Restaurants › Middle Eastern
93 Harbord
- 93 Harbord St. (at Spadina) • View on map »
- 416-922-5914
- http://www.93harbord.com/
Harbord Street has been experiencing a mini-renaissance, with hip cafés and restaurants popping up every few months. Annex couples and families still fill this welcomingly casual, long, narrow room for its modern Middle Eastern cuisine. Here, traditional flavours are presented more attractively (and in smarter portion sizes) than at most Middle Eastern restaurants in the city. Rather than pouring ladles of stew over too-much herbed rice, for instance, chef and co-owner Isam Kaisi sears a chicken suprême, tops it with chopped walnuts and pomegranate gravy and places it next to a little dome of spiced couscous. It’s pretty to look at, but unfortunately the sauce is overly sweet. The sweetness is better balanced in a dish of lamb-shiraz stew, though a few of the pieces are remarkably tough. These technical faults aside, the kitchen strives for authenticity (there’s even a glossary of Middle Eastern food terms on the menu). Starters also aim high, like excellent grilled calamari, set over a pleasantly jammy fig-cinnamon-cumin sauce. Beet and bulgur salad is gorgeous, the golden and red beets glistening and tender, but the grain is bland and oily, and there isn’t enough of the tasty mint drizzle to compensate. Desserts—a vanilla cheesecake with a soggy crust or undercooked phyllo-pear rolls—seem like afterthoughts. A handful of well-chosen bottled beers outclass the short wine list. Pleasant and speedy service. Mains $17–$22.
93 Harbord St. (at Spadina) | This location is wheelchair accessible
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