Take a culinary world tour during lunch. Point of departure: Claudio Aprile’s latest restaurant
Wokked and fried calamari with caramelized chili-peanut sauce
The place: Claudio Aprile’s three-month-old hot spot is just around the corner from his first establishment, Colborne Lane, but in terms of approach and price, the two restaurants are worlds apart. Origin’s small-plates menu spans the globe, taking inspiration from Asia, Europe and South America. An industrial chic aesthetic with a touch of whimsy dominates the interior (check out the elaborate monster toy light fixture above one table), but the sizable patio offers a bright, panoramic view of King and Church as the clock tower at St. James Cathedral counts down what’s left of the lunch hour.
The crowd: Amped-up financial talk swirls around the tables as Bay Streeters decompress, but that all stops once the food arrives—it’s that good.
The deal: Sure, there’s a combo (beef burger, Spanish fries, cream soda float, $29), but we recommend rounding up a large number of co-workers and sharing as many of the small dishes as possible.
The dish: Devilled eggs ($3)—the quintessential summer barbecue appetizer—get gussied up with spears of crispy bacon stabbed into their fluffy yolks. The spicy Spanish fries ($8) give poutine a spicy kick in the pants: the crispy potatoes are topped with chopped chorizo, manchego and piquant aioli. We cool things off with a refreshing watermelon salad (feta, green beans, mustard seeds and greens, $9) before diving into a bowl of calamari ($16) that’s sweetened with pineapple and spiked with caramelized chili-peanut sauce. The Chinois duck wrap ($11) with hoisin, pickled cucumber and sour cream is meaty and substantial enough for lunch on its own. Dessert is deceptively simple: dulce de leche ($9) with freeze-dried raspberries, moist lemon sponge cake, crunchy sea salt (surprise!) and crispy caramel crisps that are tailor made for scooping.
The time: Around the world in 80 minutes.
The cost: $78 for six plates split between two people, including tax and tip ($39 per person).
Origin, 107-109 King St E. (at Church), 416-603-8009, origintoronto.com.
Read the Toronto Life review of dinner at Origin »
(Images: Matthew Fox)
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