Tasting the Winterlicious menu at King Street Social Kitchen & Bar

It’s Winterlicious time in Toronto and for this iteration we have 200 of the city’s top restaurants encouraging us to come celebrate this culinary event with them.  This year, Winterlicious runs from January 31st to February 13th and during this time restaurants offer prix fixe lunches and dinners at discounted prices.

Earlier this week I was invited along with a few other Toronto based bloggers to King Street Social Kitchen & Bar which is located in the Hyatt Regency Hotel on King Street.  The three course meals, created by Executive Chef Wesley Boodhram, are $20.00 for lunch and $35.00 for dinner

Left to right: Vivek Satoskar, Parry Lawrence, Chef Wesley Boodhram & Celso Thompson

Before our tasting, we were met by Chef Wesley and other members of the management team at the Mix Bistro Bar in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency. In his teenage years Chef Wesley  wanted to get into Marine Biology but unfortunately couldn’t get past the Biology courses needed.  Unsure of what exactly he would do next, he enrolled in a government run culinary course, and the rest, as they say, is history. At 19 he started working with Walt Disney World.  He stayed there for about 7 years then moved on to different hotels and restaurants eventually ending up in his current role at Hyatt Regency.

Private dining room at King Street Social

Our meal was served in their private dining room which was filled with sunlight streaming in from the high windows.

Roasted red bell pepper bisque with truffle creme

First up were two different soups, the first was a sweet potato lentil soup followed by a bell pepper bisque.  The bisque was my favorite dish of the entire meal, I would’ve easily been satisfied with a big bowl of this and a slab of sourdough bread.  The lentil soup is available for lunch and the bisque is available at dinner.

Winter greens that includes baby arugula, roasted pears, grape tomatoes, slivered almonds and an orange chili vinaigrette

Grilled black tiger prawns with bell peppers, grape tomatoes, red onion, micro green salad with a soy ginger reduction

The soups were followed by two salads, both are available for lunch and dinner.  I really enjoyed the perfectly grilled shrimps, but I thought the chili vinaigrette on the first salad was the winner.

Veal parmesan sandwich with roasted red pepper, onions, tomato sauce & melted calciocavallo cheese

The veal sandwich is a lunch time offering.  These sandwiches were cut in half which was perfect size because I don’t think I would have been able to finish an entire one.

Lobster poutine with butter poached B.C. lobster, angel hair parmesan, frites, and their signature gravy

Another delicious lunch time item which elicited lots of happy sounds from around the table was the lobster poutine.  Butter, lobster and fries, need I say more?

Braised green lentils, baby spinach, grilled vegetables & white bean hummus on a lentil papadums

For the vegetarians, Chef Wesley topped a house made papadum with some perfectly grilled vegetables, lentils and spinach and then drizzled everything with some nice, thick balsamic vinegar.   Even though I’m a carnivore by birth I really enjoyed this dish.

Slow braised Ontario lamb shank, pan fried gnocchi, baby spinach with green beans and red chili butter

This Ontario lamb shank was my second favorite dish.  Braised for 6 hours and fall off the bone tender.  The pan fried gnocchi was the perfect accompaniment, only available for dinner.

Butter poached cod, cannellini beans, grilled heirloom carrots, cognac cream and micro cress

Another dinner offering is their butter poached cod.  I found the fish lacked a little seasoning, but the cannellini beans stole the attention away from the fish.  Everyone around the table agreed that those were some mighty tasty beans..

Cannolis filled with hazelnut chocolate & mascarpone cheese

Fresh fruit salad with a fragrant lemon sorbet

After this amazing meal the chef brought out his dessert offerings, there were three of them but I was too full and forgot to take a picture of the third item which was a warm peach crumble with a vanilla bean cream.  The desserts are avalable for both lunch and dinner.

I thought that was a very ‘safe’ menu but everything was perfectly cooked and delicious.  It would be nice to see Chef Wesley go back to his Trinidadian roots and try and incorporate some bold Trini flavours into some of his dishes though.

King Street Social Kitchen and Bar

370 King St W,
Toronto, ON M5V 1J9
(416) 595-2525

Reservations can be made here: King Street Social Kitchen

*This meal was complimentary but the opinions expressed are my own