Located at 35 Tank House Lane in Toronto

As you might have read, after volunteering at the Good Shepherd, we headed to Cluny Bistro for a Winterlicious lunch.

Cluny Bistro is located on 35 Tank House Lane in the beautiful Distillery District, a tourist spot of Toronto to tourists and citizens alike.  This was my first time visiting here in the winter time!  

Distillery District in Toronto

We were a big group and Kim was able to reserve the tables in the large private dining area.  The wallpaper of the place was so century like and I liked how the plates had “Cluny” inscribed on them.

The place was packed full with people and the space is huge too!  It took us a long time to actually place our orders since we wanted to be courteous and wait for a few latecomers.

We were satisfied with baskets of their specialty bread in the meantime.  They have a patisserie and bakery at the front of their restaurant (just like Moroco Chocolat).  I liked their multigrain bread — the grains actually popped out as you chewed them.

Basket of freshly baked bread

The style of the restaurant is very pretty and chic

Pressed Chicken Terrine “Nicoise Style”
-pickled beans, tomato jam, and black olives

Before long, our orders were placed and my appetizer arrived.  I chose the pressed chicken terrine, something I never had before.  It’s a slab of chicken that is pressed together with some kind of coagulated gelatin and served cold.  Apparently, one of my tablemates said that it is a difficult dish to assemble at home.

Its presentation was nice and I liked the creamy sauce on the side.  I didn’t like how it was a cold appetizer to eat during the winter; it would be a better fit for the summer in my opinion.  It was still a great appetizer though and definitely something new for me to try. 🙂

Alsatian Choucroute Sandwich
-braised pork shank, sauerkraut, mustard, frites

My main course arrived next!  I usually don’t order sandwiches at prix fixe meals but I wanted to try this one out.  The portion was mighty big!  Look at the skinny fries just spilling out of its metal container.

The fries were to die for.  They were unlike your usual medium sized fries.  These were so fun to eat and tasty because each one was skinny and crunchy!  I was in love with the dipping sauce too.  It tasted like a semi-salty mayo that was pure fat.  But I couldn’t resist it with the fries!!

The Alsatian Choucroute Sandwich was heavenly.  It was made of two soft buns that were tasty on its own.  There was a thick juicy sausage sandwiched between the oily yet delicious buns and also a mash of braised pork shank drenched in mustard and sauce and sauerkraut.  Damn, it was a mouthful and sooo good!!!

I couldn’t finish the tasty fries alas and left them to go to food heaven instead.  Sigh.  RIP, perfect skinny fries. :9

Roasted Hazelnut Profiterole
-chocolate chantilly

Dessert was last to enjoy!  I asked our professional and polite server which dessert was better out of the Macaron and Hazelnut Profiterole.  He gave me an awesome suggestion that while the single macaron was delicious, the Profiterole would be more substantial in terms of dessert.  Yes!  Substantial is good. 🙂

I was a bit disappointed when my plate of dessert arrived.  Everyone else’s Roasted Hazelnut Profiterole arrived standing up and placed meticulously on their dessert plate.  Mine had fallen and was lop-sided.  To normal people, they might not care about this small detail, but as a food blogger and avid food photographer, this mattered.

See the difference between my lop-sided selection and the more perfect plate:

Small difference here, but at the time, I was like =:(

I haven’t had Roasted Hazelnut Profiteroles before and after overcoming its flawed presentation, I dug into the dish.  It was two balls of creamy chocolate mousse inside.  It was a unique dessert to try but I still prefer cakes and even more substantial dessert selections.  This dessert seemed more of a sampling than a course.

And there you have it!  Cluny Bistro serves really good food and they have free wifi too!  Have you been here before?  What was your impression and opinion of it? 🙂

Cluny Patisserie

Large and classy space

Oh, and actually, before we left, Kim and Christina both bought something from the patisserie in the front (another similarity to my visit at Moroco Chocolat where Daphne bought macarons before leaving).  Their pastries and baked goods looked so good! 🙂