Lunch at Borealis Grille
Yesterday I enjoyed a late lunch at Borealis Grille & Bar in Kitchener. Borealis is a casual restaurant reminiscent of an upscale pub. The menu features only local sourced ingredients from around Ontario. Borealis supports farmers, and strives for sustainability in their practices reducing their carbon footprint.
What we ate. Since 3-5pm any day of the week will get you half-priced appetizers, I went for the caesar salad (refreshing vinaigrette flavour, lighter than the average Caesar salad), and soup of the day (parsnip, leek and carrot). The portion size of the salad was good, the romaine was fresh and crispy, and it was topped with any caesar "must-have" parmiggiano reggiano, the real stuff, and the croutons had a wonderful smokey flavour from the wood-fired over. The soup was mediocre, parsnips tend to "over-power" the palate, and there was no depth of flavour behind the soup (a good way to improve any root vegetable soup is to slow roast the veggies first), and the consistency was too thick giving it an unpleasant mouth-feel. My husband enjoyed one of his favourites the Old Smokey, an 8oz. burger with Harvest Ale BBQ sauce, garlic aioli, smoked Balderson cheddar, double smoked bacon, lettuce, onion, tomato and pickle served on an ACE bakery bun. And he claims it was every bit as good as it sounds.
While the service is always fantastic at Borealis (a pleasant surprise in a region that sorely needs help in the service industry), the consistency in quality of food can be hit or miss. We've enjoyed delicious dishes at Borealis numerous times from burgers to flat-breads to curry dishes, but replicating those dishes consistently is where Borealis can fall short. That being said, if you are ever going to indulge in sweet potato fries, this is the place to eat them! They've mastered the perfectly "crispy on the outside, soft on the inside" technique that I've seldom found in any other restaurant's sweet potato fries. This is the one item Borealis gets right every time. If you make the trip, be sure to skip over the side of garlic aioli in lieu of their "in-house" buttermilk ranch dressing, it packs a lot of flavour and compliments the crispy sweetness of the sweet potato fries.
Happy eating!
What we ate. Since 3-5pm any day of the week will get you half-priced appetizers, I went for the caesar salad (refreshing vinaigrette flavour, lighter than the average Caesar salad), and soup of the day (parsnip, leek and carrot). The portion size of the salad was good, the romaine was fresh and crispy, and it was topped with any caesar "must-have" parmiggiano reggiano, the real stuff, and the croutons had a wonderful smokey flavour from the wood-fired over. The soup was mediocre, parsnips tend to "over-power" the palate, and there was no depth of flavour behind the soup (a good way to improve any root vegetable soup is to slow roast the veggies first), and the consistency was too thick giving it an unpleasant mouth-feel. My husband enjoyed one of his favourites the Old Smokey, an 8oz. burger with Harvest Ale BBQ sauce, garlic aioli, smoked Balderson cheddar, double smoked bacon, lettuce, onion, tomato and pickle served on an ACE bakery bun. And he claims it was every bit as good as it sounds.
While the service is always fantastic at Borealis (a pleasant surprise in a region that sorely needs help in the service industry), the consistency in quality of food can be hit or miss. We've enjoyed delicious dishes at Borealis numerous times from burgers to flat-breads to curry dishes, but replicating those dishes consistently is where Borealis can fall short. That being said, if you are ever going to indulge in sweet potato fries, this is the place to eat them! They've mastered the perfectly "crispy on the outside, soft on the inside" technique that I've seldom found in any other restaurant's sweet potato fries. This is the one item Borealis gets right every time. If you make the trip, be sure to skip over the side of garlic aioli in lieu of their "in-house" buttermilk ranch dressing, it packs a lot of flavour and compliments the crispy sweetness of the sweet potato fries.
Happy eating!
Wow, Thanks for the advice! I still think I will go there for the sweet potato fires though! They are my favorite!
ReplyDeleteI must say that my hit and misses have been with the salad greens. At times, the crispiness bites back -- the greatest; in other instances, "limp" is damning the greenery with faint praise -- not so great. My hope is the food prep team will get it right. Thanks for your insights, especially for menu items I have thought of trying but til now eschewed.
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