-wise, Patria perhaps has the largest selection of Spanish wines in all of Canada (unsurprising given that the restaurant reportedly spent over $120,000 importing wine across the Atlantic by the container-load). As both of us were more cocktail kind of people, however, we both tried their Spanish Negroni (which to be fair did not taste any different from your typical negroni) and Spanish Manhattan (an interesting sweeter and lusher spin of the original) instead. As a warning, however, the cocktail prices, just like the wines, were well above the downtown norm (both my drinks were $17 each).
Ultimately, if you have an insatiable craving for some Spanish tapas or just Spanish cuisine in general, while enjoying a simultaneous experience of visual and gastronomic splendour, and have some room in the budget to spend, Patria is the place to be.
Final Rating: 4 1/2 Stars